Median salary: $51,438
Average starting salary: $25-30,000
Percentage of event planners who are female: 85%

Were you the girl who always got yelled at in class for socializing? Do you love making lists and organizing fun activities for your friends? If you’re great at reading people, organizing and using your creative side, event planning may be the career for you.

Whether it’s a wedding, bar mitzvah or celebrity studded bash, opportunities for event planner are more diverse and lucrative than ever. When it comes time to plan an event, the planner must be omnipresent – taking care of everything behind the scenes with precision and putting guests and party throwers at ease at the same time. One day they might be wine tasting with sommeliers, trying to pick the perfect chardonnay; the next day they may be wearing a headset on the red carpet. Rachel Hollis, event planner and owner of an event planning firm in Los Angeles, Chic Events, has found the career to be her perfect match. “I’ve always loved to entertain and throw parties; when I realized people did this for a living I knew I had to be one of them,” says Hollis. “I remember stopping for a moment in the midst of [my first day] and just thinking, ‘THIS is what I was born to do!’ I still feel that way every time an event comes together.”

HOW TO BECOME AN EVENT PLANNER

Education: Is a degree necessary?
It depends on who you ask. Hollis got her first job halfway through college and opted not to finish her degree. “Before I started my company, I spent a year working full time and interning with event planners on weekends for free to learn the ropes. In this industry I believe it’s all about experience; no school in the world can teach you what to do if the power goes out, catering kitchen catches on fire and you have 100 extra guests.”