After two decades of event planning, Hala Bissada gives us her run-of-show

“I’d like to retire,” laughs Hala Bissada, “but I don’t see that happening anytime soon. Maybe a partial retirement.” 

As President and CEO of hala inc (external link) ., an award-winning events agency, Bissada (Hospitality and Tourism Management ‘91) has spent the last 20 years of her career developing and managing memorable guest experiences for clients ranging from corporate giants to not-for-profit charities. 

“We have a really collaborative team, and the typical week depends on what we have in our portfolio. One of our main offerings is developing on-brand guest experiences, like connecting a cause with a story for a charity,” she explains. “Running a business – every day is different, and that’s what makes it exciting.” 

Along the way, she’s collected a few accolades. In 2015, she received an Alumni Achievement Award from Toronto Metropolitan (formerly Ryerson) University, and in 2017, she was named one of Canada’s Most Fascinating Women (external link)  in Canadian Events by Canadian Special Events Magazine. Not to be outdone, BizBash crowned Bissada in 2020 as one of the top 250 event professionals (external link)  in Canada. 

Bissada has built a team she can rely on to work independently when tackling different components of event planning and management, such as site visits, developing creative and social media content. “We haven’t gone back to having an office since the pandemic, but in this day and age, you need to have trust in your employees.”

Years of experience and gut instinct helped Bissada navigate the pandemic, which all but wiped out hala inc.’s bread and butter – live events. “We took the time to learn and become one of the top companies doing virtual events,” she says, “we were doing 3D environments, taking people to Paris – those learnings stayed with us. Today, we can keep costs down by bringing speakers in via livestream and do site visits virtually.”

Before venturing out on her own to create hala inc., Bissada cut her professional teeth at the SickKids Foundation (external link)  after graduating from the Ted Rogers School of Management’s Hospitality and Tourism program. “It’s all team work, TRSM is where I learned to work with personalities and hone my project management skills.” 

“[Toronto Metropolitan] University was the stepping stone to establish my career, and SickKids was the training ground. I learned to be proactive – I was hired part-time and developed concepts for events that became big-money makers for them,” adds Bissada. “Part-time turned to contract turned to full-time.” 

Bissada points to the immeasurable value of mentorship that shaped her education and career. “One professor can change your life. I’m still in contact with Professor Lynn Harrison (external link) . I took a few of her courses, like tourism management; she was an amazing mentor at school and let me do independent projects for marks.” 

“Before I left SickKids, I had two amazing mentors – women who not only moved me along and had me learn new skills, but taught me how to manage your team, trust your team and have respect for your team.” 

By the time she left the SickKids Foundation, Bissada was running their events portfolio. She was brought to the Children’s Aid Foundation (external link)  (CAF) as the Chief Development Officer, a job she insists she didn’t have the qualifications for at the time. “My boss saw something in me and nurtured me, she was another amazing mentor. Eight months before I was supposed to take on a new role of Executive Director at CAF, I told her I didn’t want the role and took the leap of faith to start my own business.” 

It was her mentor at CAF that ended up giving hala inc. it’s first gala event, an experience Bissada hails as a shining standard of leadership.

“SickKids ended up being my second client after CAF. Initially, you are so worried about bringing in revenue,” explains Bissada, “but today, the event has to be good for me and my staff. We take on clients that are collaborative, respect our expertise and have a good sense of humour.” 

With pandemic restrictions in the rearview, Bissada is looking to push hala inc.’s creative muscles, and expanding the diversity of clients and projects she takes on. 

“It’s about finding clients who challenge me. Each project really is its own little business. We just did a show for a client with 60 horses, Blue Rodeo performing and the RCMP musical ride,” says Bissada. 

“It was a seven day set up! Now that we got through that, we can get through anything.”