He has a natural dysphonia that gives him a certain charm. “Your daughter has a bolero voice,” they told her mother. He speaks softly, slowly, and when he smiles, his very white teeth and bright eyes stand out. She is a warm and kind woman, crossed by a deep faith.
“I am a woman, a mother, an entrepreneur, restless and I am in a permanent search for the truth and that makes me a person who believes in God,” she introduces herself. Barbara Diez during his talk with NEWS. It is the number one reference in the organization of weddings and events. Businesswoman, international speaker and Disney+ producer. Its name is synonymous with prestige and quality.
She has three daughters—Manuela Calderón (29), from her partner with Carlos Calderón, and Paloma (23) and Serena (9) from her ex-marriage with Horacio Rodríguez Larreta.
News: Why is the search for truth so important?
Barbara Diez: It’s a need, I can’t silence it. My ultimate goal in everything I do is to go to Heaven. See God, my Creator face to face.
News: How did your connection with religion originate?
Ten: My parents planted faith in all five of their children. It is an immense blessing. I notice that people who really have faith are happier. It is something that I sow with great joy in the hearts of my three daughters. It gives me a lot of peace, happiness is peace.
News: What is your life purpose today?
Ten: Giving and receiving love is one of my great purposes and fulfilling the dreams of others fills me with joy. Understand and materialize the client’s dream and exceed their expectations.
News: Actually, you wanted to be an interpreter.
Ten: Yes, I am a translator of technical, scientific and literary English. I wanted to be a simultaneous interpreter and took the entrance exam for the graduate interpreting program at Georgetown University. They admitted me, but they advised me against it because I would not be able to interpret in places like the UN or UNESCO due to my dysphonia. It was a blow. But, in the end, I am an interpreter because I interpret dreams.
News: Did you work as a translator?
Ten: Yes, I translated a book and I also worked in three banks doing translations.
News: Was the first event you organized your own wedding? With your first husband?
Ten: Yes, actually, I was married only once, to Horacio. I knew him as a girl, we had friends in common, we knew who we were, but he called me to translate a book he had written, “Taming the White Elephant,” which he had to present at Harvard. That’s how we met.
News: How was the marriage?
Ten: I was the mother of my eldest daughter, I worked on a digital education platform and I was translating a book. I didn’t have anyone to help me prepare for the wedding and we didn’t have the money to have a lunch or dinner. So, I organized a tea in a room. It was very simple, with a lot of attention to details. I am a big friend of less is more and I aimed for that. I ordered tea sets from my grandmother and my aunt, I made the flower arrangements with one of my mom’s friends. The place was beautiful, I took the average of the last fifty years of sunset, I put in a harpist and there were some servants in the field. It was all wonderful.
News: The beginning of a new professional path.
Ten: Yes, beyond the nice comments I received, I felt that it had been an absolutely different party, with a lot of personality, a lot of imprint. My inner fire told me that it was there and I decided to pay attention to it. I started to find out, to go to churches, I visited florists, makeup artists. My first marriage was that of some friends, the second I received in Patacones and the third was that of Julieta Ortega and Iván Noble.
News: Divine. No?
Ten: A dream. At the Ortegas’ stay in Luján, in the early afternoon. The ceremony was during the day, I had seen that when the sun went down there were about twenty minutes of beautiful half light, the reception when the sun went down and then dinner. We did finger food and it was totally new. The couple were very relaxed and it was a very different, divine wedding. There I realized that the key is that it has the DNA of the couple and not mine.
News: Another magical wedding he organized was that of Luisana Lopilato and Michael Bublé.
Ten: Yes, Michael himself called me on my cell phone to contact me. I was very impressed, my favorite singer. We did it at the Villa María ranch, with a spectacular, open-air hull. The evangelical religious ceremony, the half-lit cocktail, the wonderful tent, we put up chandeliers, divine flowers. It was a magical night.
News: So much so that Bublé sang a song to you and your partner in gratitude.
Ten: Yes, at one point we went to the gate to do press. We were in my car with the couple. They were very happy, they were hugging, and Michael told us: “I am very happy, I want to thank you very much, I am going to sing you a song a cappella.” My partner, Dolores, and I were crying.
News: What was this entrepreneurial path like?
Ten: At the beginning I didn’t think of it as an entrepreneurial path, it was doing what had turned out well for me, replicating it for the joy of others and for that to generate income for me to live on and it worked. I’ve been there for 26 years now. The demand was such that sometimes I didn’t know how to respond. It was wonderful, but I fainted twice from severe stress. That brought on a severe migraine and I understood that it was a growth crisis and that the only way out was to raise my fees to be able to do the number of weddings that my health would allow. Along the way the team grew, I had five partners and we transformed into a company.
News: What is the company like today?
Ten: After the pandemic I made the decision to furlough the entire team. Today I continue doing events and I partner for specific events with some of my ex-partners. We organize weddings, 15th parties, bar and bat mitzvahs, birthdays, baptisms, communions, corporate events.
News: Do you always say yes to the client?
Ten: I never say no as a first answer, but there are things that cannot be done. Guillermo Coria’s girlfriend, Carla, wanted to arrive at the ceremony by balloon. I found out and explained why it couldn’t be done. When not? When there are risks or there is no logical plan B. I don’t have a party if there are three kilometers of dirt and you can’t enter in case of rain. Give bad service, no.
News: Is it the best in event organization?
Ten: I don’t think I’m the best today. Yes, I was a pioneer, I made my way and professionalized the sector. Suppliers recognize that our presence raised the level of events. Today, about six thousand organizers are received per year in Argentina and very good teams have been put together.
News: What distinguishes it?
Ten: My imprint is warmth and quality. I need to create a bond with my client, understand what they want and what they don’t want. If I get the essence, I can give you that and more. The seal of quality is that the event will surprise you because we always go the extra kilometer.
News: What are your satellite businesses?
Ten: My book “Architecture of a Wedding” is in its second edition, it is sold throughout Latin America and is required reading in several universities. We have “Experiences”, the client hires us to organize a multi-day experience in a certain place to go with their friends. Then we have “Weddings and Experiences” for Argentine and foreign clients, which are destination weddings both in Argentina and abroad. A trend at the moment is to get married at ski resorts. The skier bride and groom get married in their dresses and tuxedos and go skiing.
News: Other business units?
Ten: Dress Hunting, I go with clients to Barcelona, Madrid, Portugal or New York to look for dresses for brides, godmothers, quince girls. We go to places previously selected by me. Sometimes that’s just what they hire me for. Scounting is another. I’m going to look for different venues for events, in Dubai or Luxembourg, for example. Yesterday I was in another gem, the best hotel in Argentina and South America, it is sixth in the world, which is The Vines Resort & Spa, in Mendoza. Then there is my academy, where I provide workshops, training, and mentoring. I teach how to undertake and do business with purpose and authenticity.
News: What will your eldest daughter’s wedding be like?
Ten: He gets married in El Dok Haras, a wonderful place in Exaltación de la Cruz. The hall was awarded the best in the world, it has acoustics similar to that of the Colón and there is a chapel, too. It belongs to Diego Lerner, president of Disney. It will be in a year and I hired one of my partners to organize it, although I am also going to participate.
News: Would you get married again? And if you got married, what would that wedding be like?
Ten: I am divorced and married in church. In order to remarry in church, which for me would be a valid marriage, my previous marriage would have to be void and for it to be void there must be certain grounds. So, today for my church I am still married and today it is not an option to think about marriage. But if I were to get married again it would be something totally simple and that would have a lot to do with the sacrament, which would have to be with someone who communed with my purpose, which is eternal life. Work in this life to see our Creator.
