Balancing presence, pace and project planning

If you spot a woman speeding down the freeway toward Bella Center at 6:30 a.m., windows down and music blasting, chances are it’s Iris Koraqe. She is not running late - she’s simply excited to get to work.

"I give 200 percent of myself."

Iris is a Team Lead in the Planning team at Bella Center, while also planning and delivering events herself. Her workday is complex. She balances structure, systems, and processes with clients, events, and people. She works with new tools, new ways of doing things, and new expectations - and she’s often among the first to say yes when something needs to be tested.

As she puts it: “Someone has to take the first step.”

That approach to change is one of the things that defines Iris. She doesn’t accept that things should be done a certain way just because that’s how they’ve always been done. She believes the world is constantly evolving - and that we have to evolve with it. New systems. New processes. New ways of working. It can be demanding, but Iris keeps her focus on the bigger picture.

“How you approach things makes a difference,” she says: “Change and challenges will always come. The question is how we handle it.”

Iris is known for staying calm when the pace is high - and for the powerful energy she brings to those around her. Two seemingly contradictory qualities, yet both are equally present in the way she shows up as both a colleague and a leader.

"We do really great things here."

“I give 200 percent of myself,” she says. Not as an expectation of others, but as a description of how she works. She loves her job - the energy, the pace, the relationships, both with colleagues and with clients. She talks about emails from clients who write her just to say hello. About relationships that extend beyond a single event. About asking her team - not only about their tasks, but about their life outside of work. That’s where Iris finds her motivation.

“Change and challenges will always come. The question is how we handle it.”

At the same time, she’s deeply aware of balance. She’s a mother, a partner, and a team leader - and she knows the cost of wanting it all. She’s learned that not everything has to be solved in a single day. That some things are better left until tomorrow. That structure and prioritization aren’t about doing less but about doing the right things. When she goes home, she wants to be fully present. And when she’s at work, she is too.

“Someone has to take the first step.”

When a major event comes to an end, Iris feels a particular sense of pride. Not just in the outcome, but in the process. In the collaboration. In everyone who played a role - both front of house and behind the scenes.

“We do really great things here,” she says. And she really means it.

Iris is the kind of person who makes things happen. Not by being the loudest voice in the room, but by showing up. With energy - plenty of it. With presence. And with a fundamental belief that when people work together, even the most complex challenges can be solved.