Environmentally & Socially Responsible Event Planning * Consulting * Staffing * Catering

What our clients say about us...

  • “You have extraordinary attention to detail. You took care of the little things (like the place setting utensil twine and the food platter you sent up to the girls’ room) that we didn’t even think about. We’d be able to tell future clients to feel confident that everything will be taken of with style, even the things they may not have thought of beforehand.” – John, on his wedding

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Checking in with myself...

Sometimes its easy to forget how important the intimate connections we form with people we work with. Sometimes you just have look back at some of the nifty things people say as a poignant reminder. I found these two gems on my LinkedIn and until recently I forgot about them. Only until recently till my layoff did they become even more relevant to me personally and help me refocus on Simplicity as a means for social change.

Carly, Student, York University (colleague):

"It's been a while since I worked with Rolo but I saw someone else recommend him in my feed and I must say he is a very recommendable guy! I worked directly for Rolo as a bartender at one of his events when I was in school. He is an excellent leader with a true passion and dedication to his events business and it's overarching vision. He rolls up his sleeves and leads by example ensuring everything goes off without a hitch. I wish him all the success in the world. He truly deserves it." August 29, 2011

Melissa Dedic, Senior Foodraiser, Second Harvest:

“Rolando's good heart and community-centred principles are what distinguishes his business: Simplicity Event Planning & Catering from other similar companies. I first met him at our warehouse. Rather than letting excess food from an event he recently catered go to waste, Rolando delivered it to Second Harvest (my place of employment; a food rescue charity in Toronto). Because of his great environmental and social conscious, Rolando's excess food is delivered to social service programs across Toronto via Second Harvest. To date, he has donated enough excess food to feed nearly 400 hungry Torontonians! This is food that would have otherwise gone to waste if it wasn't for Rolando's efforts to rediistribute it to those in need. It has been and continues to be a true pleasure working with Rolando.” August 29, 2011

I guess only through your impact on people do you realize how important it is to keep striving. Thanks gals! It means so much to me to read this and inspires me to keep forging ahead.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Speaking of refreshing... 15 Steps

I just realized (in a good way) how relevant this songs lyrics are to me.


How come I end up where I started?
How come I end up where I went wrong?
Won't take my eyes off the ball again...

Oh indeed. Nothing is truer than sticking to what you love doing!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Being laid off is refreshing!

"One of these things is not like the others..."

So you might be curious where did rolly go for the last two months? The truthful answer is that I'm not quite sure myself!

The last two months have been a complete and utter blur for me and I've barely begun to realize the lessons learned and all the experiences. It has literally been a rollercoaster of emotion, learning, surprises, disappointments, successes and juicy failures. It all started with the opportunity to work for the Centre for Social Innovation as their newly created position of Events Coordinator.

I am never one to back down from a challenge so I jumped at the opportunity to learn more about Social Innovation and systems change on what believe would be a on a strategic organizational level. Certainly it proved a challenge, not only because of the role, but more so of the grief and joy that constantly bombarded me over the past two months. It felt like such a roller coaster!

Words like "system change" "framing" and "push back" filled my head over the past two months, as well as pure e-mail grinding and learning to manage 4 e-mail addresses with the accompanying work culture spam that comes with them. I still do truly hate mass mailing lists because expected inevitably someone gets on a soapbox or doesn't read the pleasant reminder to "e-mail this person off list if you have an answer or are interested". These things simply did not help the 50 hour work week grind.

I have come to realize several things. One of the most important things is that I cannot stop being an entrepreneur. Its a perspective shift that apparently and unfortunately does not seem to jive well with the organizational culture. No matter how ideal you may think it would be, even if it is in alignment with your dreams and goals.

I really do feel like I a hamster in a wheel. The catch was that this time the carrot was good enough for me to be enticed. Still I've got the refreshing experience of being laid off and the integrity to know that I simply did all that I could humanly do as a contributing worker. It looks like it just wasn't "the right fit".