Theresa Marshall - VenueSearch Director & Admin Manager
Born in New Zealand in the Waikato, Theresa moved around a bit with her family and ended up going to 6 different schools, meeting lots of people and really enjoying the school environment. She loved to socialise and as one of the head students at her High School was often involved in organising events.
After finishing school Theresa joined the Banking industry, where she worked for the next 8 years. Banking must have been in her blood, as both her parents were also in the Banking industry - chalking up more than 50 years collectively between them. Trust Bank Auckland (before merging with Westpac) taught her the principles behind providing excellent Customer Service, and it is this grounding that has helped form the basis of Theresa's belief that "providing great service to support a quality product is the key element to any business".
During this time she married Sam – and put her planning and organisational skills to the test by arranging a huge shindig for family and friends. They then travelled for 6 months overseas for their honeymoon – spending time in Europe, Scandinavia, and the UK. Travelling is something she would love to do more of, and is waiting for their 3 children to get a bit older so they too will benefit from the experience.
Having had so much fun planning their own weddings, and like any good kiwi entrepreneurs would, in 1999 Theresa and close friend Sarah Terry set up their own business as Wedding Planners - giving them the flexibility they needed around their growing family commitments. Yes, think J Lo but without the headset… This proved to be a great learning curve – running a business, marketing, product research, establishing a market and learning the industry. Their company proved very successful appealing to a small niche market. Their success included magazine articles, and a weekly slot on the Good Morning Show with Mary Lambie discussing wedding trends. From there the idea for an online interactive venue directory was born. At the time, the Internet was still largely un-tapped, but Theresa felt that it was an area of huge potential, offering both users and advertisers the most cost effective & informative way to connect. After several months talking to other Event Planners about what they would want from a directory, the concept became reality and www.VenueSearch.co.nz went live in 2000.
But its not all work for Theresa who also has a wonderful family - her oldest son Logan has inherited her creative genes and is soon to be a movie producer (or so he tells her), middle boy Brook is her live wire ball of energy, sports mad and brilliant. Youngest child Grace has yet to show her passions, but is a determined imaginative daughter always keen to have someone join her and her dolls for morning tea or an afternoon book read. All 3 keep her really busy with all their after school activities and demands!
Theresa also enjoys painting, walking the family dog Max, and working in her vege patch. She also loves going to the movies or out for dinner with her friends and family, and hanging out with her hubbie Sam.
