We spoke with Roxie Bennett of Plan.It Roxie and Bayfm
Starting Plan.it Roxie before the term ‘event company’ was really coined in Geelong, within a decade Roxie Bennett became one of the most asked-for names in the industry.
“Seven years ago the world was a different place,” Roxie laughs about when her business began. “Because of my background in radio I knew what media was and what they wanted… So I just felt I really wanted to attack it differently.”
With the motivation from her partner to start the business as well as her industry know-how, Roxie has landed roles working with the Festival of Sails, Thomas Jewellers, APCO Foundation, Geelong Chamber of Commerce and many more.
As Roxie was spending her days hiring marquees and creating event invites, she also juggled life as a radio host. Beginning early on as one of the few women in radio, Roxie is now a household name with Grant Broadcaster Network's Bayfm station.
“When I got into radio it was at a really good time where everyone had gone from big voices on radio to being very open and real where people shared their stories of everyday life and people would listen,” she says before adding, “And I think for me that was a really fortunate thing, because I could talk for hours!”
With Roxie’s life on the airwaves and on stage hosting at events, she often gets asked how she handles being in the background when it comes to her business – a question she’s happy to correct.
“I get so much more satisfaction of being in the back and seeing someone else shine. And I think that’s part of the essence of who I am,” she says on the matter.
In fact, the greatest moments for Roxie are when she sees a client shine, as she says, “You need to shine, I don’t need to shine”.
A moment of joy came in Roxie’s career as she stood at the back of the room while a client gave a speech to those attending his event. In that speech, Roxie was singled out and thanked for her services.
“I was totally blown away he actually acknowledged me... it made me realise that what you do when you do an event for someone and you do it well, because it means so much, is what they get out of it and how they feel is really awesome,” Roxie beams.
Furthermore to wanting others to shine, Roxie takes it upon herself to help other young women starting their path in business and the industry.
"I help in any way that I can so that they become really good at what they do and then one day they can do that for someone else," she says. "There’s so few of us that we’ve got to stick together. You've got to be that support for each other."
Seeing any woman following her passions is reason enough to feel inspired, and that's just one of the many reasons people are tuning into 93.9 to hear her familiar voice.
See our interview with Roxie here about her favourite spots in Geelong.
