Helga Stewart - "Up Close & Personal"
I am the sole owner/founder of Jus Gorjus. Although I'm a native of the city of New Orleans, I live in Berkeley, CA which is located in the Northern portion of the state and is commonly referred to as the Bay Area. What I love most about being a wedding and event planner is meeting new people, and helping them through the planning process of their event to the final stage of completion, and finally seeing their reaction when they can actually see how the results of a great working relaionship and hard labor helped to bring their dream|vision to reality, thus resulting in "an affair to remember".
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EXPERIENCE
My background incorporates over 30+ years of progressive experience that not only includes administrative support management at the executive level, her experience also encompasses event development, management and marketing for various types of meetings, events and fundraisers.
​I am highly competent, capable, resourceful, and personable, while also conveying a warm, friendly yet professional image at all times. Extremely self-motivated, enthusiastic and with a can-do, positive attitude, I have a proven ability for working in complex and busy situations and is known for keeping a level head at all times and for considering no job as too big or too small.​
THE BIRTH OF JUS GORJUS
As favors for family and friends, I've coordinated and assisted with the planning of baby and bridal showers, birthday parties, anniversaries, retirements, social gatherings, weddings, fundraisers, and family reunions, etc.. After considerable thought and continued encouragement to turn my passion for helping people plan & coordinate events into a business, Jus Gorjus was founded in 2011. After completing the process for obtaining a business license, I applied for enrollment at Women's Initiative for Self-Employment's "Simple Steps to Business Success" business training program in Oakland, CA. After completing and graduating from the program, I embarked the path to follow my dreams of business success.​​
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NATURAL ABILITY TO JUMP IN AND HELP
What comes naturally with me is helping people. I’m always looking out for family, friends, and sometimes people that I come across or meet in general. It’s who I am... it’s what I do… first and foremost… no matter what... I am always offering my assistance whenever necessary whether I know you or not. I also love to encourage, inspire, motivate people to realize and pursue their dreams, to reach for the stars because anything is possible, to be and do their best, give it all to God and to P.U.S.H. [praying until something happens] no matter what.
CONNECTING
What helps me build solid foundational relationships - both personally and professionally - is trust, honesty and great communication. I believe a part of achieving and maintaining success with anything lies partly within those three factors. Communication is one of the most important keys to any great relationship… be it personal or professional. You will have saved the day when you’ve managed to turn a negative situation into a positive one which which will have also helped to establish and build upon the foundation for trust, confidence and depence.​
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A FEW SKILL SETS
I am confident, assertive, and decisive, I know what I want and I go after it. I’m always on my laptop or tablet -you will find that I carry them almost everywhere. I dibble and dabble with what I’ve learned to teach myself in graphic design and I must say that am pretty good for someone with no actual training.
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WHO AM I.... REALLY
I am definitely a family oriented person. Regardless of whether it’s a holiday or not, I love sharing and spending time with both family and friends at large family outings, dinners, birthday celebrations, momentous occasions, etc. even if we’re just hanging out and having fun. I love to eat fried chicken with french fries but my all time favorite are peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches; if I'm not careful, I can go through a loaf of bread in a day.
While growing up in New Orleans, I was always a girly girl but loved and always wore [if I could get away with it] shorts and jeans with tennis shoes or sandals. I absolutely hated dressing and shopping. I know that sounds weird coming from a female but its true. However, my mother - may she R.I.P. - and my two sisters whom I always call the “Hollywood Two” [but as a threesome friends refer to us as the Stewart Sisters] made themselves responsible for making sure I was always fashionable when necessary. Today’s times are different though… I love dressing up and looking good. Although you will still see me in a pair of jeans they are accompanied by a great pair of heels and purse. Although I'm still not that fond of shopping, the first place you will find me in any store is on any aisle having to do with decor. Once I've looked at or found all that catches my eye, then I move on to clothes and accessories. ​
When it comes to accessories, I love the bling, my favorite jewelry pieces are silver or silver with diamonds and pearls. I also love the beauty, elegance and simplicity in something different and “Jus Gorjus”. My favorite color is actually red but not just any red, the deep red that looks rich and elegant.
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​SPORTS
My favorite NBA teams are the Golden State Warriors. Since New Orleans has a solid team again I have to add the Pelicans (although I absolutely hate that name). My NFL favorites are the New Orleans Saints of course “Who Dat” Babbbyyyyy and the Oakland Raaaaaiderrrrsss. My all-time favorite college games to watch are the NCAA March Madness basketball games. Those are absolutely the best down to the buzzer score winning games you will ever see. As for NCAA football, there no favorites there so I root colleges where family and/or friends with relatives that play sports.
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