\u201cIf we have more women lifting each other up, we will have stronger entrepreneurs. We will have stronger businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Lisa Edwin-Herbert, founder of L Edwin Weddings and Events, that conviction is more than rhetoric. More than 25 years ago, she began building a business without mentors, without widespread digital resources and with limited industry guidance. Today, her company operates as a full-service weddings and corporate events brand, recognised for its annual Wedding Expo and its role in shaping a more coordinated approach to event planning locally.<\/p>\n
Grounded in faith and driven by discipline, Edwin-Herbert built her company through trial and error, learning each stage of the industry as she progressed.<\/p>\n
Express Business examined the journey of the woman behind the brand, tracing her path from a small clothing venture to one of the more recognisable names in the local events industry. For Edwin-Herbert, business was never accidental. It began at age 19 or even younger, following in her father\u2019s footsteps, and evolved into an enterprise shaped by faith and persistence.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the start of her business, she said, \u201cI have always loved designing, always loved dressing, and the idea behind it was to create a clothing line that was going to be different; that would incorporate the holistic person, meaning both male and female. And so, in 1998, we opened a brand called L Edwin, but the tagline was: clothing has a new name.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s direction shifted the following year after an unexpected request\u2014\u201cwhen we had a bride come in to us and ask us to design a dress for her. And that is when the whole atmosphere of the dynamics changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The experience introduced her to a gap within the wedding industry. Rather than remain solely in fashion, Edwin-Herbert began studying the operational side of events.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd from there is when it is I started studying different aspects of weddings, meaning the items that would actually be commodities in terms of doing a wedding and having your cake done, your hair done. So, I started studying management in terms of interior design,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She enrolled at the Academy of Interior Design, completing both basic and advanced training. She also pursued certification in cake decorating and floral arranging, expanding her technical understanding of event production.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy 2000, we decided to change the company name to L Edwin Wedding and Events because we started doing weddings and different types of events that wanted our services.\u201d<\/p>\n
As demand increased, the business expanded beyond weddings into broader event management.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I would say by 2006, we had developed a full-fledged event company. And that is when my travel started abroad. I\u2019m going to event conventions and partnering with event leaders across there in making the business a better business,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her approach was informed by observing the stress clients experienced when coordinating multiple vendors independently. \u201cThat person used to be all over the place and they used to be stressed out. So, I saw a lot of stressed-out brides, meaning that they were not wedding planners in those times.\u201d<\/p>\n
She described a process where clients scheduled constant appointments with separate service providers.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, they were going to an appointment every single month or every single week\u2014a photographer this week, a videographer the next week, a cake decorator the next week, a hair stylist, [another person] to get their dress. It was non-stop meetings with all these different 15 different aspects or sectors that would have brought together the entire pie or the entire pizza.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recognising the inefficiency, Edwin-Herbert positioned her company as a central coordinating service. The business transitioned from L Edwin\u2019s Clothing to L Edwin Wedding and Events, adopting the tagline: Let\u2019s Take Care of the Stress.<\/p>\n
The concept later expanded into a yearly wedding and events exposition designed to connect clients and vendors in one space. \u201cPersons would come to our expos and they would go through and get all the different vendors that they liked on one day, and then they would come to us for coordinating. We would reach out to the vendors if they had discount coupons. We would talk to the vendors for their discounts and stuff, and then we would give them one package where they dealt with one person, so they didn\u2019t have to be stressed out and they\u2019d be a guest at their own wedding or a guest at their own event.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Formed by faith\u2019<\/p>\n
Long before entrepreneurship, Edwin-Herbert said her upbringing shaped her work ethic. Raised in a Christian household, faith formed a central part of her development. She was also heavily involved in sport, representing her schools in basketball, cricket and rounders.<\/p>\n
Her early career began at the Sunny Group of Companies, where she worked across several departments before moving into training management.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started off in the casino environment, and then I went into training manager. So, I was able to train staff in terms of coming into the company.\u201d<\/p>\n
The role required extensive travel throughout the Caribbean and internationally, including assignments in South Africa to assist with setting up operations and training teams.<\/p>\n
The exposure to different business environments influenced her later transition into events.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose cultures, emerging of cultures, and seeing how they did it in different countries\u2014I think it gave me a creative mind to start a journey that I ended up in.\u201d<\/p>\n
That business instinct, she added, emerged even earlier. \u201cWhile I was in school, I always was in sales. I was always selling something. So, I always liked that whole business aspect of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was very small, I can remember that I used to play by myself, and I used to shop by myself. I was always selling rice and weighing\u2026and I was the customer, and I was also the shopkeeper. I would wait, and then after I would say, I am the person who is getting the rice, and I am weighing flour. I think I was always intrigued in business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite professional growth, she said entrepreneurship brought periods of isolation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to dive into the inner me because I had no mentor, I had no one to take me on that journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Operating before widespread online learning resources meant relying heavily on experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the days of failure, I had to really dive deep into my belief in God,\u201d she said. \u201cBusiness is an extremely lonely road, and nobody knows what you, the entrepreneur, are going through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Faith became a sustaining force during difficult periods. \u201cI had to believe that he (God) would see me through, that he was the one that caused me to take that path in life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maintaining mental wellness, she said, requires structure. She described a routine centred on worship, workout and family support.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always tell people, I work out, I worship, I bury myself in my work, and I surround myself with my immediate family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edwin-Herbert, a mother and wife, emphasised the importance of stepping away periodically, including annual family trips where work communication is intentionally limited.<\/p>\n
Alongside entrepreneurship, Edwin-Herbert is also an insurance agent, a role she began during the Covid-19 period when business activity slowed. She said the transition allowed her to assist clients with long-term planning beyond events.<\/p>\n
\u2018A focus on people and service\u2019<\/p>\n
The dual roles, she noted, are connected by a focus on people and service.<\/p>\n
Asked about her biggest financial risk, she said launching her exposition required significant upfront investment without guaranteed participation from vendors.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an event that you are producing out of pocket, hoping that vendors take spots in an event,\u201d she explained, noting that revenue uncertainty made early editions particularly challenging.<\/p>\n
Her approach to professional credibility is straightforward. \u201cI underpromise and overdeliver.\u201d<\/p>\n
She intentionally exceeds expectations by incorporating elements clients do not anticipate.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we will pull out all these stops to make sure that when they enter into that space, they have nothing else but to say: \u2018But wow\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about legacy, Edwin-Herbert said her goal extends beyond business success: \u201cIt can be done. We could make it as women. We could live a balanced life.\u201d<\/p>\n
As International Women\u2019s Day approaches, her message centres on support.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think women need to not break down other women, but build them up. I think women need to pull themselves together more, and be strong not just for themselves, but for the other women that are looking at us.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that behaviour modelled today shapes the next generation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t realise how much we are setting that piece, how we are writing history for our younger generation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it is we have more women lifting each other up, we will have stronger entrepreneurs. We\u2019ll have stronger businesses.\u201d She added: \u201cWhen we look at each side and we can\u2019t find another woman to assist us, another destiny helper, it is hard. So, I would say that the message is that women: pull yourself together. Let\u2019s come together and be destiny helpers.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Edwin-Herbert, the statement reflects decades of building, adapting and sustaining a business through changing markets, personal challenges and industry evolution, guided by faith, consistency and experience rather than shortcuts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIf we have more women lifting each other up, we will have stronger entrepreneurs. We will have stronger…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[64,63,99,198,322],"class_list":{"0":"post-520689","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-entrepreneurship","12":"tag-local"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}