Clara shares how she took a risk by leaving her corporate job to start her own business, eventually bringing $5 million of new event business to San Diego within 3 years, the challenges she had to overcome and the advice her mentors have offered her along the way. She also discusses how she built her network and launched the Women in Tourism & Hospitality Conference to celebrate the achievements of women.
Clara shares how she took a risk by leaving her corporate job to start her own business, eventually bringing $5 million of new event business to San Diego within 3 years, the challenges she had to overcome and the advice her mentors have offered her along the way. She also discusses how she built her network and launched the Women in Tourism & Hospitality Conference to celebrate the achievements of women.
Hello, I'm Lan Elliot with d e I advisors, and today I'm really pleased to welcome Clara Carter to this episode. Clara is an award-winning meeting and event professional with over 20 years of experience. In 2004, Clara founded the Multicultural Convention Services Network. or C S N, which has a really incredible story, which I'm really excited for her to share. And Clara has also launched the Women in Tourism and Hospitality Conference, which we'll also hear more about. Really exciting conference that she's been doing. Welcome,
Clara Carter:Clara. Thank you so much, lane for this time with you today and this opportunity to share. Thank. Claire, can we start
Lan Elliott:with with you sharing with us how you first became interested in the events business?
Clara Carter:Sure. I came I believe it kinda started back when I start planning all of my class reunions, right? how we all get in there and plan. I had no idea that planning those class reunions would then eventually lead to. Having a job as a meeting planner. So it started there. And and then how did it morph? From my corporate job I was just tired and tired of the corporate life after 22 years, and I had it up to here as many of us. Can test two, we get a little bit tired of that. But then I realized I had a network outside of my corporate job and one day I just was sharing with them how I was really trying to figure out what my next act was going to be. And I really didn't know where, how, what that was. So this guy who happened to work for the Convention and Visitors Bureau, he says, He said, I think you would be great as a meeting planner. So I was sitting there meeting planner. What the heck is a meeting planner? And so I had no idea, okay? Because again, I was a mapping technician. that's very different. And so after that then tells me, he says, okay. I said what do I do? And then he started telling me the things. I said, oh, that sounds like fun. You said you actually mean get paid for that. So he said, yeah, Clara, people get paid for that. So I looked into it, dove a little deeper and found out they had these classes at S D S U San Diego State University. And I went on and took the extended studies while I was still working, found out I had all of what they were asking. Saying that a meeting planner had to have and all the skills. So as I tell people all the time, we have the skills, they're transferrable skills. So whatever you're currently doing on your existing job, just think about what you wanna do on the next job and those skills go with you. So that's pretty much how I did it, and I went in and took those classes. And before you know it I was ready, I was charged up. I was like, yes, let's do this, Clara and I but I didn't quit my corporate job, right? So I just started creating events and things of that nature. And the next thing I know, there I was and was ready to take the next step. So that's pretty much how I got started into meeting planning event.
Lan Elliott:And is that when you started M C
Clara Carter:S N or was that later? Ooh, much later. Much later. I was this serial entrepreneur, right? As many of us are, because you don't really know what you wanna do when you first, start. And so I was doing a little bit of everything before my good friend pulled me in to say, Hey, why don't you take some classes at sdsu? And so I was doing a multitude of things and one of the things that I really enjoyed was I had this gifts and art business, and I would do that moonlighting, right? And I was doing so extremely well. I took a model from Princess House, remember back in the Princess House days and I took their model and I started doing those home shows, and then it just kinda led to. one thing after the other, and then I had to put that plan together one day to just make that plunge, make that leap of faith as I call it, Can you share a little bit about why
Lan Elliott:you started M C S N and why there was a need for it?
Clara Carter:most definitely. I started MCC c s and after going to several conferences that was this fast forward of my corporate life I started going to many conferences that were industry related. Per my good mentor, that was at the C B and that's when I really realized that wow, other destinations are, they have a multicultural segment to their city. And then I was, started looking back on my own city cuz they asked you, take a look at your city and if you guys don't have a multicultural anything there, that means that you need to do it. right? And I was like, there's this is a hundred billion dollar industry. I'll never forget those numbers, right? And it was like, this is a hundred billion dollar industry and I'm not understanding why these destinations are not focusing on this target market. So I came back and I was questioning myself and the city, and I said, I wonder why they're not focusing on this. And so I said to myself I'm gonna do it because in that class that I took that session at the conference, he challenged all of us. He later became one of my mentors. That's another story. But he challenged all of us and said, if you do not have a multiculture, anything there, then you shame on you, is what he said. Shame on you. So I was like, Ooh, shame on me. I'm gonna do it. So I remember lane at, during break time during that conference, I went over to him, this guy, and I'm gonna call his name out cuz many people know him in the industry. Big advocate in tourism, Roy J. And do you know? I don't, okay. Roy Jay, he's out of Portland, Oregon. And so I recall him I went and I approached him. I didn't know any of these people and I approached him. I said, look, I heard what you said, loud and clear in that breakout room. And I really, I'm interested. and going back to my respective city and I just wanna know, can I call on you? Will you help me? that's the beginning. That's the beginning of a mentorship. You gotta ask the question. Yes. And he said, of course I will. I was just blown away, right? Because I was like, oh my God, this guy is an icon in the industry and he says he's gonna help me. And he. So that was the beginning of it all, and that's how I came back and saw a need that was not being fulfilled. And I decided, you know what, no one else is doing it, but guess what? I'm getting ready to do it. And I did. You did and you were so
Lan Elliott:successful that the mayor of San Diego created not only an MCC SN day in 2007. There's also been three Clara Carter days in San Diego since then. But I love, what I really love about your business is that it grows the pie of business. Into San Diego. So what you were doing is you were reaching out and bringing groups that were not coming to San Diego at the time. Black groups Hispanic groups, other sorts of groups that just were going to other cities but weren't coming to San Diego. And I'm just curious how. Were you able to reach these groups and to do it, whereas there were
Clara Carter:others
Lan Elliott:who arguably had a bigger budget that you, than you had at the time that weren't able to do it. How did you manage to do that?
Clara Carter:Okay, great question, lane and again, I went back to my mentor from the beginning and I said, look, this is what I would like to do because I had at this time been invited to many FAM tours, familiarization tours for those that are not in the industry, and those are tours that they invite meeting planners into their destination. Do a dog and pony show for three days and show you the best that city has to offer. So I had gone on like maybe three of these, and I'm sitting there like every time I went on something, my mind would just go crazy with ideas, right? And I'm sitting there oh my God, this is what they're doing in New Orleans. This is what they're doing in Philadelphia. Oh my goodness. So before I knew it, I got all these thoughts in my mind and I said, we don't have anything like that in San Diego. So I came back and I created a multicultural familiarization day for San Diego, the first that they had ever had. And the first one I did all by myself, right? with the help of course, of my dear new mentor and I asked him, I said, this is what I want to do. I took, the challenge and I wanna invite all of these players, but I don't know them. Yeah because I'm new, I don't know these people. I said, but I wanna invite the best of the best. And what I wanna do is I wanna have Hispanics, I wanna have Asians, and I wanna have African Americans. I wanna target those three demographics of group. I said, but I need you to help me identify who these people are. These top meeting planners, right? In these ethnic. He started naming off the people to me. Still didn't mean anything to me, but I said, okay, can you help me? Can you introduce. and I said I could take it from there. So he introduced me and the rest is pretty much history. Every, everybody that he introduced me to, they said yes. And then my good friend from the C V B helped me to put together my, my cheat sheet, if you will, to qualify everyone you know. And and then from there, I created this amazing. Program. And I'm telling you, it was amazing because I, what I did is I just focused on what the needs were for each of those ethnic groups, and I painted the city to mirror their cultures. So though the city didn't have it for them to clearly see when you go into a destination, most of the time they don't have it. But you as a planner, as a creative person, needs to paint that picture and show them what it could look like for them, what your destination could look like. So that's how I did it. And I'm telling you, after the first. Then it got to be a little bit more interesting, right? Because now something came into play called the Tourism Marketing District Funds. and I don't know if that's somewhere later in your interview, but then I created three of these consecutively and which changed the dynamics of the city of San Diego, as I call it, put San Diego on the map for multicultural tourism for meetings, convent. Where people otherwise were not coming into the city. And that's a whole nother interview as to why they were not coming into the city and the conversations that we had that led me to say guess what? That was then? This is now and this is what we're doing. So I have not had to, to market and advertise after I created those programs for 10 years straight. Wow. My business was just repeat, repeat. They were telling the other planners and telling the other planners and soon my name became a household name for San Diego. You know you're going to San Diego, you gotta see Clara Carter, you
Lan Elliott:know? So that's how I met you. I was going to, to San Diego and someone said, you have to meet Clara Carter. See, I'm so glad I did. But you have built quite the network in this way. Can you share a little bit about building your network? how
Clara Carter:that's worked for you. building my network. That's really a crucial piece to being an entrepreneur. building my network is all about me again going outside of my comfort zone, excuse me. Going outside of my comfort zone, going to these destinations and cities to. Other conventions, meeting all of these wonderful people all around the globe. It just warms my heart. I love meeting people. And then finding out that you have this commonality, in terms of what it is that you are looking to do to make a difference, in your respective city and for the suppliers and planners and that. That's how I really started to build my network is going out to these conferences. And then once I build it outside of the city of San Diego, inside of the city of San Diego, I created additional programs, which were mixers. I started doing professional networking mixers. and the purpose was that I would then bring the ethnic suppliers, cuz I have my hands on the pulse of them in this city. And then I would bring the hotels and the other hospitality professionals together so that they now can't say they don't know who these people. And that they're, the reason why they're not doing business with them locally is because they don't know where to find them. They don't know that they exist. Guess what? I'm gonna invite them and I'm gonna invite you and now we're gonna, have this happy go. Yeah. You use
Lan Elliott:your connections to create opportunities for everybody. Yes. When people say, I don't know where to find, I'm, I'd love to have diverse suppliers, but I don't know where to find them. You have the answer for
Clara Carter:that. So I have the answer for that. And as I say to everyone, your network, how big is your net? Always say that. How big is your net? And your net is your net worth? And you don't ever know when you might need these connections, but at some point it's gonna come back around and you're going to need to connect with those people. That's great advice.
Lan Elliott:Now, you had a great COR corporate job, and then you took the plunge to start MCC C S N, and you left the corporate world, and that was a big risk to go out on your
Clara Carter:own. Can you talk a little bit about what
Lan Elliott:were the thoughts and just generally about. Taking
Clara Carter:risks. I can talk about that. And thank you for taking me back because so often people are stuck in these jobs and they're thinking, I have to stay here because as we are the baby boomers, we were taught to go get that good corporate job, and often, and we did, but all the time the corporate job is not the wherewithal and that does not mean that's where you have to stay. Okay. And so with that, yes, it's scary cuz people ask me often dang Claire, were you wasn't scared. You would have, you had this good corporate job and you were doing all these things. You were buying this, or you had your home, you had this, and I. Yeah, it was scary. I said, but guess what? I said it's a risk and staying here at this corporate job is a risk. Okay? Because at any given moment, they can say, Hey, Clara Carter, today's your last day. We no longer need your services. It happens all the time. So I decided, you know what, Clara, you can't have fear. As you move forward in life, you've given these people 22 years of your life, you're still young cuz you started as a baby here, okay? At this company, straight outta high school, right? 19 years old. What did I know? Okay. In a corporation. And so I said I've given them. 22. I have my husband, my children, and now it is time for me to turn that page and start my next act as I call it. This is my next act. And and so I decided, Hey, I had a plan though. As I tell people, don't just get a thought in your mind and say, tomorrow I quit. No, you can't do that. You gotta have a plan in place. And so with that, the risk that were there was, okay, how am I gonna pay my mortgage? How am I going to supply the needs of my two children who are now, junior high school and high school? How am I going to help that and contribute? And so all I knew was I had to have a lot of faith. I had to have a lot of perseverance and determination, to make it happen. And at that point I was like, there's no turning back. Once you give your. And I will pay all your bills up. I did that made sure I was bed free, and so it took me eight years. Wow. And people don't know that. When the thought came in my mind that I wanted to leave, it took me eight years to really launch and leave, and I had no regrets and never turned back. And it's been 23 years, 22 years. Because I left in 2000. So yeah, it's been a journey and those are some of the risks. It's all about, just knowing that that you can do it and making sure that you have the right team and support around you. And I had an amazing husband that was very supportive and still st and still is supportive in my family. So I had no regrets and I knew I was a workaholic and I knew I had all what it takes to just, make things happen. And
Lan Elliott:energy, I was good. I could bottle your energy. We could run, the power of San Diego with just your energy,
Clara Carter:Yes. Got a lot of energy and thank God for that
Lan Elliott:So you've been running your company for 22 years, we said.
Clara Carter:did you,
Lan Elliott:can you share a story about when you ran into a difficult situation and how you handled it? Cause it sounds like everything is wonderful, but of course everyone encounters bumps in the road. And I'm
Clara Carter:curious how Clara
Lan Elliott:handles those bumps in the road.
Clara Carter:And, I have a few of those and I'm gonna try to pick out one that's really a really top one. I'm gonna, I'm gonna pick out one that. Was a really big challenge for me. It was the biggest challenge I would say to date in my career as being a meeting planner, and that's when I decided that I was going to compete for tourism dollars. To run my program. that multicultural fam tour. Because as I mentioned earlier, I started that the first year. I did it on my own with my own monies, funds, all of that stuff. And then the city just wrapped their har arms around me and pitched in second year. I then learned about this TMD money, which is a tours of marketing district, and that money is for putting heads in. Okay. If you can put a program together and show that you can have a R ROI on the return with putting heads and beds by having these visitors come into your destination, then they were willing to take a risk on you to give you marketing money, right? But you had to do this Po Dog and pony show and, prove to them that you could here I am, new kid on the block again in this. And I had to, confront and be faced with 15 corporate white guys. Okay. Imagine that. Okay. At this table I knew none of them, and they, most of all of them were hotel owners. they made up this T M D and so you had to, put your state, your case, put this thing. So I had to do that. I had to stand up before them. I had to make sure I dotted all my i's, crossed all my T's, and stand up and convince them that the program that I was created, that I had created here was actually going to generate millions and millions of dollars for the city of San Diego. They were looking at me because I didn't have a team, I didn't have a staff or anything like that. And they're looking at this little black woman here telling them that this is what she's gonna do. And they're like, I don't even know her. Where did she come from? And she, so I heard all this shitter chatter talk and I said, you know what? Let me tell you something you don't have to know. I don't know you either. Okay. I said so. Hey we're either but what you do need to know is that I'm no different than the next person that is going to come here and state their case to you. And you don't know if they're gonna be able to put those heads in beds either, but you're gonna take a chance on somebody. I said, so I'm asking you to do the same thing for me. Take a chance on me. Fast forwarding. Did they take a chance on me? Yes, they did. Okay. But it would, it didn't go down easy. It was a fight all the way to the finish line. But for three consecutive years, I showed back up. I showed back up, I showed back up. Consistency, pers. Resilience, you're talking about all those things that I was still like, these people don't know me, but every year they gave me more money. More money, which then helped me to go out and get national media. to back me. So now I've got the Hispanic media, I got the African American media, I got the Hispanic meter be behind me on a national basis for tourism. And they, so you can see how all of this stuff goes in terms of how I got myself on the map. That's, because they put all of these ads and things in for me because I was paying them to market and promote the Destin. And then again in a matter of three years, it was over 5 million that I was able to bring into the city of San Diego, with these conferences. So
Lan Elliott:that's astounding business. That was just going somewhere else before, and you put San Diego on the map for those groups. So I, how you grew the pie in that way and you had to overcome some real difficulties in order to get there.
Clara Carter:It was a whole bunch, a whole. In between all that and,
Lan Elliott:You had mentioned one of your mentors earlier. Can you share a little bit about mentors and maybe people you've mentored and how you pick who you mentor and what you want
Clara Carter:them to know? Okay. Could you repeat that? A call is coming. I'm
Lan Elliott:sorry. So just talking about mentors and mentoring, you had mentioned one of your mentors earlier. Can you share a little bit about if there's maybe another story about one of your mentors and then can you also share, I know you also mentor young people, what you look for and what are the things you really want them to know? So mentoring from both sides.
Clara Carter:Okay, sure. What some of the other mentors I have I have three or four mentors now, right? Some are men and some are women. All of them are not industry related, right? And I tell people that all the time. You don't have to have a mentor that is in your particular industry to mentor you. What it, what you do need to have is somebody that believes in. Believe in what you're doing and will support you and has the advice to give you from a professional standpoint, right? Yeah. And that's what I look for in these mentors. And they have helped me in numerous ways, and many of them came to me. I didn't even have to go to them and ask them to mentor me, which is different cuz most of the time people go and ask a mentor to mentor them. But these mentors saw what I was doing and they saw that, I didn't have this huge support. And they're like, we need to help her. How can we help Clara? And they came to me and said, look, I like to mentor you. I like to do this. And I was less like some of the best in the industry. I'm telling you some of the best and some of the best professionals out there, entrepreneurs, and these are all seniors to me. And so anyway, so those are some of the mentors and what they have done for me is, I can't even put a price tag on it, right? Because they have helped me to get through some really difficult times, and a lot of times, again, people think that entrepreneurship is all, Just the most beautiful thing that anybody could ever do. What they don't know, that we as entrepreneurs, we have our highs and our lows, and I call'em, sometimes we have those gutter days, and then when you have those gutter days and you really live really low, you're down there. You're like, oh my God, this day is look sucks. How do I pick myself up? I make that phone call like, Today is that day. I need you to tell me something good And they generally always do. And then they're like, what's, what is it Clara? What are you struggling with? Da. And I tell'em and they're like okay. Dust yourself off. Get back up. and go for it. You have what it takes. So they, so those are things that mentors are great at, is, helping you when you are not feeling at your 100, and also helping you when you are feeling at your 100 to help you celebrate those little. Achievements, right? And as it relates to mentors and mentees. Yes, I have mentored so many young adults, and I as I mentioned to you once in a conversation many people don't know that I started my business by mentoring International. And that got me, it kept me well-rounded because what it did for me is I was then able to learn all these different cultures and these were students that were coming into San Diego to learn English as a second language, and they had to put in some time to, other business professionals. So I signed up for that and I'm telling you, it was the best decision that I had ever made. And they have gone on to be Phenomenal industry leaders now all over the world. So that just gives my heart, just does me real good to know that I helped to contribute to that, so that's
Lan Elliott:wonderful. That's wonderful. I wanna switch gears a little bit, make sure that we cover the conference that you started putting on the Women in Towards and Hospitality Conference. Can you share a little bit about why you started that conference and what the goals are for
Clara Carter:it? Sure. I started that conference by the conference started two years ago. We're, this'll be our second annual conference. The conference actually spins off of our four year program of celebrating women. In a motivational luncheon. It started there me looking at, women that were running the city of San Diego that were not getting their fair share of recognition. And many people didn't even know that the city was being run by women at this point. But I knew because my job was always to dig deep and to just know. City is operating. Who is at the helm of this? Who are the CEOs? I wanna know who are those people that are running this tourism city. So I learned that there were these women and I was like, oh my God, who would've known that? And nobody knew it. So I said, I'm gonna do an event for them again cuz I'm that girl, right? I'm always creating something, right? So I said, next year I'm going to put together an event that is gonna honor women that have been leading the way in tourism. And and I know that they probably feel the same way as me because women, we do it. We're expected to do it all, and that's probably why a lot of people don't even know who they are because they are women. They are, I call'em they're boss ladies. They're kicking butt, but during the day, they're doing what they do at night. They're still working. We're working around the clock. Cause now we gotta come home, we gotta attend to our kids, we gotta attend to our families, elders, what have you. And so we're, I did that event lane, and I must tell you I was overwhelmed by the response. And what I did is had a platform for them to share their stories on how they broke through the glass ceiling and share it in a motivational, inspirational type of way to inspire other women that were sitting out there to say, this can happen for you too. All we need is somebody to give us an opportunity and to share. So I asked them would they come on to do this? And they said, yes, Claire, we would. And till today is like, it was four consecutive years of sellout. Every year we were growing it by 25%. 25%. And it's sold out. So in the fifth year, I said in the fourth year, I said, if this sells out one more year, we're gonna turn it into a conference, because that means that people want more. My board, I formed a board. They said, Clara, you're absolutely right. Whatever you think, we'll do it. So we did the first conference during Covid, no doubt. Wow. And 2020. It was supposed to happen in 2020, but of course everybody know what happened there, and then it got pushed out to 2021. We had three restarts, so 20, 21, September last year we had over 200 attendees that came out during Covid to help celebrate 200. Doesn't sound like a whole lot of people, but it was a whole lot of people during Covid, right? Because people were afraid to come. Yeah, so again, this year I'm excited about it because we're expecting 300 people at this year's program. And we have our theme is, I think it's very appropriate charting our future and leading with resilience. That's great. because I believe that's what we all are doing at this time, is leading with that. And some of the things that I plan to accomplish at this year's conference some of the goals here is that we just wanna continue to motivate, inspire, women, we want to provide information to them on how do they how do we increase the diversity and. And inclusion of all women at all levels and stages of their career. And then we want to also make sure that we are are leaving an a legacy with scholar. With the students. So we do a scholarship fundraiser, to encourage the next woman, as they say, passing the baton. So I'm really excited about this year program, because we have some of the top. leading professionals as we did last year, and one includes you, Ms. Lane. Okay. But we have a really great program that is gonna be inclusive of all of what we need right now in this industry to get us back. Going and have our industry to, to start booming once again. So again I'm really excited about it. We have our exhibitors, we have some ex surprise elements that are that we partnered with for our opening reception. But we changed our format this year, Elaine, based on. our feedback from last year's attendees were, we had workshops last year. Okay. And because it was a one day conference, people didn't have an opportunity to really hear from all of the presenters as many as they wanted to. So we decided this year, you know what? We're gonna have a different platform and we're gonna have panel discussions. We're gonna have keynote present. We're gonna have panel discussions. We're gonna still have our signature awards luncheon with our honorees until today. We have 32 of those honorees, okay? All C-suites that have been doing fabulous things in the city. But that's what we're gonna do this year. And we have our exhibit, our. Interactive exhibit marketplace where a lot of things are gonna be taking place. All the food and beverage is gonna be inside of that place, but we're gonna see the best and the, and the products and services that are out there and help again, for our industry to reconnect with each other. and to just move forward, with with resilience, move forward with resilience, so those are some of the things that I can say that I am most proud of by. This year's program. Thank you. It's
Lan Elliott:such a wonderful program and the inspiration for it is so timely,
Clara Carter:And needed. So thank you. Thank you for that. So thank you.
Lan Elliott:Could you share maybe one last piece of advice, maybe some advice you would offer to your
Clara Carter:younger self? some advice I would offer to my younger. I would probably say to my younger self that you should always, surround yourself again with the best and the smartest and the brightest, that you don't have to know everything, because what you don't know the next person knows. I learned that from my interns. But what you don't know someone else knows. And one of the other things that was so hard for. As my younger self is, don't be afraid to ask people for help. And we as women have been, I think as part of our DNA or something, I don't know, but we just. I feel like I don't have to ask them. I can figure it out. Like you and I on this technology we'll figure it out. Ok. that's one of the hardest things. It was for me, lane as an entrepreneur is to ask people for help, and. And then when I did, when I finally started asking for help, I was like, wow, these people really wanna, why they wanna help me? And they really, truly, generally want to help. But if you don't tell them, then they don't know that you need help. So that's one of our biggest lessons learned as I started off as an entrepreneur, is to ask for help. That's wonderful.
Lan Elliott:Wonderful. Thank you and thank you cla Clara so much for joining me today. I thought the discussion was really great about your very inspiring career and the things that have motivated you to do a lot of really amazing things and amazing things for the city of San Diego. So thank you. I wanted to thank you for sharing your journey and your dedication to lifting women and minorities and creating a more inclusive hospitality industry for.
Clara Carter:Thank you so much. Thank you so much. And one other piece of advice that I want to say, because people say this about me all the time, that you gotta show up as your authentic self. People are not looking for this sugar coated person or somebody that you're, you saw, and I wanna be like them. They want you to show up as your authentic. And just be true to the purpose and the mission. Okay. And show up to win. So that's what I like to leave you with. Thank you. Great advice. All right, thank you Clara.
Lan Elliott:And for our viewers I'm going to put up our website, the link to our website for d e i advisors, if you'd like to check out. Podcast that we've done. So thank you very much for joining us today. Thank you, Clara.
Clara Carter:All right. Thank you so much, lane. Bye-bye.