Our Story
The Link Event Professionals was founded in 2003. At that point, we had decided to niche ourselves firmly in real estate events. This plan worked well for us for a few years, until the market crashed in 2007. This devastated the community that we had put everything into, and we ended up losing all of our clients. We struggled and fought for the next two years, changing our business plans along the way. We learned our lesson the hard way - and decided to fully diversify The Link and change so we could be sustainable in any economy, and successful regardless of what the future held. For the next ten years, we continued to grow and expand the services we could provide to the event industry. Cue 2020 and the COVID-19 Pandemic. While the event industry was one of the hardest hit during this global pandemic, we leveraged our new goals and business plan. We had learned the hard way, but now had the resources and skills to pivot and adjust to the new needs of the industry. With over 140 years of combined planning experience, The Link is stronger than ever; and we are proud to be able to continue to support the industry we love - virtually and in person!
Meet The Team
Tara Liaschenko, CMM, QAS
Founder & Creative Executive Officer
Past President MPI Tampa Bay Area Chapter
Jan Weldon
Founder & CFO
Amanda Sequeira, MBA, CMP, HMCC
Director of Business Development & Events
Past President MPI Connecticut River Valley Chapter
Meli Herrera
Senior Event Planner, Operations Manager & Show Caller
Bi-Lingual - Spanish and English
Sarah Jean Joanis
Director of Conferences and Events
Past Board Member of the Tampa Bay Area MPI Chapter
Leslie Arsenault
Meeting and Event Manager
Jeannie Power, CMP, DES
Event Technologist
Past President MPI Virginia Chapter
Our Vision
To achieve client goals and meet attendee needs through multifaceted meeting or event experiences curated by our expert team.
Our Mission
To foster dynamic and meaningful engagement for individuals and organizations through innovative meeting and event design.
As a women-owned business, The Link Event Professionals, Inc. values and promotes inclusion and diversity within the meeting and events community. The Link is committed to providing a welcoming and equitable environment with opportunities for employment and engagement regardless of an individual's ability, age, appearance, ethnicity, gender identity, geographical location, national origin, professional level, race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status.
What People Are Saying
Once we chose The Link Event Professionals to be our virtual event management firm, I felt such relief that we weren’t going to have to go at it alone. Having never been responsible for a virtual event for 1000 people before, I was very nervous about it, but with every meeting, Jeannie and her team put me at ease.
We, unfortunately, worked with another virtual platform and partner on [a previous event]. It went well but came with a lot of stress and pain points, and I can tell you, this was a night/day experience for us – our entire team felt better from beginning to end with The Link Events being our partner. To me, that’s the keyword here: Partner. We felt like The Link Event Professionals were our partner throughout the entire process. They became a part of our staff and wanted it to be as successful as we did, and it was because of that effort that we had an extremely successful event, with very little stress! I must have said a hundred times, “I don’t know how we would have done it without them.”
Anissa Starnes, IOM, Vice President, Member Engagement
Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives
“Tara Liaschenko’s contribution to our conference exceeded all expectations and elevated our event to a more professional, more engaging level. Tara was responsive to all staff needs and questions, turn work around quickly, and collaborated directly with our AV crew to ensure that our general sessions ran smoothly. The presence freed the conference staff to focus exclusively on event logistics, which made for a better overall experience for our attendees who received more of the staff’s time and attention. Tara poured hours of time into both the planning of the production schedule and the on-site execution, and it showed in each general session she oversaw. We are grateful to her for the attention and care she devoted to our conference, and we hope to have the chance to work with her on future projects.”
Katie Cruikshank, Education & Events Manager
Florida Society of Association Executives (FSAE)
“Even though we all work really hard to make this event successful, none of it would be possible without the support from Tara & Jan at The Link Event Professionals. They make sure we have everything we need, and that the event runs smoothly. Without them, I would have given up a long time ago.”
Suzanne Eastridge
University Area Community Development Corporation, Inc. (UACDC)
“Thank you so much for all of your hard work on The Fishermen’s Ball. We are so appreciative of everything you do - as time and time again you go above and beyond what is necessary. We are so lucky to work with you on this event!”
Amanda & Lindsay
Pediatric Cancer Foundation
“Thank you again for inviting BizBash to your event. I have to be honest, I have never been so moved at a charity event. I’ve been covering events for 4 years now (I’ve seen it all!) and I’ve never seen so many guests dabbing away tears at various moments - tears of happiness and a promise of a brighter future. Amazing work! The setup, execution, timing ... even the voice of the person instructing guests to make their way into the ballroom was perfect. It was more about the cause than just a beautiful party. I am going to make sure my husband and I are actual guests next year.”
Avian Nobles Curtis, Event Journalist
BizBash