About

A founder. A CEO. A voice for the causes that deserve one.

Founder and CEO of Universal Events Inc. A voice for the causes that deserve one.

The short version

Portrait of Harmony Vallejo, Founder and CEO of Universal Events Inc.
Harmony Vallejo

Harmony Vallejo is the founder and CEO of Universal Events Inc., a marketing and community outreach firm founded in 2014 to move missions forward for the nonprofits it serves. She has more than twenty five years of experience in communications and marketing and is a Marquis Who's Who honoree.

01

Origin

Rooted in showing up.

She grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, the kind of town where you learn early that showing up is the first half of the work. Varsity volleyball taught her the rhythm of a team. The school paper taught her the rhythm of a sentence. Both are still on the table every morning she walks into the office.

02

The firm she built

Mission over mandate.

She started Universal Events Inc. in 2014 with a conviction most agencies do not share. The mission matters more than the mandate. She did not build the firm to win pitches. She built it to serve the causes that had been told for years they were too small, too serious, or too unsexy for real strategy. More than twenty US markets and two hundred community events a day later, the answer is clear. They were never too small. The agencies were too narrow.

03

A people first CEO

The receipt, not the proof.

People do not stay at Universal Events Inc. because of a foosball table. They stay because the leader at the top has, for over a decade, made the same promise and kept it. We will do the work we said we would do, for the people we said we would do it for, and the seat at the table is actually a seat. A Great Place to Work certification four years running is not the proof. It is the receipt.

04

Empowerment in practice

Empowerment is a payroll.

Empowerment, in her hands, is not a hashtag. It is a hire. It is a promotion. It is a calendar that has more women senior leaders on it this year than last year. It is a mentee from 2017 who is now running her own team, and a mentee from 2024 who will run one in 2030. When Harmony says she is building a firm where women lead, she is not writing a statement. She is doing a payroll.

05

Giving back

Quiet, on purpose.

The Annual Christmas Toy Drive. The Brighter Christmas campaign. Proclamations from county boards. Honors from national nonprofits. The recognitions are real, and they are not the point. The point is that for twenty years she has given the same thing she built her career on. Her time. Her team. Her attention. Quietly. On purpose. To the causes that asked.

On leading as a woman

A woman led firm. A steady hand.

Harmony leads a woman founded, woman led firm in an industry where the C suite still looks a certain way. She hires women into senior seats, mentors the next wave of nonprofit and agency leaders, and has built a culture where directness, dignity, and deep belief in the mission are not in conflict. Great Place to Work certification, year after year, is the quiet proof. Her leadership style is often described in one word. Steady. The kind of steady that builds something that lasts.

The long version

A practitioner, not a pundit.

Harmony Vallejo is the founder and CEO of Universal Events Inc., a marketing and community outreach firm she founded in 2014 to help nonprofits reach more people, serve more communities, and create lasting impact. With more than twenty five years in communications and marketing, she has built a company operating in more than twenty US markets and supporting more than two hundred community outreach events daily. She is a Marquis Who's Who honoree, an Inner Circle of Excellence Pinnacle Professional Member, and leads a firm certified as a Great Place to Work for 2024 through 2027.

Harmony Vallejo is the founder and CEO of Universal Events Inc., a marketing and community outreach firm she founded in 2014. The firm partners with nonprofit organizations to expand their reach, deepen community engagement, and deliver campaigns that move missions forward. Raised in Youngstown, Ohio, Harmony began building the instincts that shape her work long before her first agency role. She played varsity volleyball and wrote for the school newspaper, early exposure to teamwork and storytelling that still informs how she leads. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Communications from Youngstown State University, where she continued on the volleyball team and the student paper. Her career began in 1999 at WYTV, where she worked in television news and learned the discipline of narrative under deadline. She then joined Winners Advertising, moving from broadcast storytelling into campaign strategy and client work. That decade of broadcast and agency experience became the foundation for Universal Events Inc. Under her leadership, Universal Events Inc. has grown into an organization operating in more than twenty US markets, supporting more than two hundred community outreach events daily for partner nonprofits including Brighter Christmas, Law Enforcement Against Drugs, Stand for the Silent, Sister's Circle, and Vision Keepers. The firm has been certified as a Great Place to Work for consecutive cycles and named National Partner of the Year by Law Enforcement Against Drugs. Harmony has been recognized by Marquis Who's Who for her leadership and contributions to community outreach, and named a Pinnacle Professional Member of the Inner Circle of Excellence. She holds memberships with the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Professional Face to Face Fundraising Association. Beyond the firm, Harmony is a mother, a mentor, and a leader who has built a career around a single conviction. Mission driven organizations deserve the same caliber of strategy, creativity, and care as the largest brands in the world, because the people they serve deserve nothing less.

Recognition

Honors and affiliations.

  • 2024

    Marquis Who's Who honoree

  • 2024

    Inner Circle of Excellence, Pinnacle Professional Member

  • 2024

    LEAD National Partner of the Year, Universal Events Inc.

  • 2024 to 2027

    Great Place to Work certified, Universal Events Inc.

  • 2024

    Proclamation, Montgomery County Board of County Commissioners