Our Team
Karen Dilligard, Founder & CEO
With more than twenty-five years of experience in the industry, Karen has a keen ability to understand a client’s personality and vision, and infusing these elements into all facets of your event. She is a well- rounded, experienced and professional event planner. Her passion for events started as a teenager in church working with the in-house catering staff. There she learned how to plan events and prepare meals for large groups. Her joy of cooking has never diminished but her passion for planning and decorating took over. She has been able to fine tune her skills and educate herself in the industry working with numerous event planners, florists, caterers, rental companies and more. Karen organized the Wedding Ministry at Salem Baptist Church of Chicago where she and her team assist in facilitating the onsite weddings and events held at the mega church. Karen has a Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Management from Illinois State University. She is a Certified Wedding Planner with the Association of Bridal Consultants and an Accredited Event Designer with the Institute of Wedding & Event Design
Lisa Cooper, COO
Lisa L. Cooper is the Chicagoland Community Relations Specialist in the Public Affairs Department at State Farm Insurance Companies. She began her career in the insurance industry 24 years ago. Lisa joined Exquisite Affaires in 1999. In addition to her work with corporate event management, she learned more about the wedding and social events industry by attending multiple Special Events conferences. Lisa has served as a wedding facilitator with Salem Baptist Church of Chicago. She has double major in Political Science and Spanish from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain. She is bilingual. Lisa has produced several events, corporate and social, in a variety of venues. Lisa is a member of the Public Relations Society of America and the Publicity Club of Chicago.
Robbin Johnson
Director of Operations
Sonja Anderson
Creative Director
Rebekah Hurley
Production Manager