Small Business Empowerment and Creativity in Events with Rah-mah Pelzer-Elue

1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,720
Welcome to the Event Pro show, your. Ultimate guide to the world of corporate

2
00:00:03,720 --> 00:00:07,360
events. Whether you're a corporate event planner, experiential marketing

3
00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:11,040
pro, producer, technician or anyone involved in creating exceptional

4
00:00:11,040 --> 00:00:14,560
events, this podcast is. Your go to resource for valuable insights.

5
00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:18,240
Expert tips and inspiring stories from the industry's leading professionals.

6
00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:23,800
Well, thank you for joining us for another episode of the Event Pro Show.

7
00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:27,120
I'm your host Seth Macchi and this

8
00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:30,380
episode is, is a super exciting

9
00:00:30,700 --> 00:00:34,380
episode for me because I've always felt that

10
00:00:34,700 --> 00:00:38,380
in events and the world that, that I get to play in a lot is

11
00:00:38,380 --> 00:00:42,060
corporate events. A lot of the people in it that actually

12
00:00:42,060 --> 00:00:45,820
produce a lot of the behind the scenes people that you might never see

13
00:00:46,140 --> 00:00:49,580
are highly creative people. Many of them have other stories,

14
00:00:49,740 --> 00:00:52,940
they have other branches of creativity that they come from

15
00:00:53,420 --> 00:00:57,230
to bring you that corporate event. And so our guest today

16
00:00:57,230 --> 00:01:00,790
is just like that. I'm going to get into your bio right away

17
00:01:01,350 --> 00:01:05,190
before we get get started. So our guest today

18
00:01:05,190 --> 00:01:08,630
is a Nigerian American entrepreneur and award winning poet,

19
00:01:08,710 --> 00:01:12,030
playwright, spoken word performer with a passion for

20
00:01:12,030 --> 00:01:15,630
creativity, business and community advocacy. Through

21
00:01:15,630 --> 00:01:19,350
her company, Our Stop Shop, we'll address

22
00:01:19,350 --> 00:01:23,070
that a little bit. She created a platform for black economic empowerment

23
00:01:23,070 --> 00:01:26,830
and hosted a historic Black Business Expo at NC

24
00:01:26,830 --> 00:01:30,410
State FER Fairgrounds. Her artistic achievements

25
00:01:30,410 --> 00:01:34,050
include performances at the US Black Caucus and Kennedy center,

26
00:01:34,130 --> 00:01:37,770
inspiring and advocating for underrepresented entrepreneurs and

27
00:01:37,770 --> 00:01:41,250
artists. She's also the founder of SHIFT Performances Staffing

28
00:01:41,250 --> 00:01:44,890
Agency and SHIFT Event Rentals which provide high level

29
00:01:44,890 --> 00:01:48,130
staffing and event solutions for corporate and experiential

30
00:01:48,130 --> 00:01:51,410
events. Please welcome to the show. Rama

31
00:01:51,410 --> 00:01:55,060
Pelzer, ilu. Yep, thank you.

32
00:01:55,220 --> 00:01:59,060
So good to have you here. I, Rama and

33
00:01:59,060 --> 00:02:02,820
I met just a few weeks ago at an event but right away

34
00:02:02,820 --> 00:02:06,620
I was like, hey, this is a creative soul. This is a person that

35
00:02:06,620 --> 00:02:10,020
I really want to get to know and looking into her

36
00:02:10,020 --> 00:02:13,620
businesses and what she's accomplished. It's just you have such an,

37
00:02:13,780 --> 00:02:17,540
a compelling story so I have to get into

38
00:02:17,540 --> 00:02:20,900
it with you. So before we jump into anything, because this is an event

39
00:02:20,900 --> 00:02:24,110
centric show, I ask everybody at the beginning

40
00:02:24,430 --> 00:02:27,710
what is your earliest or your first event memory

41
00:02:28,190 --> 00:02:31,550
that you can, you can remember? Like the first event you can remember attending?

42
00:02:32,350 --> 00:02:36,110
Attending? Yeah, yeah, like as a, as a kid, like I, I remember that one.

43
00:02:36,110 --> 00:02:39,470
Time we went okay, so my very first

44
00:02:40,110 --> 00:02:42,190
event I remember attending

45
00:02:43,870 --> 00:02:47,710
is a Little Bow Wow concert. Little, Little Wayne opened

46
00:02:47,710 --> 00:02:51,020
up for, I mean Lil Zane. Well, Zane opened up for him

47
00:02:51,180 --> 00:02:54,580
Snoop Dogg. This is back when Bow Wow was like Snoop

48
00:02:54,580 --> 00:02:57,820
Dogg's nephew and

49
00:02:58,300 --> 00:03:01,980
my uncle Food Took us like it was me and some of my cousins and

50
00:03:02,140 --> 00:03:04,060
one of my sisters. And

51
00:03:05,580 --> 00:03:09,180
yeah, it was. It was game changing. I want to say I was like 8

52
00:03:09,180 --> 00:03:12,980
or 9. And that's exactly what I'm talking about.

53
00:03:12,980 --> 00:03:16,220
It's so crazy. And hands down.

54
00:03:18,710 --> 00:03:22,350
So Bow has me for a couple of years, not by much. So I'm eight

55
00:03:22,350 --> 00:03:25,710
or nine. So he's like. And this is back when the Bow wow little

56
00:03:25,710 --> 00:03:29,470
Romeo bible is going on in the music industry. So

57
00:03:29,470 --> 00:03:32,989
it's like you gotta choose the side. Kind of like the Tar

58
00:03:32,989 --> 00:03:36,830
Heel situation. Yeah. But they were surprise tickets.

59
00:03:36,830 --> 00:03:40,630
I didn't know what concert we were going to until we got there.

60
00:03:40,630 --> 00:03:43,650
Yeah. So, yeah, it was.

61
00:03:44,370 --> 00:03:47,970
It was fun. It was really, really fun.

62
00:03:49,090 --> 00:03:52,730
Yeah, I. I love when I ask people those questions. A lot of time

63
00:03:52,730 --> 00:03:56,490
it is involved with family, you know, and it's like a solid memory that

64
00:03:56,490 --> 00:04:00,250
they have. And most people, I don't even know if

65
00:04:00,250 --> 00:04:03,610
you remember the specifics. It's just like you remember what you felt like when you

66
00:04:03,610 --> 00:04:07,330
were there. And it was just like this impactful experience in your life,

67
00:04:07,330 --> 00:04:10,890
you know, like this positive kind of life changing thing, you know? And that's kind

68
00:04:10,890 --> 00:04:14,550
of what events do for people, you know? And I don't know if you like

69
00:04:14,550 --> 00:04:18,030
me. That was kind of what drew me in. At the beginning of any type

70
00:04:18,030 --> 00:04:21,790
of events, there's like this magic thing that happens.

71
00:04:21,870 --> 00:04:25,590
And when you're little, you're just so tuned into that. So I'm about to one

72
00:04:25,590 --> 00:04:29,310
up you. Okay. So my most impactful event,

73
00:04:29,390 --> 00:04:32,270
I was actually younger. Oh, okay. Okay. I was

74
00:04:33,150 --> 00:04:36,670
in kindergarten. Okay. But I was six. So it was like

75
00:04:37,150 --> 00:04:40,910
post Martin Luther King Day. And we were doing the Martin Luther

76
00:04:40,910 --> 00:04:44,590
King Day, like, presentation that they have the elementary school

77
00:04:44,590 --> 00:04:47,530
kids do. And after that,

78
00:04:48,570 --> 00:04:52,370
my grandma brought Rosa Parks to our neighborhood for us to

79
00:04:52,370 --> 00:04:56,170
meet her. Really? Like, literally, like, that's a way

80
00:04:56,170 --> 00:04:59,770
cooler. That's what I'm saying. Like at 6 years old and that.

81
00:04:59,770 --> 00:05:03,010
And even at that time she was older, she was a lot more like they

82
00:05:03,010 --> 00:05:06,330
didn't even let her get out the car. So all these, like, young

83
00:05:06,490 --> 00:05:10,010
kids are surrounding borderline looking like

84
00:05:10,010 --> 00:05:13,690
we're mobbing a car. Yeah. Because Rosa Parks is in it. And

85
00:05:13,690 --> 00:05:17,330
it was like humbling. But it was also

86
00:05:17,970 --> 00:05:21,250
like one of those things where something you just learned and you were

87
00:05:21,570 --> 00:05:25,130
presenting, but you didn't really understand the magnitude of it.

88
00:05:25,130 --> 00:05:28,770
Yes. And then the person you're even like talking about

89
00:05:28,770 --> 00:05:32,570
in this, like, theatrical. And this is at a time where tv, like,

90
00:05:32,570 --> 00:05:36,130
we were all watching the same stuff all the time. There was one

91
00:05:36,130 --> 00:05:39,090
TV lineup, there was cable. Wasn't really

92
00:05:39,650 --> 00:05:43,300
even that big of a thing yet. So it's like we're all in

93
00:05:43,300 --> 00:05:46,900
uniformity with what we consume. And so to

94
00:05:46,900 --> 00:05:50,500
go from it being like something taught to

95
00:05:50,500 --> 00:05:53,940
you to it being tangible where you can touch it, you can smell it, you

96
00:05:53,940 --> 00:05:57,340
can see it, you can like history, a piece. Of history right there.

97
00:05:57,900 --> 00:06:01,620
That's amazing. Yeah, that's an amazing experience. That's pretty

98
00:06:01,620 --> 00:06:04,620
powerful. And shout out to my grandma because she, I don't know how she pulled

99
00:06:04,620 --> 00:06:07,660
that off in any sense of the word.

100
00:06:08,300 --> 00:06:12,040
Just one. The little kid event memory of

101
00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:15,360
everybody so far. Yeah. Yours is like super significant.

102
00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:20,560
Okay, so fast forward from that. I know you have an artistic history,

103
00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:24,240
but what was the first time you could remember wanting to be

104
00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:27,840
involved with events as a career? And not everybody has this

105
00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:30,800
moment in time. So it's interesting to me just to hear.

106
00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:34,600
Do you have a moment where you were like, I want to be involved in

107
00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:36,480
events? Or did it come to you over time?

108
00:06:45,350 --> 00:06:48,950
It kind of was a life journey,

109
00:06:49,990 --> 00:06:52,470
if we're being honest. Like, the art saved my life.

110
00:06:54,950 --> 00:06:58,230
It did. However, making the

111
00:06:58,230 --> 00:07:01,510
transition to being the service provider

112
00:07:02,070 --> 00:07:02,590
side of

113
00:07:06,860 --> 00:07:10,700
naturally happened. Right. Because like

114
00:07:10,700 --> 00:07:13,980
I said, the art saved my life. So I was, I got introduced to the

115
00:07:13,980 --> 00:07:17,700
arts, which I haven't even told you this, but I'm.

116
00:07:17,700 --> 00:07:21,060
I'm not, you know, I'm Nigerian. But what you don't know is that my dad

117
00:07:21,060 --> 00:07:24,780
was deported while I was in middle school. And it

118
00:07:24,780 --> 00:07:28,620
was kind of one of those things where my

119
00:07:28,620 --> 00:07:32,180
mom kind of prepped me for it a little bit. But I have a lot

120
00:07:32,180 --> 00:07:35,980
of siblings by my dad, so I was the only one

121
00:07:35,980 --> 00:07:39,620
prepped. Everybody else was kinda trying to keep the

122
00:07:39,620 --> 00:07:43,180
optimism alive that it wouldn't happen. Yeah. And so

123
00:07:43,660 --> 00:07:47,020
while navigating that, you know, those middle school years is also

124
00:07:47,740 --> 00:07:51,540
one of the most emotional and life altering times because of

125
00:07:51,540 --> 00:07:55,260
hormones and everything. And so to navigate my dad

126
00:07:55,260 --> 00:07:58,990
getting divorced when I'm around 11 and

127
00:07:58,990 --> 00:07:59,270
12

128
00:08:02,590 --> 00:08:06,310
was over. It was, it was all consuming in certain

129
00:08:06,390 --> 00:08:09,910
ways. And my mom was like, listen,

130
00:08:11,590 --> 00:08:15,390
you're acting out player. Like, and. And so her, her thing was,

131
00:08:15,390 --> 00:08:19,190
right, just write, just write or something. Journal, whatever. I was,

132
00:08:19,190 --> 00:08:22,750
I was never a person that like had a diary. I wasn't one of those

133
00:08:22,750 --> 00:08:26,190
girls where I had like the secret diary that I would just jot down and

134
00:08:26,190 --> 00:08:29,950
stuff that I like, she would, she gave me these journals and

135
00:08:29,950 --> 00:08:32,750
at some point it was a way to

136
00:08:33,470 --> 00:08:36,190
rewrite the story. It was a way to tell the story

137
00:08:38,030 --> 00:08:41,390
unapologetically. It was a way to

138
00:08:42,270 --> 00:08:45,470
navigate big emotional feelings

139
00:08:45,870 --> 00:08:49,470
that, one, you're experiencing for the first time, two, you

140
00:08:49,470 --> 00:08:52,430
don't even really understand the magnitude of them.

141
00:08:53,150 --> 00:08:55,870
And three, you're not really equipped to comprehend

142
00:08:56,860 --> 00:09:00,660
the residual, like, more deeply felt impact of

143
00:09:00,660 --> 00:09:04,300
it. And so at some point,

144
00:09:04,700 --> 00:09:07,980
it went from doing it to just deal with it

145
00:09:08,620 --> 00:09:12,460
to doing it, because I genuinely have something

146
00:09:12,460 --> 00:09:15,980
to say, right? I genuinely want this to.

147
00:09:17,340 --> 00:09:20,380
I want my voice to be understood from a different perspective

148
00:09:21,020 --> 00:09:24,870
because I'm not the only one, right? And so to have gone

149
00:09:24,870 --> 00:09:28,590
through this even amongst my siblings, and the

150
00:09:28,590 --> 00:09:30,550
only one to have even been kind of

151
00:09:31,910 --> 00:09:35,430
cemented or kind of leveled a little bit or

152
00:09:35,430 --> 00:09:37,910
grounded a little bit to prepare for the impact,

153
00:09:39,910 --> 00:09:42,790
it was like my version of the story is based on,

154
00:09:43,430 --> 00:09:46,870
like, even though I knew the plane was going to crash, right?

155
00:09:47,430 --> 00:09:50,720
I didn't understand the

156
00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:54,160
residual impact it was going to have until it started, right?

157
00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:57,800
And I didn't understand the other things that were coming up the pipeline, like

158
00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:01,520
puberty and this and being given extra freedoms and stuff

159
00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:05,240
that comes with those getting older. And, you know,

160
00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:08,080
so I can't imagine. I can't imagine. So this was you

161
00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:13,760
working through that pain, and this was you walking into spoken

162
00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:17,290
word. I assume this is like kind of a walking into

163
00:10:17,290 --> 00:10:20,530
that part of your life, or was it just a

164
00:10:21,010 --> 00:10:24,650
I'm writing out my feelings and it was therapeutic to

165
00:10:24,650 --> 00:10:28,170
you. So it rapidly changed from writing on my

166
00:10:28,170 --> 00:10:31,410
feelings to writing out stories to

167
00:10:31,810 --> 00:10:35,610
now at this time, which is so funny about the bow, I think something that

168
00:10:35,610 --> 00:10:39,330
was also going crazy via email.

169
00:10:39,330 --> 00:10:43,170
So there, you know, everybody knows about the chain letters, the crazy, like,

170
00:10:43,460 --> 00:10:46,860
chainless, with what was also circulating. The emails, like,

171
00:10:46,860 --> 00:10:49,540
crazy were like these boy band

172
00:10:50,020 --> 00:10:53,540
scripts where it was like somebody creating this whole

173
00:10:53,860 --> 00:10:57,660
version of a story that they were writing out with, like,

174
00:10:57,660 --> 00:11:01,100
these celebrity boy band artist names as the

175
00:11:01,100 --> 00:11:04,900
character names. And they were like. And I don't ask me

176
00:11:04,900 --> 00:11:08,620
how they circulated through aol, Yahoo. You melodested. But they did, right?

177
00:11:08,620 --> 00:11:12,350
And so at some point, me and my friends, all in middle school,

178
00:11:12,350 --> 00:11:15,150
are captivated by it. But then at another point, I'm like, if they can tell

179
00:11:15,630 --> 00:11:19,150
that crazy story that we know is not Omarion, is not Bow Wow, it's not

180
00:11:19,150 --> 00:11:22,830
Lil Romeo. I can tell my version of a real story

181
00:11:22,830 --> 00:11:26,550
that I'm just trying to navigate through with my friends, with my reality,

182
00:11:26,550 --> 00:11:28,830
with them. And so it started out as narratives,

183
00:11:31,150 --> 00:11:34,710
and then I ended up going to an arts high school, Duke

184
00:11:34,710 --> 00:11:38,430
Ellington School of the Arts, same school as Dave Chappelle and a couple of others.

185
00:11:39,470 --> 00:11:43,090
And, and then there. Duke Ellington doesn't just

186
00:11:43,730 --> 00:11:47,330
help you cultivate talent, they equip you to be prepared

187
00:11:47,410 --> 00:11:50,690
for professional career and whatever your talent you're pursuing is.

188
00:11:51,010 --> 00:11:54,850
So. And then they also give you access, kind of like

189
00:11:54,850 --> 00:11:58,570
undergrad and college, where you got to take a couple of preliminary just to

190
00:11:58,570 --> 00:12:02,410
see if the major you're thinking about or things like that. And so they

191
00:12:02,410 --> 00:12:05,730
make you do that. They take, you make you take music classes, photography classes,

192
00:12:06,050 --> 00:12:09,770
script writing classes, theater classes, dance classes. Like you're, you're

193
00:12:09,770 --> 00:12:13,590
forced to at least dabble in it all at once. See, this is like I,

194
00:12:13,590 --> 00:12:17,390
I knew this existed growing up. I never even knew where those were. And it

195
00:12:17,390 --> 00:12:20,430
just sounds like a TV show to me, like some sort of dream TV show

196
00:12:20,430 --> 00:12:24,150
scenario where you get to go and be creative in every different direction. So

197
00:12:24,150 --> 00:12:27,989
was that an amazing experience? It was. Okay. First and foremost, it was like

198
00:12:27,989 --> 00:12:31,830
a four part audition process just to get into school. So, so that's how

199
00:12:31,830 --> 00:12:35,590
you know, like, okay, they not play it like. But then the

200
00:12:35,590 --> 00:12:39,150
other side to it was it, it transforms you. Right. Because

201
00:12:39,750 --> 00:12:43,110
Duke Ellington is dead in the middle of Georgetown. Georgetown is

202
00:12:43,350 --> 00:12:46,710
like right across the street from Georgetown University. However,

203
00:12:47,510 --> 00:12:51,350
95% of the population that attends the school is borderline

204
00:12:51,350 --> 00:12:55,070
being bussed into this part of D.C. from southeast D.C.

205
00:12:55,070 --> 00:12:58,750
from Anacostia, from Georgia, from Georgia Avenue, from

206
00:12:58,750 --> 00:13:02,350
Columbia Heights, from like parts of the city, Ben and Row,

207
00:13:02,350 --> 00:13:05,830
parts of the city where there are minimal resources, where

208
00:13:05,830 --> 00:13:09,680
there's minimal avenues for you to

209
00:13:09,680 --> 00:13:13,400
even be talented and it be nurtured and be

210
00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:17,240
poured into and it be encouraged. So there's, there's already

211
00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:21,000
that where you're one year school, you're committed to a

212
00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:24,599
longer school day out the gate. Right. The normal school day is,

213
00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:28,040
I want to say, to one and a half to two hours shorter.

214
00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:32,920
So like they stick another class or two in there. Yeah. And so

215
00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:35,800
then the other side to it is, and then you're getting up way early. DC

216
00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:39,600
doesn't have public, they don't have school buses like North Carolina. So

217
00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:43,000
you're hopping on the metro, you're hopping on buses and trains

218
00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:47,160
an hour and a half, two hours just to get there.

219
00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:51,120
Right. Because everybody's coming in. So you're talking about a school full of

220
00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:54,920
kids having to catch the same trains and buses

221
00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:58,960
to get from the train station to where the school is and be on

222
00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:02,520
time. Yeah. And so it, it kind of laid its own

223
00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:06,250
infrastructure where it's like, I earned this

224
00:14:06,250 --> 00:14:09,730
spot, but also I can Lose it. Like,

225
00:14:11,490 --> 00:14:15,250
you know, it's competitive. Yeah. And. And then the other side to it is

226
00:14:15,250 --> 00:14:19,010
they kind of hold you to the same standards collegiates do, where you can

227
00:14:19,010 --> 00:14:22,770
get on academic probation, where you can make honor roll, and it

228
00:14:22,770 --> 00:14:26,330
be like this huge thing where you can earn access points,

229
00:14:26,330 --> 00:14:30,090
where it streamlines a pipeline for you to be able to lean

230
00:14:30,090 --> 00:14:33,900
into what you feel like is helping you or nurturing you or

231
00:14:33,900 --> 00:14:37,660
is your way out from these circumstances.

232
00:14:38,620 --> 00:14:42,420
And so that definitely took a role, but them

233
00:14:42,420 --> 00:14:46,220
teaching you it as not just a skill set, but a business

234
00:14:46,380 --> 00:14:49,900
model that also makes you look at it completely

235
00:14:49,900 --> 00:14:53,740
differently than just a person secretly or trying to

236
00:14:53,740 --> 00:14:57,540
come up with the supplies to be able to pursue this task. Okay,

237
00:14:57,540 --> 00:15:01,100
so they're teaching you how to make a living in the arts. Okay. Yeah.

238
00:15:01,340 --> 00:15:04,980
Okay. So you're in this kind of. You're in this

239
00:15:04,980 --> 00:15:08,300
environment, this creative bubble for a while. Just like

240
00:15:08,300 --> 00:15:11,260
competitive, but I imagine inspiring too.

241
00:15:11,900 --> 00:15:15,660
And then you go into this time of performance arts. So

242
00:15:16,060 --> 00:15:19,860
post high school, you started doing different

243
00:15:19,860 --> 00:15:23,540
types of performing. No. While still in high school. So in high

244
00:15:23,540 --> 00:15:27,180
school, so you know how there's a summer school, summer job programs.

245
00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:31,200
There was a musical theater performing arts program.

246
00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:35,160
I don't know how I got in it, but I literally was being

247
00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:38,880
paid to be a musical theater artist. And so it was like my high

248
00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:42,680
school was playing off of this, but then this was a year round

249
00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:46,080
program, so it was like my whole

250
00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:49,520
life was being consumed by the arts.

251
00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:53,600
So academically, I'm in a school where it's like you have your academic

252
00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:57,350
workload, you have your arts workload. And then like

253
00:15:57,350 --> 00:16:01,070
my first or second year of just a summer job program, shout

254
00:16:01,070 --> 00:16:04,910
out to Marionberry. They roll

255
00:16:04,910 --> 00:16:08,630
out this program called Friends of Carter Baron, which is a

256
00:16:08,630 --> 00:16:12,469
musical theater arts program as a

257
00:16:12,469 --> 00:16:15,950
summer job. And so that created a whole nother

258
00:16:15,950 --> 00:16:19,630
pipeline because the beautiful thing about that was they were bringing

259
00:16:19,630 --> 00:16:23,280
in celebrity artists to headline these

260
00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:26,920
productions that we were working with. So I'm. So I'm. I'm

261
00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:30,720
14 years old, green is all outdoors

262
00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:34,960
acting, way too grown. Collaborating on a

263
00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:38,240
production with Raheem Devon, who's like a D.C. treasure. Right.

264
00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:43,600
And trying to do other stuff. Right. Like it's.

265
00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:47,690
And so it was, you know, the. That that

266
00:16:47,690 --> 00:16:51,530
also opened up so many pathways because now

267
00:16:51,690 --> 00:16:54,250
you're actually in rehearsals, you're actually

268
00:16:55,690 --> 00:16:58,650
sitting on the side doing social stuff with

269
00:16:59,610 --> 00:17:03,050
celebrities that you're used to only seeing on TV or on your radio,

270
00:17:03,770 --> 00:17:07,490
not sitting in the back stage with them

271
00:17:07,490 --> 00:17:11,290
playing spades and talking casually and,

272
00:17:11,610 --> 00:17:15,369
you know, just It's. And so it humanize them, but

273
00:17:15,369 --> 00:17:19,169
it also made me realize how attainable, how

274
00:17:19,169 --> 00:17:22,849
accessible it was. Right, right. You can see that this

275
00:17:22,849 --> 00:17:26,449
person, this is a normal person. Yeah. And they do this really cool thing. Yeah,

276
00:17:26,449 --> 00:17:29,729
I think I can do it. Yeah. So it was. So it was both of

277
00:17:29,729 --> 00:17:33,489
those. And just hearing people go through regular. I remember one of these celebrities.

278
00:17:33,489 --> 00:17:36,529
I'm not going to name names, but I remember one of these celebrities

279
00:17:37,169 --> 00:17:40,609
back when Sprint was not owned by T Mobile.

280
00:17:41,930 --> 00:17:45,050
They were so caught up in rehearsals because our rehearsals were running to like 11

281
00:17:45,050 --> 00:17:48,330
and midnight and they didn't realize they didn't make it to the Sprint store to

282
00:17:48,330 --> 00:17:51,930
pay their bill. And so they came back to rehearsal the next day. Their phone

283
00:17:51,930 --> 00:17:55,690
was disconnected. Like, what? Wait a minute, I thought that was a me

284
00:17:55,690 --> 00:17:59,130
probably, you know, and she was like, no, it's not that I don't have it.

285
00:17:59,130 --> 00:18:02,570
It was. I literally had to physically go handle it.

286
00:18:02,730 --> 00:18:06,170
Yeah. And time gotta wait. That's a total like human.

287
00:18:06,330 --> 00:18:09,490
Yeah, it was like stuff like that. You deal with that too. Yeah. It's just

288
00:18:09,490 --> 00:18:13,030
like, oh, okay. Way to, way to

289
00:18:13,030 --> 00:18:16,230
humble me into realizing like it's not this far

290
00:18:16,230 --> 00:18:19,990
fetched out of reach. And this is pre social

291
00:18:20,150 --> 00:18:23,790
Instagram. And you know, you've been able to see a whole

292
00:18:23,790 --> 00:18:27,550
celebrity. There's a lot sort of transparency now. Yeah. Where you can

293
00:18:27,550 --> 00:18:30,990
kind of follow along. Okay. So you had this, this

294
00:18:30,990 --> 00:18:33,590
creative beginning. Yeah. And

295
00:18:35,930 --> 00:18:39,650
you have a lot of really cool stuff in between. But now

296
00:18:39,650 --> 00:18:43,050
you find yourself, you're running an event company

297
00:18:44,250 --> 00:18:48,090
and so, you know, reverse engineer that a little bit.

298
00:18:48,090 --> 00:18:51,450
What was your first job in kind of

299
00:18:51,849 --> 00:18:55,570
this type of event space? So, you know, the direction I come

300
00:18:55,570 --> 00:18:59,370
from is like corporate events, but just any, you know, social events

301
00:18:59,370 --> 00:19:03,090
or just events that aren't maybe theater based. How

302
00:19:03,090 --> 00:19:06,930
did you transition into that? So my first

303
00:19:06,930 --> 00:19:10,730
corporate event. Am I connecting the dots?

304
00:19:11,210 --> 00:19:14,890
Because technically we did event marketing staffing before I did back of the

305
00:19:14,890 --> 00:19:18,490
house servicing. Got it. Okay. Okay. So my very first

306
00:19:18,490 --> 00:19:21,850
corporate event was after I relocated to North

307
00:19:21,850 --> 00:19:25,402
Carolina. Okay. In 20.

308
00:19:25,818 --> 00:19:28,890
2013. It was in 2013.

309
00:19:30,130 --> 00:19:33,770
And it was Chevy. It was a event marketing

310
00:19:33,770 --> 00:19:37,570
campaign where Chevy was sponsoring like a little

311
00:19:37,570 --> 00:19:41,330
league baseball team. And a part of the event marketing

312
00:19:41,330 --> 00:19:45,050
campaign was a fundraiser for the team, but it

313
00:19:45,050 --> 00:19:48,770
was to get the event attendees at the baseball game

314
00:19:48,930 --> 00:19:52,770
to do test drives. For every test drive they did, a donation

315
00:19:52,770 --> 00:19:56,450
was made to the little league team directly from Chevy. So it was a.

316
00:19:56,450 --> 00:20:00,120
So it was a kind of cross collaboration event marketing campaign. And it was in

317
00:20:00,120 --> 00:20:01,760
Lillington, North Carolina.

318
00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,640
And I had no idea

319
00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:11,520
that this was an area that allow

320
00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:15,280
for all of the background I had to be

321
00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:19,000
transferable. Right. Okay. So was that a moment where you're

322
00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:22,840
like, oh, and it paid way more skill set? Yeah, yeah, I

323
00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:26,000
can, I can, you know, do more things. I can get paid more and have

324
00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:29,540
like a better life doing? Yeah. Like, my first time learning what

325
00:20:29,540 --> 00:20:32,180
minimum wage was, was moving to North Carolina.

326
00:20:33,140 --> 00:20:36,820
Like, even doing the stuff as a teenager, I was making somewhere between 18

327
00:20:36,820 --> 00:20:40,500
and 20 an hour. Right. So as an

328
00:20:40,500 --> 00:20:43,940
adult, like, almost done through

329
00:20:43,940 --> 00:20:47,700
undergrad is the first time I realized people actually make

330
00:20:47,700 --> 00:20:51,260
$7 an hour. People actually make $8 an hour, and they're

331
00:20:51,260 --> 00:20:54,820
surviving out here as adults. And. And so

332
00:20:54,820 --> 00:20:58,580
that opened up a pipeline. Like, my resume was

333
00:20:58,580 --> 00:21:02,380
super long. And when I would apply, like

334
00:21:02,380 --> 00:21:05,860
for what seemed like transferable skill

335
00:21:05,860 --> 00:21:09,340
jobs, I wasn't getting a response despite, you know.

336
00:21:09,420 --> 00:21:13,060
And then this opened up that pipeline

337
00:21:13,060 --> 00:21:15,460
from. It was like, oh, I can actually show you better than I can tell

338
00:21:15,460 --> 00:21:19,260
you. Right. Like, I can actually show you how these skills are transferable to

339
00:21:19,260 --> 00:21:22,860
what your goal is. And then the more we did

340
00:21:22,860 --> 00:21:26,570
that, the more I did that, the more

341
00:21:26,570 --> 00:21:30,050
I realized how their supply chain for what they

342
00:21:30,050 --> 00:21:33,410
needed from me or my team or my staff to do

343
00:21:34,210 --> 00:21:37,850
was a problem with the service provider side. Like,

344
00:21:37,850 --> 00:21:41,250
stuff was we, we. We pretty much was like, your

345
00:21:41,250 --> 00:21:44,850
unspoken job requirement is MacGyverin equipment

346
00:21:45,970 --> 00:21:49,730
because it's gonna fall apart during the job at some point, and you need to

347
00:21:49,730 --> 00:21:53,210
learn how this stuff works and figure out how to. Yeah. And figure out how

348
00:21:53,210 --> 00:21:56,910
to put it back together. You can meet these quotas that the

349
00:21:56,910 --> 00:22:00,590
client wants on the front end. And then we realized they didn't have a

350
00:22:00,830 --> 00:22:04,550
great supply chain. They only knew this one source, and so they

351
00:22:04,550 --> 00:22:08,190
always use this one source. And so then we started giving them

352
00:22:08,190 --> 00:22:11,950
alternative options and we became their back of

353
00:22:11,950 --> 00:22:15,710
the house supply chain as well as their front of their house gold

354
00:22:16,590 --> 00:22:19,870
and quota meter. And. And then from there I realized

355
00:22:20,670 --> 00:22:24,350
other people have no idea that this is how these

356
00:22:24,350 --> 00:22:27,530
huge corporations are doing it. And they have no idea

357
00:22:27,930 --> 00:22:31,290
what it's called. They have no idea that it's in their

358
00:22:31,290 --> 00:22:35,050
backyard. And so we realized we

359
00:22:35,050 --> 00:22:38,890
had to go front facing because the people who even

360
00:22:38,890 --> 00:22:41,690
needed us closest to home were oblivious.

361
00:22:42,490 --> 00:22:46,090
What we were right. What the name was, what

362
00:22:46,090 --> 00:22:49,770
the title was, what the job description was, what the service

363
00:22:49,770 --> 00:22:52,900
was that was going unmet, creating that

364
00:22:53,380 --> 00:22:56,180
bottleneck for whatever their business was. Right.

365
00:22:58,020 --> 00:23:01,140
Do you think that's what kind of inspired you into

366
00:23:02,100 --> 00:23:05,700
it? Seems like you have a lot of passion for small businesses,

367
00:23:05,700 --> 00:23:09,500
small business owners, people who are out there hustling to do

368
00:23:09,500 --> 00:23:13,140
it for themselves. Do you think that's kind of a beginning of that too?

369
00:23:13,300 --> 00:23:16,940
Or were you kind of always aware of that? Because you, you seem to

370
00:23:16,940 --> 00:23:20,750
have, you seem to be committed to making an impact in

371
00:23:20,750 --> 00:23:24,270
that space, in the small business space in general. Yeah.

372
00:23:24,590 --> 00:23:24,990
Like

373
00:23:28,190 --> 00:23:30,830
if you hit on the, if you hit on the arts, if you hit on

374
00:23:31,070 --> 00:23:34,110
events, if you hit on talent pools.

375
00:23:34,910 --> 00:23:38,430
Everybody's not like, they pretty much say prepare for 80

376
00:23:38,670 --> 00:23:42,510
rejection. Prepare for, you know, only 1 to 5% of you are going to make

377
00:23:42,510 --> 00:23:45,880
it. So what are the other 95% of people supposed to do? Yeah. Right. What

378
00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:49,520
are like, you've trained your whole life. You've been taught your

379
00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:53,280
whole. For this job. Yeah. That you may never get.

380
00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:56,640
And you, you know, you, you see those

381
00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:01,520
scenes and movies or documentaries, they were like, this is all I know. Right.

382
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:05,640
But they have no idea that that skill is even more

383
00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:09,440
valuable in this more conventional space in this

384
00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:11,760
more traditional way. This skill is

385
00:24:12,620 --> 00:24:16,460
100% transferable and even. And able to

386
00:24:16,460 --> 00:24:20,100
afford you even more. Yeah. You, you seem to have

387
00:24:20,100 --> 00:24:23,460
a knack for seeing how people can unlock their

388
00:24:23,460 --> 00:24:27,020
skills in other places. Yeah. Like find their value

389
00:24:27,100 --> 00:24:30,540
elsewhere. I love that. I love that.

390
00:24:30,860 --> 00:24:34,700
I think a lot of people have these, these skills that things are good

391
00:24:34,700 --> 00:24:38,420
at that other people would be more than happy to pay twice

392
00:24:38,420 --> 00:24:40,780
as much as you're earning now. You're just not valued and you're not in the

393
00:24:40,780 --> 00:24:44,010
right place. Place. Exactly. You don't know how to package it. Right. And

394
00:24:44,330 --> 00:24:47,850
because you don't know how to package it, they don't understand how it

395
00:24:47,850 --> 00:24:51,650
benefits them. And so the disconnect. Isn't that what you have

396
00:24:51,650 --> 00:24:55,370
the ability to do can't fill this role? It's. You

397
00:24:55,370 --> 00:24:59,210
don't understand what language or what verbiage or with

398
00:24:59,210 --> 00:25:02,890
terminology or what the descriptions role

399
00:25:04,410 --> 00:25:08,250
written out looks like for them to understand. Oh wow.

400
00:25:08,570 --> 00:25:12,410
You run circles around. And your resume

401
00:25:12,730 --> 00:25:16,410
of having to have done this this long actually makes you the

402
00:25:16,410 --> 00:25:20,210
ideal candidate over this entry level person that just heard this phase.

403
00:25:20,210 --> 00:25:24,010
Good money, got a degree, but has no idea how to actually do the job.

404
00:25:25,050 --> 00:25:28,490
So funny how some people just need to hear that

405
00:25:28,650 --> 00:25:32,370
and just know that they

406
00:25:32,370 --> 00:25:36,050
can. And you just don't know what you don't know also. Right. That's.

407
00:25:36,050 --> 00:25:39,170
That's the other side to it. Like you see the setup, but you have no

408
00:25:39,170 --> 00:25:42,910
idea who implemented. Not in the room. Yeah. By the time you see the setup.

409
00:25:42,910 --> 00:25:46,470
Right. So it's like oh, you could do it if you

410
00:25:46,470 --> 00:25:49,870
knew. Yeah. And so, and that's my thing. My thing is you don't know what

411
00:25:49,870 --> 00:25:53,630
you don't know. But I'm gonna make it even harder for

412
00:25:53,630 --> 00:25:57,350
you to remain ignorant. That's always my goal. Like

413
00:25:57,670 --> 00:26:01,430
put the puzzle pieces together so anybody can at least, even

414
00:26:01,430 --> 00:26:05,110
if the puzzle gets this disheveled or something, you at least have all the

415
00:26:05,110 --> 00:26:08,900
pieces there to reassemble. Versus you're like,

416
00:26:08,900 --> 00:26:11,900
wait a minute, half the puzzle pieces ain't even in the room. Right.

417
00:26:12,780 --> 00:26:16,540
I don't even know what I'm supposed to be looking at. Well, on your day

418
00:26:16,540 --> 00:26:20,300
to day now, like your current with shift event rentals,

419
00:26:20,780 --> 00:26:23,660
what type of problems are you helping to solve for your clients today?

420
00:26:25,980 --> 00:26:29,100
So post Covet world clients

421
00:26:30,380 --> 00:26:33,610
kind of have a couple of the same ones. Right.

422
00:26:34,250 --> 00:26:38,090
People have a desire. They, everybody is now realizing how

423
00:26:38,090 --> 00:26:41,890
much they value relationships or connections or community of some

424
00:26:41,890 --> 00:26:45,290
sort, whether it's social, professional, political,

425
00:26:45,930 --> 00:26:49,770
societal. Another one is

426
00:26:50,090 --> 00:26:53,850
people want to hold on to any dollar they have as long as they

427
00:26:53,850 --> 00:26:57,210
have it. Even if they know it's something they got to spend the money on,

428
00:26:57,290 --> 00:27:00,810
they will wait until the very last second.

429
00:27:00,970 --> 00:27:04,760
Yeah. To have to give up that

430
00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:08,040
coin. And then the third one is

431
00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:12,320
people have done the same thing for so long, they're trying

432
00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:14,600
to figure out why there's a, such a huge gap

433
00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:19,520
between who they're dealing with and who they're trying to

434
00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:23,320
reach. And for us, we exist dead

435
00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:26,720
in the middle where it's like we get the old school way. We understand this

436
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:29,960
is how we was raised, this is how. But it was like. But we also

437
00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:33,590
understand that this made it way easier. This is making

438
00:27:33,590 --> 00:27:37,310
it, this is making it way more tolerable. This is making it

439
00:27:37,310 --> 00:27:41,070
way more palatable. This is so for us on the day to day,

440
00:27:42,030 --> 00:27:45,710
we're ultimately allowing for the things that appease

441
00:27:45,950 --> 00:27:49,790
as a bridge to be transferable, to allow for them to understand

442
00:27:50,190 --> 00:27:53,950
how it solves a real problem for them. Right.

443
00:27:53,950 --> 00:27:57,710
Like your, your worry is I can't make a commitment until I

444
00:27:57,710 --> 00:28:00,270
know what these numbers look like. But I don't know what these numbers look like

445
00:28:00,270 --> 00:28:03,950
until this last minute. And then this is adding, making these numbers go higher.

446
00:28:04,490 --> 00:28:07,770
So it's like, okay, well these things actually appease to this

447
00:28:08,330 --> 00:28:11,890
because they're used to you doing the same old thing. So you

448
00:28:11,890 --> 00:28:15,650
incorporate this. They're like, wait a minute, it's, it's catching me off guard.

449
00:28:15,650 --> 00:28:19,490
I wasn't expecting that. Yeah. You know, so now they want to take actionable

450
00:28:19,490 --> 00:28:23,010
steps because they don't want to miss out, they don't, they can't, they can only

451
00:28:23,010 --> 00:28:26,810
imagine what's next if that's what you did. And that was completely far

452
00:28:26,810 --> 00:28:30,530
left field. But then the other side to it is there's now ways

453
00:28:30,530 --> 00:28:34,150
to collect data, actual, traceable,

454
00:28:34,150 --> 00:28:37,470
trackable, fact based information

455
00:28:37,950 --> 00:28:41,310
that you now can make an informed decision intentionally

456
00:28:41,630 --> 00:28:45,430
and preventatively versus reactionary. We're trying

457
00:28:45,430 --> 00:28:48,990
to take as much of the reaction out of our clients problem

458
00:28:48,990 --> 00:28:51,790
solving process as much as possible

459
00:28:52,990 --> 00:28:55,710
to avail for them to have the freedom to make decisions

460
00:28:56,190 --> 00:28:59,980
proactively instead of reactionarily. And we're

461
00:28:59,980 --> 00:29:03,540
trying to bridge that gap. We're like, listen, this is the transfer of everything is

462
00:29:03,540 --> 00:29:06,940
happening. The person you're used to serving has retired.

463
00:29:07,420 --> 00:29:11,100
This is the next person in line. So you need to understand that these

464
00:29:11,100 --> 00:29:14,860
are the things that they can't be a piece to. You can't

465
00:29:14,860 --> 00:29:17,340
just say, oh well, you got to do it. Well, if I got to do

466
00:29:17,340 --> 00:29:21,180
it, I'm gonna do it. When I have no other option, I'm do

467
00:29:21,180 --> 00:29:24,820
it after the license expires, I, I'm gonna do it. When you tell me I

468
00:29:24,820 --> 00:29:27,620
run the risk of not making no money no more, then I'm spend this little

469
00:29:27,620 --> 00:29:31,000
bit of money to reinvest. Ve it's like

470
00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:35,080
you create those things that they desire. They desire community, they desire

471
00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:38,120
like minded individuals. They, they want to be in those spaces, but they want to

472
00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:41,920
be in those spaces with people that they know that they can find that

473
00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:45,640
with. So you create this, this is what appease to

474
00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:49,320
them. This is what gives you what you need to have the data or

475
00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:52,760
the analytics or the facts.

476
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:57,720
This is what speaks their language, the, the language of your

477
00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:01,350
new audience instead of the culture of your old

478
00:30:01,350 --> 00:30:04,110
audience. Right. And so

479
00:30:04,830 --> 00:30:08,590
ultimately we're serving as a bridge in a lot of ways, but we're doing,

480
00:30:08,670 --> 00:30:12,350
but we're passionate in ways where you can see how it works

481
00:30:12,350 --> 00:30:15,750
and you can measure the efficacy in solving the

482
00:30:15,750 --> 00:30:18,110
problems. Do you think your

483
00:30:19,390 --> 00:30:22,830
history in the arts helps you approach

484
00:30:22,910 --> 00:30:25,800
things differently than like you see

485
00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:29,920
you were talking about, you guys have been doing it the same old way for

486
00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:33,720
a long time and you approach it and you're just like, I have to

487
00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:37,320
see this creatively, I have to see this in a different way. Do you think

488
00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:40,880
that inspires you to do that or is that just your personality or the

489
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:44,240
personality of your company? I think is some of the

490
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:48,040
arts allows for us to do it in innovative ways, but

491
00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:51,280
the development of technological investment, people that were

492
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:54,840
inaccessible or people that you could only reach in isolated

493
00:30:54,840 --> 00:30:58,600
ways or through a very specific pipeline are now available at the

494
00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:01,920
drop of your head. Heck, we could be talking about something. If I say the

495
00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:05,680
right verbiage, my algorithm is going to start feeding it to me through ads

496
00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:08,800
through. Right. And so it's like

497
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:13,440
now I have to be aware that anybody

498
00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:17,060
can reach me and vice versa, I can

499
00:31:17,060 --> 00:31:20,860
reach anybody that wants me or needs me. I

500
00:31:20,860 --> 00:31:24,140
just have to be intentional in what I'm conveying

501
00:31:24,460 --> 00:31:28,140
for that to make it a. Open to remove the bottleneck.

502
00:31:28,140 --> 00:31:30,540
Yeah. Right. And so

503
00:31:31,740 --> 00:31:34,780
both. Right. Anything is accessible at the,

504
00:31:35,340 --> 00:31:38,740
at the literally in the palm of your hand. And so because it's

505
00:31:38,740 --> 00:31:42,380
accessible, I have to be even more intentional in what

506
00:31:42,380 --> 00:31:46,180
I want to give access to, but also in what

507
00:31:46,180 --> 00:31:49,480
I want to remain accessible to me. Right.

508
00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:52,920
And so both of those coexist and it's like, well, how do you do that

509
00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:56,360
when you can be drowned out by the masses?

510
00:31:57,080 --> 00:32:00,800
Because everybody has the same open pipeline now.

511
00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:04,599
Yeah, I think there's definitely a move towards niche.

512
00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:08,520
Like that's. You can see it in fashion brands, you can see it in

513
00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:12,320
events, you can see it in communities. But because everything is

514
00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:15,910
available, it's almost like from a consumer standpoint, it's.

515
00:32:16,540 --> 00:32:20,060
I can't make a choice, but I can specialize. I can find that special,

516
00:32:20,300 --> 00:32:23,940
special thing that I really attach to. I think that's where a lot of meaningful

517
00:32:23,940 --> 00:32:27,420
experiences get created because you kind of niche down

518
00:32:28,140 --> 00:32:31,580
to focus, hyper focus on that one group and do it really well

519
00:32:31,740 --> 00:32:35,420
instead of you can't serve everyone everything. And I

520
00:32:35,420 --> 00:32:38,820
think some clients need that. They need that hand holding of like you could, you

521
00:32:38,820 --> 00:32:42,620
could do everything. But what would make it really special is this. And we're gonna,

522
00:32:42,620 --> 00:32:46,380
let's do this direction, you know, and getting them to see that, educating them,

523
00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:49,680
that's pretty cool. It's a gift. I think that's a gift to be able to

524
00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:51,320
do that. When you

525
00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:56,440
begin working on an event for a new client,

526
00:32:56,760 --> 00:33:00,600
what are the. Your first initial questions for them?

527
00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:04,280
You know, when you're just trying to get a feel, someone comes out of left

528
00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:07,800
field and they, they come and they're like there's a thing we want your help

529
00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:11,640
help on. What are your questions? Your initial questions to try to understand.

530
00:33:13,250 --> 00:33:16,290
So the beautiful part about our business model

531
00:33:16,930 --> 00:33:20,130
is not just every client is coming to our doorstep.

532
00:33:22,050 --> 00:33:25,650
People are looking for something one they have something

533
00:33:25,650 --> 00:33:29,450
level of. It's what's been the case

534
00:33:29,450 --> 00:33:33,250
is no longer working or who

535
00:33:33,330 --> 00:33:36,450
the same old source we've been using

536
00:33:36,930 --> 00:33:39,890
is no Longer viable either because of quality control,

537
00:33:40,970 --> 00:33:41,930
because of,

538
00:33:45,210 --> 00:33:48,930
they're, they're just, they're not advancing with the

539
00:33:48,930 --> 00:33:52,570
times that we're moving like exactly. They, they, they were

540
00:33:52,570 --> 00:33:56,330
so used to you being their customer base for the last

541
00:33:56,650 --> 00:34:00,130
two generations that they didn't actually hold themselves

542
00:34:00,130 --> 00:34:03,970
accountable of moving into the modern day. Yeah.

543
00:34:03,970 --> 00:34:07,690
With reality. And so for us,

544
00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:11,440
that is our niche. Our niche is realizing that

545
00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:15,600
a change, a generational gap exists.

546
00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:21,200
The things that we grew up with are no longer the social norms today.

547
00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:25,360
Right. We don't all watch the same Monday, 8

548
00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:28,720
to 10 o' clock lineup of television shows. We don't all

549
00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:32,920
only see this media representation. We don't all only

550
00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:36,619
read this paper or know this information. We now have the

551
00:34:36,619 --> 00:34:39,499
ability to possess anything anywhere in the world we want to.

552
00:34:40,379 --> 00:34:43,979
And so the things that we are now doing is we

553
00:34:43,979 --> 00:34:47,459
are conveying how this is a

554
00:34:47,459 --> 00:34:50,859
solution to stuff. And so more often than not, that's what's happening.

555
00:34:50,939 --> 00:34:54,659
We're, we're being introduced to clients in less

556
00:34:54,659 --> 00:34:58,139
conventional ways than oh, I'm just looking to book

557
00:34:58,139 --> 00:35:01,550
something. It's more so, hey, do you know

558
00:35:01,550 --> 00:35:04,550
anybody that can do this? Or hey, we're having this

559
00:35:05,430 --> 00:35:09,150
problem. What are some, we're trying to come up with a

560
00:35:09,150 --> 00:35:12,670
new way to solve it. That because what

561
00:35:12,670 --> 00:35:16,230
we're, we're tired of this being just a problem we've always

562
00:35:16,390 --> 00:35:19,750
had. And so our clients are meeting us in one or two

563
00:35:19,750 --> 00:35:23,590
spaces where they're getting introduced to us

564
00:35:25,430 --> 00:35:28,940
in a social space where our

565
00:35:28,940 --> 00:35:32,660
SEO, our visuals are the same types of

566
00:35:32,660 --> 00:35:36,220
captivating the visuals that they're used to on Pinterest or

567
00:35:36,220 --> 00:35:39,860
Instagram or whatever. However, the language is nothing

568
00:35:39,860 --> 00:35:43,540
like what they expect to go with. That is, that is not a YOLO

569
00:35:43,540 --> 00:35:47,140
type caption. It's a, this is, it's talking to pain points,

570
00:35:47,140 --> 00:35:50,780
it's talking to data based solutions, it's talking to

571
00:35:50,860 --> 00:35:54,150
how this avails this problem to be

572
00:35:54,150 --> 00:35:57,150
dismantled. Right. Is speaking to our, the

573
00:35:57,150 --> 00:36:00,870
psychographic of our target audience.

574
00:36:01,670 --> 00:36:04,870
But then two, the other thing that's happening is we're getting into

575
00:36:05,270 --> 00:36:08,950
community with the people who align with our niches.

576
00:36:09,110 --> 00:36:12,310
And instead of saying, oh, we do A, B, C and D,

577
00:36:13,430 --> 00:36:16,990
we're showing it, we're showing it and then we're explaining

578
00:36:16,990 --> 00:36:20,750
it. So now you grasp instead of us trying to be like,

579
00:36:20,750 --> 00:36:24,590
oh yeah, in some super long infographic that you're not going to read

580
00:36:24,590 --> 00:36:28,250
past the first or second, second section, we're now like, okay, this is, what

581
00:36:28,250 --> 00:36:30,930
does this, this is what does this, this is. And they're like wait a minute,

582
00:36:30,930 --> 00:36:34,650
she just hit on 12 different problems. We know we've always had. And

583
00:36:34,650 --> 00:36:38,370
we didn't realize there was a super like this was just trendy as somebody's

584
00:36:38,370 --> 00:36:42,170
wedding. But I never reimagined it right for it to

585
00:36:42,170 --> 00:36:45,970
serve this purpose. And that's where the, the creative

586
00:36:45,970 --> 00:36:49,770
innovation or industry disrupting part avails for. And

587
00:36:49,770 --> 00:36:53,340
then even in our quote intake process we know what you're used to. We know

588
00:36:53,340 --> 00:36:56,700
you're used to calling and people just asking three generic questions.

589
00:36:56,940 --> 00:37:00,740
We're going down logistics questions before you can even

590
00:37:00,740 --> 00:37:04,260
ask us for a price. Because you need to understand the things that you don't

591
00:37:04,260 --> 00:37:07,980
know. That we have to master understanding to get your job

592
00:37:07,980 --> 00:37:11,620
done the way you want the first time. But we gonna

593
00:37:11,620 --> 00:37:15,180
charge you what the value tied to that actually is.

594
00:37:15,420 --> 00:37:19,220
So now you understand. You're like oh huh. This is something nobody's ever asked me

595
00:37:19,220 --> 00:37:23,050
for. Yeah. But it really makes a huge weight. And in the back

596
00:37:23,050 --> 00:37:26,810
of the room we've just normalized so we're being disrupted even on the. In

597
00:37:26,810 --> 00:37:30,370
the back of the house with how we are moving. Having a meaningful.

598
00:37:30,450 --> 00:37:33,890
More meaningful conversation at the front. Yeah. Intentionality.

599
00:37:34,290 --> 00:37:37,650
It's a lot more intentionality going into. What do you.

600
00:37:39,330 --> 00:37:43,090
What do you think that corporate event specifically will look like in

601
00:37:43,090 --> 00:37:46,810
like 10 years? We've seen so much change over the

602
00:37:46,810 --> 00:37:50,320
last five that I, I really have a hard time

603
00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:53,880
seeing that far. But in your mind like what. What do you think it'll look

604
00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:55,640
like? It.

605
00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:01,240
It's no longer gonna be as. Oh yeah.

606
00:38:01,240 --> 00:38:04,760
We've just. It's. The traditional

607
00:38:05,480 --> 00:38:09,000
model is going away. Right. Like the,

608
00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:12,920
the really cute. Some certain things are going to be necessary. Being

609
00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:16,400
able to. A person being able to see you, the thousandth person in the back

610
00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:20,100
room needing to see you from stuff. It's still going to have to be able

611
00:38:20,100 --> 00:38:23,940
to see it because you can only be in one place. But

612
00:38:25,140 --> 00:38:28,740
the accessibility is evolving quickly

613
00:38:28,740 --> 00:38:32,220
through technological advancements. Whether that's like

614
00:38:32,220 --> 00:38:35,220
holographic orbs flying throughout the room,

615
00:38:36,340 --> 00:38:39,940
drones, you know the just technology

616
00:38:39,940 --> 00:38:43,060
is evolving so much to allow for it to be a personalized experience

617
00:38:43,700 --> 00:38:46,540
which is what people are willing to pay for. They're willing to pay a premium

618
00:38:46,540 --> 00:38:49,900
for that. So as prices go up, I definitely believe the

619
00:38:49,900 --> 00:38:53,240
technological side of events is drastically gonna

620
00:38:53,240 --> 00:38:56,960
evolve. Right. The other side to it is

621
00:38:58,320 --> 00:39:00,560
I genuinely believe it's gonna be about

622
00:39:02,240 --> 00:39:05,960
you know how people save for weeks or months

623
00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:09,800
at a time for a vacation that's short lived. Yeah.

624
00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:13,640
I believe that the event industry is. Is transitioning Quickly to

625
00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:16,960
that where people are willing to pay a premium, but they want of experience

626
00:39:17,620 --> 00:39:21,460
that they can only get here. They will. The price is going to go up,

627
00:39:21,460 --> 00:39:25,060
but so is something that they leave with that only

628
00:39:25,140 --> 00:39:28,540
being there granted them access to. Right. So it's going to be the type of

629
00:39:28,540 --> 00:39:32,380
chair like you'll pay 500 a night to sleep in

630
00:39:32,380 --> 00:39:36,180
a bed with 5,000 thread count sheets. Right. Meanwhile,

631
00:39:36,180 --> 00:39:39,940
your sheets at the house are from wherever. Yeah, Ross, maybe

632
00:39:39,940 --> 00:39:43,720
you know, you'll pay for the once in a

633
00:39:43,720 --> 00:39:47,560
lifetime meal, the gold stakes and the. Because you're like,

634
00:39:47,560 --> 00:39:51,320
well, I now have experienced it. I now know what that feels

635
00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:54,880
like. I now have been able to go through new

636
00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:58,440
arrays of emotions, thoughts, inspiration,

637
00:39:58,839 --> 00:40:02,040
aspirations, goals, and I kind of tying.

638
00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:05,840
Lifestyle experiences with work experiences a little. Bit more and

639
00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:08,670
been able to do it with people that you share some type of

640
00:40:09,700 --> 00:40:12,820
commonalities in community. Which it goes back to. Yeah, your community.

641
00:40:13,220 --> 00:40:16,860
Like one of the biggest things that people didn't talk about. Well, they

642
00:40:16,860 --> 00:40:20,460
did because I heard about it. Like some of the biggest things that

643
00:40:20,460 --> 00:40:24,060
happened at the height of COVID lockdowns were people, single people

644
00:40:24,060 --> 00:40:27,500
acquired pets. Right. Companionship or

645
00:40:27,500 --> 00:40:31,300
divorces. They realized the social connection they

646
00:40:31,300 --> 00:40:34,910
had to the person that they were relating to. Once you

647
00:40:34,910 --> 00:40:38,670
pulled away all the distractions wasn't at the quality

648
00:40:38,670 --> 00:40:42,390
that they wanted to actually have to sustain for extended

649
00:40:42,390 --> 00:40:46,030
terrain. Like the survival mindset of this is my only option.

650
00:40:46,190 --> 00:40:49,910
People will go with the one that may not get them as much accreditation or

651
00:40:49,910 --> 00:40:53,390
certifications just because it's accompanied by

652
00:40:53,790 --> 00:40:57,310
the type of environment they want to exist in. Whether it's socially

653
00:40:57,390 --> 00:41:01,150
gender based, religious based. Just acceptability like

654
00:41:01,150 --> 00:41:04,750
being able to show up authentically as their whole self in that space. So maybe

655
00:41:04,750 --> 00:41:08,170
more. More personal identity attached to

656
00:41:08,650 --> 00:41:12,290
live events. Yeah. And being aware of your audience like the

657
00:41:12,290 --> 00:41:15,050
psychographic thing, you're not just going to be able to say, okay, well all of

658
00:41:15,050 --> 00:41:18,690
you guys are doctors, right. So this is a doctor event.

659
00:41:18,690 --> 00:41:22,490
Like you're actually gonna have to talk to

660
00:41:22,490 --> 00:41:26,090
people's motivations or triggers. Everybody has a why.

661
00:41:26,090 --> 00:41:29,730
And now. And we're now transitioning to a state of

662
00:41:29,730 --> 00:41:33,490
reality where even events have to comprehend the

663
00:41:33,490 --> 00:41:36,640
why instead of the what. Yep.

664
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:40,560
And the whys require for you to actually understand,

665
00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:44,320
to want to hear from your audience, not just get a check from them.

666
00:41:44,720 --> 00:41:48,160
That's a lot of cool thoughts. I love the idea of what will it look

667
00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:51,760
like with the statement, you know, personalizing each

668
00:41:52,080 --> 00:41:55,720
everybody's experience. You know, you go to these events and

669
00:41:55,720 --> 00:41:59,480
it's. It's Unique to you. And it'll be interesting how technology plays a

670
00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:02,470
part in that. But some things are low tech that can play a part of

671
00:42:02,470 --> 00:42:05,750
that too. Not necessarily, but just the, like, push

672
00:42:05,750 --> 00:42:09,510
notifications. Like something that I loved

673
00:42:09,670 --> 00:42:13,270
this one guy did at a trade show two, three years ago,

674
00:42:13,750 --> 00:42:17,270
and he had a team. His team literally did it as the lead

675
00:42:17,270 --> 00:42:20,950
generation. And he positioned his booth by the entryway where

676
00:42:20,950 --> 00:42:24,750
everybody ended up in his bubble, so to speak, for where

677
00:42:24,750 --> 00:42:28,400
he did airdrops to every single person that

678
00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:32,080
came and write. And. But it was a premium giveaway. So instead of having

679
00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:35,720
this super elaborate thing where you're paying for all these banners, you're

680
00:42:35,720 --> 00:42:39,440
actually giving the investment to the. And so

681
00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:43,080
there were a couple of different things happening. This spoke to the different types of

682
00:42:43,080 --> 00:42:46,400
audience that they appeased to as their target demographic. They were doing custom

683
00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:51,040
branded giveaways that could be customized on the

684
00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:54,720
spot. Another version of it, they were doing it with denim where

685
00:42:54,720 --> 00:42:58,460
you could have something engraved up to four characters right

686
00:42:58,460 --> 00:43:01,740
then and there. There was another version of it where

687
00:43:02,460 --> 00:43:06,260
it was like, what

688
00:43:06,260 --> 00:43:08,940
did they do? They were they.

689
00:43:10,780 --> 00:43:14,140
Where it was like three of their best selling things,

690
00:43:14,380 --> 00:43:17,980
but they had like sample versions of it. And so it was

691
00:43:17,980 --> 00:43:21,580
like, is it the touch, the smell, or the sound

692
00:43:21,820 --> 00:43:25,660
that motivates you? Oh, the senses. Yeah. Like activating senses

693
00:43:25,660 --> 00:43:29,200
in a different way. And it's like. And it. And it turned into a lead

694
00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:33,040
generation where it's like, okay, this is just enough for me to now

695
00:43:33,040 --> 00:43:36,240
want to tell people about it where we. But it was made in a way

696
00:43:36,720 --> 00:43:40,440
where you could only get it here. So it's like you want to

697
00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:43,600
be there. Like, wait a minute, y' all did a rollout and it was exclusive

698
00:43:43,680 --> 00:43:47,520
like that. And you create the FOMO thing. Yeah. But

699
00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:51,320
it's also something that people now don't feel. Feel like they're

700
00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:55,060
seeing a return, a tangible return, an investment versus

701
00:43:55,060 --> 00:43:57,940
just some generic stuff didn't

702
00:43:58,260 --> 00:44:01,900
everybody's going to discard or is going to end up in one of the. One

703
00:44:01,900 --> 00:44:04,540
of the kind of running jokes in our house is, you know how many events

704
00:44:04,540 --> 00:44:08,020
we've been to based on how big our those vacuum seal

705
00:44:08,020 --> 00:44:11,300
storage bags get with stuff that we never use again,

706
00:44:11,620 --> 00:44:14,900
like shirts and cups and this and that. Versus

707
00:44:15,460 --> 00:44:18,660
right now. If I was to go grab my fanny pack, I literally have

708
00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:23,800
one of those battery packs that I got from a

709
00:44:23,800 --> 00:44:26,840
lawyer as their premium guy. I said, I literally bought one of these two days

710
00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:30,040
before the event because I knew I would need it. And I said, you guys

711
00:44:30,040 --> 00:44:33,440
have one I said this was the perfect premium getaway. Yeah. My spouse has said

712
00:44:33,440 --> 00:44:35,720
to me at least seven times, you need to take that battery pack out of

713
00:44:35,720 --> 00:44:38,800
your fanny pack. There's no space. I was like, I bet I won't. I bet

714
00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:42,520
my phone won't be dead nowhere. Like I'll be the one with the phone.

715
00:44:43,080 --> 00:44:46,800
Exactly. You know, so little stuff like that where it's like, I take it

716
00:44:46,800 --> 00:44:50,050
with me and if you intentionally invest in it the right way,

717
00:44:51,090 --> 00:44:54,090
when this conversation comes back up, you're going to be the person at the top

718
00:44:54,090 --> 00:44:57,370
of mine versus the 12 people that gave me

719
00:44:57,370 --> 00:45:01,090
pamphlets or the three people that tried to convert me on the spot

720
00:45:01,410 --> 00:45:04,610
but didn't even allow for it to be customized to my

721
00:45:04,930 --> 00:45:08,690
problem. That's awesome. That's good. Good

722
00:45:08,690 --> 00:45:12,410
thoughts on that. I. If people wanted to learn more about shift

723
00:45:12,410 --> 00:45:15,730
event rentals or other projects you're working on, what, what should they do? Where should

724
00:45:15,730 --> 00:45:19,170
they go? Go? Well, we're on almost every social

725
00:45:19,250 --> 00:45:22,570
platform. Facebook, Instagram, tik, tok,

726
00:45:22,570 --> 00:45:25,570
Pinterest, LinkedIn,

727
00:45:26,050 --> 00:45:29,570
LinkedIn. All right, yeah, YouTube.

728
00:45:30,610 --> 00:45:34,370
It's. That's always a great place if you want to

729
00:45:35,090 --> 00:45:38,530
just kind of get a feel of how we are.

730
00:45:38,850 --> 00:45:42,610
Our personality definitely shines through in the most

731
00:45:43,390 --> 00:45:47,190
corniest ways, sometimes through our content, but also in a formed

732
00:45:47,190 --> 00:45:50,390
way to allow for you to understand how these things are

733
00:45:50,390 --> 00:45:54,070
transferable to your needs. But also our website, we

734
00:45:54,070 --> 00:45:57,710
have 24 hour chat support. Our website is

735
00:45:57,870 --> 00:46:01,150
very extensively laid out and we

736
00:46:01,550 --> 00:46:05,270
are doing a couple of things a little differently where we have transparent pricing and

737
00:46:05,270 --> 00:46:08,950
how to make it your own. Okay, fantastic. We'll

738
00:46:08,950 --> 00:46:11,870
link to all that in the resources part of the podcast so people

739
00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:15,440
can just click on that and find out more about you. And

740
00:46:17,040 --> 00:46:20,120
I would highly recommend it. And I thank you for, thank you for being here

741
00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:23,880
on the show. You know, we. I only invited you like just a, basically a

742
00:46:23,880 --> 00:46:27,280
few days ago and you were like, yeah, I'm ready. Yeah. So thank you for

743
00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:30,920
being, being a good sport and coming down here and doing it in person. We

744
00:46:30,920 --> 00:46:33,120
were going to do it remote, but you're like, no, I'm going to be there.

745
00:46:33,280 --> 00:46:37,120
Yeah. Because getting around like minded people is such

746
00:46:37,120 --> 00:46:40,940
an intangible but super valuable thing to do

747
00:46:40,940 --> 00:46:44,180
in the corporate event space. Like, it can feel so

748
00:46:44,180 --> 00:46:47,940
mundane, especially as you just go through your normal

749
00:46:47,940 --> 00:46:51,700
workflow. Right. No matter how unique of

750
00:46:51,700 --> 00:46:55,300
a project you can be working on. So for

751
00:46:55,300 --> 00:46:59,100
me, I'm like, sometimes what's said out

752
00:46:59,100 --> 00:47:02,780
loud in front of folks is

753
00:47:02,780 --> 00:47:06,580
even more in depth when the cameras or the mics or the

754
00:47:07,060 --> 00:47:10,880
inform or the formal part of the interaction ends. So

755
00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:14,200
it's one of those things where you're just like, yeah, the like

756
00:47:14,200 --> 00:47:17,920
minds add so much value to an encounter

757
00:47:18,960 --> 00:47:22,560
or just opens up different avenues that allows for you

758
00:47:22,560 --> 00:47:25,680
to fall back in love with what you're doing. Yeah,

759
00:47:25,920 --> 00:47:29,680
agreed. This is your reminder to get out there and network. I know that

760
00:47:29,840 --> 00:47:33,560
some people love it, some people don't. But every time I do it, I meet

761
00:47:33,560 --> 00:47:37,280
somebody new. And I know you do too. And it's just something

762
00:47:37,280 --> 00:47:40,960
about we are event people. We do things that bring

763
00:47:40,960 --> 00:47:44,800
people together and there's like a magic that happens in any group of people.

764
00:47:44,880 --> 00:47:48,560
Whether it's the thing you're producing or it's a networking group of event

765
00:47:48,560 --> 00:47:52,400
people, you know, there's always something to be learned. Being around other people, we

766
00:47:52,400 --> 00:47:56,120
kind of sharpen each other's skills and to learn about other people and it's

767
00:47:56,120 --> 00:47:59,880
fantastic. So thank you for joining us on this episode of the Event

768
00:47:59,880 --> 00:48:03,680
Pro Show. Be sure to follow us on your preferred

769
00:48:03,680 --> 00:48:07,310
podcast platform and we will see you

770
00:48:07,310 --> 00:48:11,150
on the next one. Thank you so much. The Event Pro show is a production

771
00:48:11,150 --> 00:48:14,310
of LEMG video by Nick Barrett

772
00:48:14,710 --> 00:48:18,550
Audio and post production by Prince Thompson. You can learn more about

773
00:48:18,550 --> 00:48:20,790
us at LEMG Live.