Asheen Laljee
Asheen Laljee’s event management firm, Red Letter Day is all about personalised touch and out of the box thought
Born and brought up in Pune, Asheen Laljee is a product of St. Helena’s and Symbiosis College of Arts and Commerce. She also holds a Diploma in hotel management. From her early years says Asheen, “My work has always been related to clients/guests relations, service industry and it’s always been about attention to detail.”
As her educational background has been all about service and attention to detail, event management was an obvious choice for Asheen. The adrenaline rush that followed the completion of an assignment was another factor that led Asheen into the events business.
Asheen began her own business venture in 2012, with her only investment being the printing of a few business cards and purchasing a car and a mobile phone. She also converted her living space at her home into a temporary office.
Coming from a typical business class family helped sow the entrepreneurial skills, believes Asheen. She owes her success to her family. “I have met several people along the way during the journey of my life, who have inspired and motivated me. My family has been extremely supportive of whatever I am doing and proud of all that I have achieved in my journey so far,” she says.
Speaking about her first event Asheen says, “The first event was an NRI wedding wherein everything in the decor was in-house (literally from the house). My personal dupattas, bed sheets, cushions, sofa… everything was used, but I had the maximum fun doing this event. We hired people to role play as uncle-aunty from the bride’s side of the family. This English couple just wanted a complete Indian wedding experience. Another of our milestones was an international event that we hosted. It was in Thailand this year in April – a 75th birthday. It was indeed a beautiful experience and we had so much to take back from it.”
Consisting of a strong team of 8 people who are experts in their area of work – from production, logistics and hospitality, everyone works together to create the best possible event.
“The main challenge,” says Asheen, “is dealing with the low season. Also some clients are extremely demanding, which means we always have to be on top of our game. This is a field where designs are constantly changing. Old ones get phased out and new ones keep coming, so one has to constantly be evolved and updated with new creations all the time.”
Asheen is also part of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (Goa chapter) which has proved to be extremely useful, especially when it comes to networking and learning events. As part of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, Asheen has had the opportunity to travel with a sense of purpose and attend some amazing events.
While her company, Red Letter Day currently works on weddings and curating events and styling, they also plan on entering the corporate space as they have been receiving many enquiries regarding the same. Asheen’s future plans include continuing to do the good work that has been done in the past as well as striving to get better with each event in terms of design styling and execution.
Besides working on new designs and concepts, Asheen Laljee hopes to set some new trends, in the near future so that she can, at some point, be a trend setter!
