Hello September! Fall is right around the corner, and the progress of the seasons always makes me think of change. And wow, a lot of change has happened this year, and to be honest I think we still have a lot of change ahead of us.

WIPA has been making changes too. Last month I mentioned that we were in the final steps of hiring a Diversity and Inclusion consultant, and I’m happy to announce that we have officially hired her! She has already had a meeting with our Diversity and Inclusion committee, and will continue to join them on their twice-monthly meetings through the end of the year. I’m excited to see the positive progress this is going to bring to WIPA and our industry as a whole!

Another change we’ve made is that we have reactivated our membership dues. As you know, we paused all membership dues at the beginning of March, but the decision was made to reactivate them to allow our chapters to prepare for our upcoming election season. However, we have extended our grace period through the end of the year to allow all of our members ample time to figure out the future for their memberships. We have also discounted our membership renewals by $100 to further help our members navigate this trying time.

WIPA has always been focused on educating the industry, and as our industry continues to grow and change we have found ourselves answering the call for certification. As you may know, we have been working on this certification process for the last couple of years, and incredible progress has been made in the last 6 months. We're getting closer and closer to rolling out the program, but I am excited to announce that we officially have an acronym: CWIP! CWIP, or Certified Wedding Industry Professional, will be bestowed upon all those who pass the certification test. We're excited to complete this project and I look forward to seeing all the CWIPs in your email signatures!

I want to close this message with the words of Socrates: “The secret to change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” The International Board has been working really hard to build the new as we continue to navigate the changes life keeps throwing at us…and I hope you’re doing the same.