Profile: Laura Shapiro

New head chef appointed to Weston Hall Hotel

"But we are private equity owned so we have to be sales driven, it is as simple as that.

“We are very much about giving people ownership. When I started working here, I launched a brand-new event and I still work on that now.

“We want people to be synonymous with their brands. We don’t really promote CloserStill Media in our sectors, it tends to be the brand of the show and the person behind that brand is just as important. I want people to work for me who want to own their brand.

“In the events industry, everyone knows that it’s like an oscillating line. One week, it might be mad busy and you have to put extra time in, while the next week might be quieter and that’s where you can take your time out. You have to understand that people want a work/life balance.

“For me, I’m always looking for excellent salespeople. They need to be willing to get their hands dirty – picking up the phone, and using all methods of communication. We are a sales-led business. We have to be. Bringing in money is king and if anyone tells you differently they are not in the right trade!”

Like every business, the company faced an uncertain period when Covid hit but it bounced back quickly, with shows taking place at the end of 2021 and revenue returning to normal by the end of 2022.

“Two years later, as a business we are flourishing,” she said. “We are backed by an American fund who are in a position to support the acquisitions department within the company and they’ve been working in overdrive.

“We’ve just acquired another majority stake in an exhibition business which runs luxury shows for cruise ship interiors in London and Miami, making it our fourth acquisition in the last six months, which is very exciting.

While the business has gone beyond pre-Covid levels, Laura says the pandemic has brought the challenge of changing work patterns but believes CloserStill has settled on a good balance of a ‘three days in, two days from home’ hybrid model.

“It’s so important that people get to spend time with their colleagues,” she said, “particularly in the sales department. If you have a bad call, you don’t want to let it linger with you as it will take down your whole day. You need to learn from colleagues, you need to vent, or celebrate if you’ve had a good call. All of that stuff.

“When everyone was at home all of the time it was much more difficult. You can work from home, but it’s different. You need to have one-to-ones with your team and it has to be in person as you get so much more achieved.

“We run face to face events so there is a method to our madness in getting people to be in the same room as one another.”

Laura admits she is working on her own work/ life balance which includes growing produce, Zumba classes and displaying a 1986 Porsche 911 Targa at events at the weekend.

But, even then, she doesn’t switch off.

“If I’m at a show or an event, I’m always keeping an eye on how everything is working and how it has been organised,” said Laura. “It means it’s difficult to get away from the day job and when I do, I just sleep!”