Alina Kratova recently moved to San Diego from Moscow, Russia. She is currently enrolled in the Meeting and Event Planning program and is working toward her certificate. She also has over 20 years of international event planning experience.
Before moving to San Diego, Kratova used to own her own company for 12 years. It was a Public Relations and Event Management company called Center of Strategic Analysis (COSA). Prior to that, she used to work in the same area but for country-wide international projects. These projects were funded by the core International Donors – International Finance Corporation (part of World Bank) and Know-How Fund (International Department of the UK Government).
Most of her COSA clients belonged to the aviation industry. One of them was the International Trade Show – Aviation and Space Salon “MAKS” in the Moscow region. Kratova recalls, “My agency served as one of the contractors, attracting 500,000 attendants and 3,000 mass media representatives from all over the world in 2011. I personally hosted and facilitated four scientific conferences/round tables there for the CEO and chief designers, as well as delivered five press-briefings for the mass media.”
Another client of COSA was Plant “Salut,” a national leader in aviation engine design and production. Kratova and her colleagues worked on their concept design, supervised the client booth setup and hosted VIP dinners at the international exhibitions, such as Farnborough, London and Le Bourge, Paris.
Kratova is on her way to earning her certificate in Meeting and Event Planning. She has found the classes to be very informative and helpful. “I am learning a lot from the courses, about the specific practices in the country as well as local resources, such as CVENT.com. I also like the atmosphere in the class,” she says.
Regarding her instructors, Kratova has this to say, “I like that the instructors are in business, bringing a lot of practical experience in the class. I like the Audio/Visual Basics instructor a lot, and Claudia Wehrman, who teaches the Destination Management is great!”
Kratova is currently searching for a job where she can apply her tremendous event planning experience.
