Fifteen years ago,
M&C profiled Mary Margaret Meyer, of Silver
Spring, Md.-based M3 Conference Management, as an example of an
independent meeting planner who thrived in a down economy.
Since then, her life has become even
happier -- though her job description has included a lot more
diapers. A year after the article came out, she met her future
husband. They tied the knot in 1994 (which changed her last name to
Hathway), and since then the couple has had six children. Hathway
still runs M3 but now part-time from home, with just one
client.
“Before, I did it in order to make a
living,” she says. “Now I do it because it’s fun and like a
vacation. I work because I want to, not because I have to. It’s
been really good, because I can be a mom and do things with the
kids, and still be a meeting planner.”
Hathway’s only too happy to travel
on-site for conferences -- and it doesn’t hurt that they’re often
held at luxury resorts. “When you have six kids and you leave them
for five days, it’s a break,” she notes.