After practising law briefly, Bucknor-Obruthe was employed at Tie Communications, an advertisement agency, where she worked for a short period. In 2003, her love for event planning made her start Zapphaire Events, an independent event planning enterprise.[6] She has since gone on to plan and organize several high-profile events within and outside Nigeria and has won awards and recognition including being featured in CNN’s Inside Africa for planning a Nigerian royal wedding.[6][7] Some of these include the Future Award for “Entrepreneur of the Year” (2006), the Wedding Planner Magazine Award for “Wedding Planner of the Year” (2007), Go2girl Life Achievement Awards (2011), Nigerian Events Awards for Outstanding Contribution to the Events Industry (2012