Executive Suite: Andrea Correale, Glen Cove

Andrea Correale, president of the Glen Cove catering and event planning firm Elegant Affairs, knew her niche early on. At 16, she launched her first business. By the time she graduated from the New York Institute of Technology, she had 45 people working for her. Now 41 and responsible for about 800 varied events a year, she is known for her ability to transform bare rooms into fantastic environments -- such as the grand-opening party of Cirque du Soleil, where she costumed her staff in show themes, built a pond and offered guests the opportunity to fish for sushi.

Her client list includes the performers Mariah Carey and P. Diddy, and television cameras have turned her way numerous times; she was featured as the single millionairess on the "Millionaire Matchmaker" a cable-TV reality show, among other appearances. Now she is partnering to provide services for events at Ferrari Maserati of Long Island, in Plainview, and at the Carle Place nightclub Sugar.

What new trends do you see?

People are a thousand-trillion-gazillion times more health-conscious. Gay weddings are on a huge rise. Not-for-profits were suffering; now they're coming back with a vengeance with fundraisers and cocktail parties.

What type of employees are you looking for?

An intern who wants to understand what catering and event planning is really about, a great bartender looking for extra side work, anyone who's great in the kitchen, anyone with a great eye for design who has really new creative ideas for food stations and buffets.

What's your biggest headache?

Not only am I in the catering business, but I'm in the perishable food business, the personnel business, rental business, event planning business -- and anything can go wrong at any time. That's the difficult part. You have to have a thick skin and just be really ready to handle anything.

What tips do you have for surviving the slow economy?

You have to strategically figure out how you can grab a bigger market share. When times are terrible and nobody has money, that's the time when you advertise, and do PR even more than before, use social media in a very big way, get involved in the community, give back and make strategic alliances.

How was working with P. Diddy and Mariah Carey?

P. Diddy wanted everything, obviously, white. He had called me on Friday to do a party at his house on Labor Day on Monday. So pulling that whole thing together in two days was really difficult . . . ''No'' is not an option. Mariah Carey wanted swans for her wedding celebration, and we had to find a swan wrangler from the middle of the United States to drive across the country to put swans in the pond.

How do you unwind?

I play golf, go out with friends and try new restaurants and new wines.

Corporate snapshot

Name: Andrea Correale, president of Elegant Affairs Inc. of Glen Cove

What it does: “We are a full-service off-premise catering and event planning firm.”

Employees: 25 full time, 100 part time

Roles they play: Full-timers are divided into front of the house (event planners, sales assistants, bookkeepers, human resources, social media assistants, etc.) and the kitchen. The part-timers serve as wait staff, bartenders, security, culinary assistants.

Revenues: $3.5 million to $5 million