Adriana Hawk left her home of Slovakia (formerly Czechoslovakia), a familiar life and her loving family to find love and participate and contribute her unique talent to the American success story.

With both of her parents having Hungarian heritage, Hawk grew up in a trilingual household.  In fact, she is fluent in four languages – Czech, Slovak, Hungarian and English – and has studied three others: Spanish, German and Russian.  Hawk is the only member of her family to have moved to the United States.  She left behind her brother, parents and grandparents, as well as a small-scale vineyard that has been in the family for several generations.

Growing up under socialism, Hawk never imagined that she would one day be an entrepreneur.  “Back there and then, private business ownership was not a thing until after the Velvet Revolution, which took place shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Those historic moments ended socialism and set off the transformation toward free market economy.”

As a result, Hawk was able to study marketing and business management for small business entities, and it was during her business internship in the U.S. that she met the love of her life, Micah, her husband of 22 years.  Returning to Europe to graduate with an MBA, and after a long-distance courtship, she got engaged on the Charles Bridge in Prague and then relocated to the United States.  After nine cross country relocations due to her husband’s job, Hawk was the family anchor and focused her energy on her two boys.  Eventually, they planted roots in The Village at Castle Pines after the family moved from the East Bay of San Francisco.

Once her children had grown to be more independent, it was the perfect time for Hawk to return to the professional world.  During the years of volunteering as a room mom, Hawk was always involved in event planning, learning graphic design and even basic balloon décor.  What triggered the start of her business was a few neighbors asking her to help them with their kids’ graduation parties.  Word-of-mouth marketing and several referrals later, Hawk launched her own balloon decorating business, Alora Event Design.

Hawk’s mother teases her that her business is “packaging air.” Hawk’s response is that “people think it is just balloons; it truly is not.  It is so much more.  It is planning, ordering, designing, collaborating and executing.”

Hawk loves clean designs and finds beauty in simplicity, achieving elegance and sophistication in her creations.  One of the reasons she chose to specialize in balloons instead of doing full-service event planning is because she noticed just how impactful balloons are at events. Balloons are often what people notice first upon arrival and make the event memorable, according to Hawk.

“Starting and managing my own business in the events industry has been the perfect combination of my business background and my love for all things creative,” she added.

Alora in Greek and Hebrew means “light of God” and in one of the African languages translates to “my dream.”  For Hawk, Alora Event Design was her dream come true.  Celebrating three years in business in August, Hawk is proud to have helped many private clients and businesses with their events and celebrations, big or small.  Her projects have included celebrating the combined 30th anniversary of Thunder (the Broncos horse) and the Broncos Cheerleaders, the Stanley Cup celebration, many corporate events and grand openings, birthdays, anniversaries, baby and bridal showers and engagement parties.

To learn more about Hawk’s business, visit www.aloraeventdesign.com.

 

By ViVi Somphon, photos courtesy of Adriana Hawk