42 BCBusiness april 2016
cristina
samper pearl
owner, Fluent productions
and the event planner
academy
age: 28
THE STORY: Cristina Samper
Pearl is a child of the world:
born in Minnesota to Colom-
bian parents, she was raised in
Sweden and Abbotsford while
making regular visits to Colom-
bia. So when the Vancouver-
based entrepreneur founded
her event-planning company,
Fluent Productions, in 2012, she
put her cross-cultural experi-
ences, three spoken languages
(English, Spanish and French)
and three passports (Canada,
the U.S. and Colombia) to good
use. Her company plans and
hosts weddings and corporate
events at destinations around
the world—from Paris to Mexico
City to New York—for clients that
include Airbnb Inc., Shangri-La
International Hotels Inc., Lexus
and Topshop. Samper Pearl
learned event planning with a
diploma from Vancouver Com-
munity College but credits her
growing success to people skills:
"It really is just relationship
building, but being genuine and
strategic." She looks to pass on
some of those smarts with her
online training company, the
Event Planner Academy, which
she launched at the end of 2014.
MARKERS OF SUCCESS:
Samper Pearl started her com-
pany as a solo aŸair, but within
six months she hired an associ-
ate to take on some of the grow-
ing workload. The year after
that, in 2014, she hired another
four associates. Not only has
she doubled her income every
year since inception, she's been
able to increase her rates and be
more selective about who she
takes on as clients. —Dee Hon
adam Wicks
owner, Wicks electric inc.
age: 28
THE STORY: Adam Wicks is
literally an accidental entrepre-
neur. Nine years ago, he was a
19-year-old electrician apprentice,
with no plan to start a business,
when he slipped at work and tore a
knee ligament. Emergency doctors
discovered a bone tumour, and in
the months of contemplation during
Favourite TV
show right now?
"Narcos. I wanted to
see what all the fuss
was about and how
accurately they were
portraying Colombia"
30
under
30
a d a M w i c k s
