As part of our #WhySI campaign sharing why Southern Illinois is a great place to live, work, and do business, we spoke with Danielle Beckner, owner of Four Seven Gallery Event Planning and Designs, LLC in Marion, Illinois. Danielle provides planning and decorations for all events - from funerals to baby showers, reunions, and weddings; you name it, she can plan and decorate it. 

What brought you to Southern Illinois?

I came to southern Illinois from East St. Louis to attend Southern Illinois University Carbondale and graduated with a Public Relations degree. After my husband and I graduated, we decided to stick around and figure out our next big move. During that time, he was hired in his field and I began planning and organizing events for several businesses. Through this work, I saw an opportunity in southern Illinois for a minority owned event planning business and an opportunity to connect my clients with other minority vendors. As a result, in fall of 2017, I decided to go into business for myself and launched Four Seven Gallery and Designs, LLC.

Why is Southern Illinois a great place to run a business?

The comradeship within the Southern Illinois community is special - it’s something you don't necessarily see in larger cities. Southern Illinois is very big on supporting businesses by shopping local. For my business, that speaks volumes because someone could easily choose to decorate their own event. Instead, they seek out my assistance and allow my business to plan and create exclusive designs for their event. I pride myself on making sure that I am up-to-date in the current and coming year's trends in décor and planning styles. In this constantly evolving industry, I'm always working to keep Four Seven Gallery Event Planning and Designs, LLC ahead of the curve and bring all of the trends to Southern Illinois.

Why do you love living in Southern Illinois?

Southern Illinois has turned this city girl into a country-loving chick! I grew up 10 minutes from St. Louis and it was always my end goal to live in a big city. But after coming down here for college, I fell in love with Southern Illinois' wine trails, festivals, fairs, hunting and fishing days, my church home and believe it or not, deer sausage. My favorite time of the year is when the State Fair is held on the Du Quoin Fairgrounds. There is nothing like their fried Oreos and salt water taffy!