Meet the host of the show...Kristina McMorris!

McMorris attended Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., and studied international marketing. As an undergrad, she dabbled in showbiz, starring in soap operas and independent films.

McMorris returned to Oregon after graduating a year early from Pepperdine in the summer of 1995. She went on to try different occupational hats, as an import/export agent and customs clearance broker, and as a sales manager. There was also a brief stint in 1997 as a public relations specialist for Gov. John Kitzhaber's office.

In 1998, the same year she took over public relations at Yoshida's Inc., McMorris founded Best Kept Secret Wedding and Event Co., a full-service event planning business. She discovered her passion for throwing parties while planning her own wedding, an occasion she organized in just two weeks. She also recreated her parents' wedding for their 25th anniversary, complete with the original bridal party and ruffled tuxedos. The experiences inspired Best Kept Secret. "It was so easy for me," she said. "I thought, this would be my perfect job. A perfect job is one that I would do even if no one paid me."

Due to hectic travel and work schedules, Best Kept Secret is on a self-imposed hiatus at the moment. McMorris hopes to focus her full attention on her company in two years or so, "when things get a bit more settled." At that time, she wants to hire a full-time staff and possibly build an indoor/outdoor event site on the east side of town, where such venues, she said, are scarce.

In the meantime, McMorris indulges her passion for party-planning inside and outside of Yoshida's. She organizes the Yoshida Group's annual 500-guest V.I.P. party, a themed-event so ornate "that it's like walking onto a movie set," she said.

Recently she volunteered to plan the welcome event for the Oregon Symphony's new conductor, and she founded an annual wine and food sampling event that raises money for Doernbecher's. Then there are all the theme parties and dinners she throws together for family and friends. And she feeds her passion for weddings by writing freelance pieces for Portland Bride and Groom magazine and hosting the weekly television program, called "Weddings Portland Style."



Article Source: From the November 15, 2002 print edition of the The Business Journal of Portland