Woman-Owned Wallet: The Podcast
The Woman-Owned Wallet is a bold, feminist marketplace that features goods from over 50 woman-owned brands. Founder and serial entrepreneur, Amanda Dare, has expanded her brand by creating a walking tour of other woman-owned shops in one of the most popular areas in Louisville, KY, and now, she is also encouraging conversations about money with women through Woman-Owned Wallet: The Podcast. Amanda shares honest conversations with a fellow woman in business to discuss all of their WOW money moments with their finances: both the good and the bad.
Woman-Owned Wallet: The Podcast
49| From Venue to Vendors: Crafting WOW's 2024 Galentine's Bash
Have you ever wondered what goes into planning a 500 person event?
Join Amanda and Adrienne in this exciting episode of the Woman-Owned Wallet podcast as they take you behind the scenes of their 2024 Galentine's Bash! Get ready to dive into the nitty-gritty details of planning this epic event, from their venue partnership with Ten20 Brewery to the meticulous process of selecting businesses for their vendor market. Discover the creative journey of creating stunning decor and all the small details that make this event truly unforgettable.
But that's not all! Amanda and Adrienne also give you a sneak peek into their upcoming events, including WOW Summer Camp, an education conference for creative leaders, and Pinkmas, their highly anticipated holiday market. Tune in to gain valuable insights into event planning, learn about the challenges they faced, and get inspired by their passion for creating unique experiences.
Hey friends, welcome to Woman-Owned Wallet the podcast. I'm your host, amanda Dare, a serial entrepreneur who has already made all of the money mistakes, so you don't have to Now. I'm working on my money mindset, expanding my companies and having open conversations with women around a subject that shouldn't be so taboo money. My company, woman-owned Wallet, and I are determined to help you foster a more positive relationship with your wallet and help you create a life that makes you say wow. Hey moneymakers, welcome back to yet another episode of Woman Owned Wallet the podcast. Today, I have Adrienne with me. Hey, adrienne, hi Hi. I have Adrienne with me. Hey, adrienne, hi Hi. We're back to discuss another really large event that WOW hosts and it seems to be everyone's favorite. Yeah, I mean the best. It is the event the best day ever, as Leslie Knope says always. So it is Galentine's Day, or for us, it's our Galentine's Bash, because she big.
Speaker 2:It's not just a party, it's a bash.
Speaker 1:She a bash she lovely. So we're going to talk through that a little bit, and I feel like people really like to kind of see the inner workings of WOW. We get a lot of questions. We're beautifully overwhelmed with opportunity, which is just the best thing ever. So we're going to get into it with y'all and tell you what happens behind the scenes when we're planning our biggest event of the year. Yeah, exciting, all right. So, adrienne, let's get into it. So when did we start planning Galentine's?
Speaker 2:I think it really probably gets on our radar about October, but really start setting things into motion in November.
Speaker 1:Yeah, agreed. Yeah, I mean the day after I'm like Adrienne and all these things, but we don't like actively put anything out. Right, we are thinking about it, we are thinking and we do a little debrief.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which is helpful, I mean while it's fresh on your mind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so October, do you start to freak?
Speaker 2:out. Are you like, oh my God, not freak out now. I mean, this year was a little different than last year. I mean that was our first year, so we were really like getting systems in place and figuring out the logistics of it and how this big event is actually going to like happen. But this year, you know, we had like all of our forms in place. A lot of things were already done, so it was just kind of putting them in motion and making it happen. And you know it's funny because, like fourth quarter holiday, things are happening in the gift shop. That's where a lot of our energy from the staff is going towards. But I feel like, you know, I was off at Wow Factor in our little office. Yeah, just being cozy, I was like Adrienne, I'm going to go sell holiday stuff.
Speaker 1:You got the rest, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I was on my computer, making plans, sending stuff out, communicating with people. It was nice because I like being in the storefront, but I'm not as much of a people person as you and Paige are, so I like the behind the scenes and being cozy eating snacks at my desk while I talk to people through a screen.
Speaker 1:And I sit here and I'm like, when can I talk to somebody? And I sit here and I'm like, when can I talk to somebody? So I mean, luckily again find somebody who has complimentary skills to yourself so that you can each do different things. Yeah, and it works out that way it does. That's why you're my work wifey, alrighty. So what's like the first thing that we usually have to do in order to create such a large event? As I'm like looking at our sponsor by like our sponsors poster that we have on our wall back here, like how cute.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I mean, securing a venue is probably number one, but thankfully we already have that figured out. Our friends at 1020 let us come back. Actually, I mean, they loved the event so much last year that they were like, please, yes, come back. Yeah, and we were like, absolutely, because it's so convenient for us, it's so close to both of our spaces, two and a half blocks, something like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we still have to rent the U-Haul to get everything over there, obviously, but if we forget something, it's very easy to just run back. Yeah, right around the corner, yeah, yeah. So luckily I mean not even luckily, I wouldn't call it luck Last year we spent a lot of time, energy, in meetings with the team at 1020 to help them understand the vision and they believed in it. And I think that's a lot of where I come in, you know I can bring it, and a lot of me doing that and being able to do that is because you're behind the scenes making sure it's executed. So I can go in and be like excited and sell the vision and be like, yeah, close on Super Bowl Sunday and it's okay, you'll actually make more money this way. Yeah, and then they're like are you sure? Are you sure? And then so much energy just goes into their team that from us, you know. And last year they were like, okay, after the event they're like all right, yeah, they said we were like one of the most organized events they've ever had in their space Hair flip Right, toss, toss. So I feel like having that energy going forward. And then we did our booby bash last year, which I know we haven't like really dove deep into with y'all, but Galentine's is really where it's at and I feel like the other ones are so great, but they are the same kind of process and since this one's larger, we love to just deep dive and we do plan to have this.
Speaker 1:Whenever years were, we're like finding you know our perfect place for the other ones. So we went to them and we actually or sorry, they came to us this year. We're like please do it again. And I'm like cool, here's the date. Sorry, it's always Super Bowl Sunday. Yeah, whoops, sorry about it, not my fault that they added an extra week of games. Yeah, like it used to not be on Super Bowl. It used to be Super Bowl was the first Sunday, that's right, yeah, and now it's the second of February.
Speaker 1:So rude, not our fault I didn't make it the same week as Valentine's Day and Galentine's Day, but it was cool because again, people like think that's going to be a problem and it hasn't been, for us One, it's before. Yeah, so you could still go and host and do whatever you want to do to any Super Bowl party. And I mean, if you were going to go to Super Bowl you wouldn't be here anyway, yeah, but most of the girlies are like I'm good, I'm happy to have something more feminine to do on today, versus watch boys hit each other, which I mean it's fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, when it comes to Super Bowl, I'm really just there for the snacks, yeah.
Speaker 1:What's your favorite? Oh, I mean dips Like.
Speaker 2:If that's like for holiday this year I want to have a dipmas party. Just only dips, strictly.
Speaker 1:Strictly dips. All right, what's your favorite dip?
Speaker 2:I love a seven layer dip. Oh smart, yeah, I like that. You get a little bit of everything Crab Rangoon dip I mean, I really don't discriminate against mini dips, those really feel like fancy dips.
Speaker 1:Good job. I mean, if you're going to have a dip miss, you might as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, my mom grew up making seven layer dips. I just like that was a constant in the household and I just still love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, it sounds awesome.
Speaker 2:I like any like sour cream base dip a dill any kind of like French onion there's the one that has like sour cream and taco meat and cheese and you eat it with like the Fritos. Oh yeah, yeah, I forget what it's called.
Speaker 1:Well, a dairy castle. It's taco in a bag, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:It always hits One that we have. That's probably sounds weird, but it feels like a very like 50s dish, like 1950s is. There's like a block of sour cream. One of my uncles always brings it with shrimp cocktail sauce over it and then you put little mini shrimp from like the can. Oh, okay, yeah. And then you use Ritz crackers or whatever to like dip it and it's so good. I mean, we all wait for it and it's usually one of my uncles that's late and I'm like you're bringing the appetizer, Like come early or bring the dessert.
Speaker 2:I love a shrimp cocktail situation. One of our like traditions growing up was we would have shrimp cocktail and little weenie roast as appetizers on Christmas, like pigs in a blanket. No, it's like you get a little sterno pot and put it in a purple cabbage and it hosts little smokies over top of it, so it's like an indoor little campfire kind of situation.
Speaker 1:I've never heard that. And then we had shrimp cocktail Feels like German to me to have like cabbage and weenie.
Speaker 2:I mean, it was really just more for aesthetic and so, like the pot didn't light, stuff on fire.
Speaker 1:but it's smart, like what do you put around the sterno? That helps it not make?
Speaker 2:um, yeah, you just like carve out a hole in the cabbage and just pop it in there. Oh, cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like aesthetics, obviously Cute. Well, that those are our dip suggestions. If you ever want to host a dip party, invite us. We want to come, we definitely want to come, and I agree because I like to have like a little taste of everything. So perfection. So how do we get there?
Speaker 1:Super Bowl, super Bowl. So we're not really concerned about our event being on Super Bowl. I mean, sports are for all, so is feminism. It's all good, you can come to both, you can enjoy both. So we're happy to, you know, have it on that day and have it not be an issue. Yeah, I mean usually actually both years we got home right as the halftime show came on. Yeah, which solid. I mean last year it was just Rihanna's concert. Yeah, which I don't know if it's going to ever get better. Like that was really. That was good top-notch Super Bowl halftime show for me. And I mean Usher did a great job this year and like Alicia Keys with her, like fit Acrylic piano, the red, so good, so good, the shape of it, like she was real snatched to, like her outfit, I was like I don't feel like I see Alicia like those very often.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It was glorious. Wonder how long it took her to get out of it and into it. Gotta powder up right. We learned that from Housewives. Yep, sure did Erica Jane. Erica Jane, berlin, not Berlin Amsterdam. Yeah, when they get on the boat oh, that was a good look. And when the bike almost hits her and she just looks at the camera breaking the fourth wall and she's like, mmm, yeah, one of the best moments no.
Speaker 2:Respect for the fashion no respect, which I don't know.
Speaker 1:That's just such a good moment, but, yeah, we can get there for halftime. I'm like chef's kiss, yeah, this is perfect. And then you can watch the end of it. I'm usually asleep at the end of it because I'm like we are up all day and the days before getting it ready, yeah, so it's a lot, but not concerned, and luckily 1020 was not concerned either. So let's get into vendors, probably your favorite, because, like you, yeah, manage all of that I do, yeah, um.
Speaker 2:So I mean our first year finding vendors, you know people weren't really sure what to expect, how big the event was going to be. So it was a lot of personal inviting kind of within our network, being like you know we're having this event, I think you'd be really great for it. You know, are you interested? Kind of having to do more selling on it to people, I feel like, and like explaining our vision for it. And this year we didn't have to do any of that.
Speaker 2:I mean, the event was in demand because people saw they either came to the event or saw it on social media. So we actually have an application process now. So we kind of do open calls through our website, through social media. We have an inquiry form that people fill out to submit and we just kind of go through all of our applications. We like to keep it pretty diverse. So making go through all of our applications Kind of. You know, we like to keep it pretty diverse, so making sure that we don't have too many of the same kind of vendors offering different things, ones that might offer on theme items to the event. So lots of hearts and pink.
Speaker 1:And a lot of times they'll theme their products that they're bringing because they'll do like seasonal stuff Sure so. But they're bringing because they'll do like seasonal stuff Sure so that all year round they're making money. But we got to make sure, like it makes sense for our girlies, that we're inviting.
Speaker 2:And I mean this year we got on a wait list. Yeah, we filled up all of our spots pretty much, and then we still had people reaching out past the submission end date, being like if you have anyone drop out like let us know.
Speaker 1:People kept asking and I was like I love you guys, here's how you do it. I mean, we just can't do anything last minute.
Speaker 2:We can't accommodate everyone. It's a big space, but there's only so much in terms of vendor space and we were able to have 30 vendors. I believe this year, yeah, we had more this year than last year, which we'll explain why a little bit later. Yeah, but if you're ever interested in joining in our events, we usually put out an open call on social media letting people know that submissions are open, and it's usually two months before the event. We like to give everyone a decent amount of time, I think actually three Isn't November December.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I guess Well, because we put it out the end of November. End of November, yeah, like right after Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, so yeah, right after your birthday and you know, just like Sagittarius season, so that Adrienne's in her vibe, yeah in her element, accepting vendors, moving stuff forward, and we usually try to choose all of the vendors like by the first week or earlier of January.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. And also if you're not following our email list, we also put it out on there, and that is a good way. So if you're not on social media a lot, if you're more of a Facebook girly which we learned this year that I guess we need to be posting more about it on Facebook as well.
Speaker 1:Usually, we're just doing it through Instagram and we were doing so much more TikTok before, so so usually we're just doing it through Instagram, and we were doing so much more TikTok before, so it took a lot of our energy. But with events being our focus, now again we have learned Facebook has got to be, it's got to be where the event lives. You know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but yeah, if you want to be in the know and just want that information to come right to you, just sign up for our email list on the website.
Speaker 1:And so to sign up, you just scroll to the very bottom of, I think, almost every page, but definitely the homepage, and then you can insert your email into the box that has it. So then you're subscribed, then you're in the know and we'll put it out to everyone. Because we have so many women in businesses, business owners, that follow us and we're like, okay, well, how do we make sure that everyone has a shot to get into this? And a lot of times we're actually on a wait list already for permanent jewelry. Oh yeah, lots of you girlies are doing permanent jewelry right now and of course, it's amazing, but we want to make sure that we're not overrun again with too many of the same.
Speaker 1:This is a really well curated event and after we approve everyone, I'm literally sitting people next to each other, like one candle person per room. Yeah, so if we have three already, that makes sense for what we're doing. Some of it is first come, first serve and some of it is does this match the vibe? Will this work with our customer? What does their booth look like? Like, we have to really think through their social media. Will they help us promote it? Because, as it gets larger, there's a lot of behind the scenes that has to happen. So we need to make sure people are with us to really make sure everybody is helping promote the event.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I mean we really like to take care of our vendors in the sense that we give them tickets to give away on their social media platforms. So it's a lot of you know, we do a lot of promoting for them, but we also like them to promote on theirs for us as well. It's a circle, yeah.
Speaker 1:You put energy out, they put energy back. It's a circle. That's the way women work, yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, amanda spends a lot of time on the floor plan A lot. Once we get all of our vendors confirmed, she is on her little app and working out the floor plan because it is important to make sure that there's a really good flow through all the spaces, that no area is getting bottlenecked with people. So we do a lot of time and energy putting in in terms of making sure that everyone is in the perfect spot, agreed and I feel like cute of moving.
Speaker 1:You know, making sure that everyone is in the perfect spot, Agreed, and I feel like cute of you little app it's not even an app.
Speaker 2:It's not an app.
Speaker 1:But I mean it's like on our computer and I like will print it out and show Adrian, but it's like a SketchUp kind of situation. So I actually have the exact measurements of the space. I know how much like we need to make sure everybody has at least eight by eight amount of space available to them, have walkways that are a certain amount. So I'm not just like making it up and people that I want to make sure are next to each other, because if one of them has a service and it's a little bit of a line, I want them to be able to have a few people around them that our guests and our attendees can like really enjoy waiting in line. Yeah, you know, like I want to make sure that the experience is good for all. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean speaking of experience, like we have experiences beyond just vendor booths. So there are things we bring in, like our puppy kissing booth with bat heads. You know it's the best that, um, we try and have one in each room and, you know, put them so if there is like a service-based vendor that you know, as she was saying, if there's a line there's something else that they can jump to next, yeah, and kind of take part in while they wait yeah, and this year I felt even better about the flow because people were going from room to room and then back again, yeah, so if there was even too long of a line of something, some kind of experience or whatever, you can easily pop back in.
Speaker 1:There's always something you could do that has available space at any moment, and I thought that that was really helpful. Even to have our food outside this year, yeah, with the food trucks. Oh man, we got lucky with the weather. We did Yet again. That is lucky. Yeah, there's nothing else I can do about that, but we got very lucky with the weather and it was beautiful out that day, so we had Seafood Lady in the parking lot as well as Happy Belly Bistro, so people were eating outside and it gave more room to everything inside and the patio is so nice.
Speaker 2:It's so nice.
Speaker 1:It's a great spot to hang and get out. It's like heated and it has an overhang for a lot of it. But we were even out past that. Yeah, the sun was out, it was warm, it was, I mean, I did change outfits because I was overheated. I mean, my disco jumpsuit was basically the most beautiful thing I've ever worn, but also like plastic, yeah, it does not breathe. It does not breathe. So I got a lot of good photos and then I was like it's time for a comfy dress.
Speaker 2:It's time it is a long day. It's a long day. Sometimes you got to do a costume change.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I got there at 5.30 or 6 to start to get.
Speaker 2:I think the best move that I made this year was wearing pants, so I didn't flash people whenever I've been over to do anything. And tennis shoes yeah, because I wore heels to Galentine's and boobie bash and my feet the dogs were barking. Yeah, like midday and for days after. So I got myself a little matching pair of nikes, looking cute. Yeah, it was the way to go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you're right, like I should just do that because I was wearing cowgirl boots and then slippers. They're Nikes. Cute, it's looking cute. Yeah, it was a good wave. That's the way to go. Yeah, and you're right, like I should just do that because I was wearing cowgirl boots and then slippers you didn't wear slippers.
Speaker 2:I'm wearing them right now. You really love that slipper life.
Speaker 1:I have like four pairs at my house. More actually, some of them have backs that are them go up my ankle. They're all for different moods. I think with all the sensory stuff I have going on, I have to have the right. I have to tend to myself to chill myself the fuck out If I have the right sensory thing happening, then I'm happy.
Speaker 2:That's fair. I have a pair of slippers for the house that are hard bottom ones if I'm on the tile and stuff, but I'm more of like a fuzzy sock kind of gal, I think.
Speaker 1:I guess I'm usually both. Yeah, I'm like one slipper is not enough. I have to have fuzzy socks, yeah, fuzzy slippers. A little layer, yeah, a little layer. And with how much like my temperature changes, with all my diabetic stuff, I'm like, okay, I got to make sure I have options. Yeah, you know like I wish I wore a tank top under this right now, because I have a sweatshirt on and I'm like warm. I'm like I got to remember, amanda, you need options. Ryan's like you wear like four outfits a day. I'm like, yeah, well, that's like fine.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean you do have like a whole closet here at work. I'm looking at clothes yeah.
Speaker 1:And like four pairs of shoes under my desk right now. Anyways, I wore cowgirl boots, pink ones, and I mean I love those. They are actually really comfortable. Yeah, In terms of a heel they're not a bad heel, no, and I don't wear heels. Like often, I wear boots with a little heel, but it's got to go all the way up my ankle or else I'm going to fall.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't understand stiletto people. I'm like, how do you do it? I?
Speaker 1:can barely do the platform Crocs we have.
Speaker 2:That's on my ankle all the time I live for those platform Crocs, oh yeah, and I really should wear those. I'm about to buy a couple new pairs.
Speaker 1:You are, yeah, you guys. I steal Adrienne's shoes suggestions because I don't like. I'm not actually a shoe girl, I'm a slipper girl.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I just they're cute and they're very comfortable, they are.
Speaker 1:I mean, and it gives you like a 90s vibe that you're like it's always fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I've always been a platform gal. Baby Spice really, exactly, Baby Spice for life. Yeah, spice up your life.
Speaker 1:Also we're like very short. We're like are you 5'2" On?
Speaker 1:a good day, yeah, I usually say I'm 5'1", 5'2", like a half sometimes Depends on my shoe, but whatever it works. So, yeah, you decided to wear pants Great job. You decided to wear sneakers Second great job. We also got our hair and makeup done. We did, yeah. So I got hair and makeup, shanoa got hair and makeup, you and Paige got hair and you just kind of came glam vibies but the hair up.
Speaker 1:That also really hit, and like being able to show up super early for me and just put my energy into the space and be like it's going to be okay, like I was listening to Disney music. Well, I mean, kyla that did our hair. She was into it too. So we were fine. We were like let it go, let it go. We were just like vibing at six in the morning and she made me look like pink Marilyn Monroe, which was like all my dreams ever.
Speaker 1:And I dyed my hair pink for Galentine slash like the whole month of February, which was fun. But I really like being a little blondie. So I'm back now to blonde. Yeah, that keep is hard Was hard, and I even the night before it took like a really nice shower, cause like we were like prepping the whole day and everything and I put a ton of pink shampoo into my hair and I was like thank goodness I did because I wanted it just to pop that one day and looking back at the photos, it popped, it popped for sure. So that was really nice. So thanks, kyla, for all your vibeys. It made us feel extra special and awesome and I think again, just having that hair up, we're ready, but we looked really cute. We did look very cute, we did. So I'm going to start planning next year and not have it be a plastic disco jumpsuit.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, but it was, it was good. I did have it altered to fit me just right, so she's nice, so that was a major change. That's good. Oh yeah, we were talking about the layout. Yeah, so the layout, I mean I feel really great about that. I feel great about the vendors that we chose. I feel good about the changes that we made. One of the other things we did was actually get the. What was it? Get the outside help.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the outside of the venue trying to decorate one. It's the way that the patio is designed out there, I think it just welcomes a lot of wind. But we've always struggled with making the outside entry look the way that we want to. And so With our other two events, yeah, I mean we already have a lot of things going on inside the day of, and so trying to do the outside the day of is always kind of a struggle for us and we realized that and decided to make a change.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that was one of the best decisions we made. Yeah, I mean, luckily, we do have our skill set with balloons and we learned it from Meredith with Pop Balloon Boutique as well. So we hired her to help your girls out. She made us some really cool fringe letters. Yeah, the giant marquee letters. Luckily and unluckily, the wow. We wanted it to say wow gal, in large marquee letters that light up because fun, hell yeah. But she only had one W and one O, so it'd be like whoa gal and like whoa is fun, but like wow is the name.
Speaker 1:So I was talking to her, I was like what are some other options can we do? Can I like pay you to make some new letters? And so she came back to me with a cool design of like all this fringe, this pink fringe, on a W-O-W. So now we own four foot tall W-O-W letters that we have now used at another event and hopefully can use for at least a year I mean, I think longer if we take good care of them. But like we're taking them in and outside, they're going to last as long. Yeah, and that's okay. So we had her make those for us and then we purchased them because of course you know she doesn't need to keep them, we do. And then we had gal in the like marquee letters, yeah, and it was like pink and cute they lit up.
Speaker 1:They lit up so cute and I actually like how it was like two different, yeah, like they were on each side of our entrance and then we had a heart frame that went over the doorway and we made pink balloons that went all over that. And then, basically the day of, we had Jasmine from Jazz it Up, lou and Meredith come and they're now working together on the glow letters, glow script, yeah, so we hired both of them to. We blew up all the balloons and had them like ready the day before.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Because we were used to doing that. So we're like, oh, we can handle that, and you taught us how to do it. So, like you'll know that, they're like, fine, yeah, I will say she does it better, you know it better. For that day we could have had her do it. It would have been fine as well because and I'm sure, better because we just were doing everything. But I do feel really happy that we were able to just save a little bit of our own cash by utilizing the professional balloon services that we offer and then having them install that day as we're getting ready and setting up registration. So we had, like, this green rug that entered you entered through the pink heart over it and then wow on the left side and gal on the right side and it made for really great photos. Like, what a beautiful photo moment outside.
Speaker 2:And then, of course, we had our disco gal, welcoming everyone in. Yes, our disco tiled mannequin that we love so much.
Speaker 1:I know I keep calling her Beyonce, but now I need to put chaps on her.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she's Renaissance Beyonce.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she's Renaissance not Cowboy Carter vibes, we could put a cowgirl hat on her, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I'll be your chaps. Add a little more fringe, maybe. Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1:And some chaps. Yeah, that'd be good. But she is, she's disco-fied, she's fun. My niece was scared of her Really. Yeah, she was like what's going on with this lady, kind of vibe, and it was just funny, it was really cute. But we had her outside and she had a little garland of silver hearts that she was holding too, so you could take pictures with her or under the heart or anything. With the wow sign, with the gal sign, there were options.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the front looked great this year.
Speaker 1:It did and I mean, that's one of the things like you really, you think, okay, I can do all of this, I can save every single penny by doing this myself, but do you want to? Just because you can, we knew that it wasn't something we could actually get to day of, because we have to set it up day of. There's not prep we can do the day before and there's only so much time before the event starts. Do I want to stay overnight?
Speaker 2:I mean, at this point we might as well just sleep there.
Speaker 1:Put a cot in the back. What are we doing? But I feel like hiring that out, getting that help and also having like stuff to like. We did add to it with our own skill set, so there was some savings there. But also we purchased the letters, so we have these great letters for other events now. So it didn't feel. It felt like a good investment.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I mean it's kind of nice. You know, the day is about supporting women-owned businesses, so we also got to work with other women-owned businesses that we normally wouldn't get to. So it's, you know, nice to meet them and work with them and invite them into our event.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they're beautiful humans, like definitely hire Glow Script, hire Jazz it Up, blue and Pop Balloon Boutique. Thank you so much, y'all for making our dreams come true. Yeah, with our entrance, saving us from ourselves, saving us exactly from ourselves, at least from me. Like it's not pretty enough. What are we going to do? We figured it out, we did. It's all good. You got to start with the biggest, like most bougie version and then figure out how it can actually happen. I like that about it. So we did change a lot of our decor. So kind of go through that a little bit for us, adrienne.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we mentioned earlier that we were able to add more vendors into the event this year than previously, and that is because we kind of switched up our decor process method. Originally our first year and for BB Bash as well we had more of kind of standalone backdrops in each room, so you'd go, it was more of like a photo backdrop than just an overall aesthetic throughout the space, and that was cool. But we realized that in photos and videos, unless you were right there in front of that backdrop, you kind of missed the decor. In other shots they were all different too, so there wasn't much cohesion going through, right?
Speaker 1:We thought that by doing different photo backdrops it would help us kind of get all the vibes we were trying to put into one event. So we had a spill the tea one at Galentine's last year. That was kind of Bridgerton vibes. We had a if you want to be my lover, but it was kind of like Spice Girls plus the lover backdrop with Taylor Swift. Like we had that kind of vibe. Even at Booby Bash we had one that was for Wednesday and Enid from the Addams family, like so you could be a Wednesday or be an Enid, you know, like you had. You could do that with your best friend or do it with somebody you met just there.
Speaker 1:But it wasn't Like you're saying. It wasn't cohesive because it wasn't supposed to be. It was supposed to be a lot of different backdrops but it just wasn't as I don't know. Wow, yeah, I guess, unless you were right next to it just like you said, like I was really proud of them all. Yeah, and coming up with the themes was fucking fun. It was fun, so fun, and we've tried different things but at the end of the day we want the entire event to know you're experiencing, wow, you're feeling the vibes, and that we actually aren't like cornering the decor. We're expanding it and exploring new options. Yeah, and without knowing what we could do with 1020 last year, and then finding a new way to integrate some really fun witch hats at Booby Bash into the ceiling and they were fine with it. I was like cool. So then we got to really deep dive into our ceiling decor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so between the time of last year's Galentines and this year we opened Wow Factor Collective, our event space, and we have a lot of fringe throughout the ceiling in our space that we made and strung and we just love the vibe of it.
Speaker 1:It's very, it's just fun, I feel like it creates an environment, and the ceiling heights are like 18 or 20 feet tall at 1020. So, like even in our wow factor space, the ceilings are almost overwhelmingly tall and we want it to feel intimate. So it brings it down but then brings in a lot of color.
Speaker 2:Yeah, at the same time, but so we were like well, this is not horribly expensive to make and we know how to do it and we know that we can put things in the ceiling now, yeah, so we decided to move most of the fringe off the floor space, which then allowed for more vendor space, and put it up into the ceiling. So, while we used fringe in every single room because there's technically four rooms in 1020, but the main tap room we do our big like Galentine's backdrop in there, so most of the fringe decor was in the three other rooms, which were most of the vendors are, yeah, and so we worked with the same colors in each, but we did fringe in different styles for each room.
Speaker 1:I really I thought that was really smart of us.
Speaker 2:I mean, I'm just fine with it it gives a little bit of a different vibe, but it all, you know, it keeps that cohesion. Yeah, so in the lounge.
Speaker 1:So first let's give them the idea. So, when you walk into 1020, through our beautiful, you know, heart arch and the wow gal that we just talked about, we have the lounge, or sorry, the taproom area. That's where the bar is, that's where they also have a lot of couches and places where you can eat or hang out and, like you're saying, we put our one big backdrop in there, which we also made that we can get into. That one was fun, that one was really fun, and we also put registration for the entire event inside. Every other time we had it outside and it just felt too separate.
Speaker 2:We had people working out there and they didn't really get to be in the party atmosphere. So we were like let's move them inside.
Speaker 1:Right, and then the line would still go outside when people are registering, but it wasn't too long of a line or anything like that, and so I feel like getting people in and them getting excited as they're in line for like whoa, look at all this movement and stuff that's happening and we can put our sponsors or like different nonprofits that we're working with into the first room with the WOW registration and we had some of our WOW merchandise with us. But then as you go through, so we'll go back to the lounge in a minute or sorry, I keep saying lounge because like it feels loungy but it's the tap room. But the second room, as you go straight in, is called the lounge, and then I'll let Adrienne kind of talk us through, like what we did in the ceiling of each room.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so basically they have track lighting throughout the space, which is what we hung all the fringe from, but we did the fringe from, but we worked from the outer edges coming into the center like a center meeting point, which is basically what we have at Wow Factor. And they come to the center and we have a cluster of disco balls. But we made these, you made them, you rocked them.
Speaker 1:I did make them.
Speaker 2:But we found these pink heart frames, I think at the Dollar Tree or something. Yeah, they were at the Dollar Tree. They came in a set of three and they were different sizes. So we kind of strung those with fishing line and had disco hearts hanging inside the frame and so they kind of like rotated and moved and caught the light really nicely. So we had a cluster of those in the center. That was so cool.
Speaker 1:It was cool, yeah, like we came up with so many ideas for what to do in that center point, and I'm always happy with what we end up with, because you have to like, let the artistic process vibe, but that was a really fun one.
Speaker 2:It was fun and we still have them. Yeah, now we have them and can reuse them. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then I think that's kind of the starburst kind of look, where it all collects in the center, and then you had ones that were kind of straight and to like a little cross, and then you had ones that came out from it kind of like an asterisk or like a star if you drew it. So that was really heavy, like in fringe in the first room and we did each fringe in a little bit longer section in that room and with different colors per strand. So like straight across the room was a white strand, then crossing the whole room was a red one, going across the middle, where it was like perpendicular to the white, was a pink one, and I'm probably mixing up the colors. But just to give you an idea, because I feel like the community room, the next room, we did it a little different.
Speaker 2:We did so they in the community room. The next room we did it a little different. We did so they in the community room. We added a new fringe option to mimic what we had going with our Galentine's backdrop, which cellophane, which is really fun to work with. We really enjoyed it. What I mean on the backdrop? On the backdrop it was the fringe. It was a little difficult to cut because it just tore really easily, but Very delicate. Yeah, the fringe garlands in the community room we did more color blocks, so a section of it was pink and then a section of it was cellophane and it was like an iridescent cellophane so it caught the light really cool. And then we'd have a section of white and a section of red and then they kind of like alternated. There was three separate garlands and they kind of draped and like swagged.
Speaker 1:Actually, I think you're thinking of the other room. We just had pink, light pink, dark pink and cellophane. Oh yeah, yeah, it was just like a little bit different vibe, because it pulled out the cellophane like colors a little bit more in that room and then we alternated them based on which line we put up. Yeah, yeah, fancy, I don't remember. Oh, we're trying y'all. Well, we used red and white in so many of the spaces.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you're right, because we used the cellophane in place of the white.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the cellophane was a lot shorter, so we used shorter fringe on all of those to kind of match the cellophane. So that's why I remember it was a little different, because we ordered I mean, they're actually made from plastic tablecloths and we ordered like really like what, 100 feet or 300 feet? We have extra of it. So we ordered like so much of it and to be able to span the entire rooms. I mean these are big rooms in a big brewery so it's a lot of cutting Our poor little rotator cuffs again, like we know how to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we keep trying.
Speaker 1:We were cutting for a while to stop cutting things and to stop doing manual labor, but we just love it. Apparently, our hands can't help it. Yeah, we just want to make things. Yeah, I just love making things. I can't sit at a computer all day, but hey, it's over. And now what's nice is that we still have them. Yeah, we don't have to remake every single one like we did this time. So it took a while, but it's reusable. Yeah, that's very fancy. Maybe not the cellophane. We might have to redo that one. Yeah, might just replace it, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it was really pretty, but it's just so delicate, yeah. And then our favorite room, or my favorite room, yeah, yeah, the West Wing, the West Wing. So talk about that a little bit. What did?
Speaker 2:we do so. We like to call them our fringe jellyfish. Yeah, they did feel like jellyfish. So we used metal circular frames that we used a couple of different sizes for some variety, but each one was a different color. I'm using the red, the white, the pink, all of that yeah, light pink and like a hot pink. But then, since they were hanging from track lights, which obviously you know you can move the bulbs around, and we had color changing bulbs that we actually brought with us and put inside the frames, so then they lit up and changed colors, which was a really fun effect, but it looked like little, just floating colorful jellies in the ceiling. It was so fun, it was really fun. And I mean, that's the biggest room, it's really long, it's like basically a very big rectangle, so having those fill the space was really cool.
Speaker 1:And there's a lot of vendors in there and with it being such a long rectangle, we knew that just doing lines of fringe might not get lost. I don't want to say that, but wouldn't have the same impact. We wanted to break up the space. Yeah, well, and it would be long, like even possible, who knows. Yeah, but I remember, adrienne, would be like cutting the fringe. That's kind of the way we did it, because we had to cut the fringe differently, because you could have potentially done it the way we did, making the other fringe, where you kind of put it over a string and then we could have put it over the hoop, but it didn't look as good. No, so we cut all the way through it into strips and then I think I hand tied most of them and you're cutting them while watching Housewives.
Speaker 2:I mean I cut and watched Housewives. We have a TV in this space, so sometimes when we're doing repetitive work, we bust it out.
Speaker 1:We're like have you seen this episode, have you seen this one? And yeah, it just makes the, like you said, repetitive work a little easier, yeah, a little less stressful, when you're like I don't know, because we're makers, we just know how to do that kind of repetitive.
Speaker 1:And I was like, oh, another jellyfish done, yeah, and they were all different sizes, which was cool too. So it just had a lot of dimension and adding those colorful lights which we're putting into Wow Factor. So, like, all of our events can have colorful lights and you can choose which color. It can do a little strobe light, it can be like a smooth transition between colors, like it's going to be really fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm excited to put those all up. Yeah, I finally got our ladder back because we finished doing another mural, so we have the ladder back here so I can actually put them into the ceiling on our wow factor, like spring cleaning day. Yeah, we're still trying to add some. We are. It's a never ending project. Yeah, and that's probably what makes it so fun. Yeah, it's a fun interaction. It's basically a big art gallery at this point for us, so just good to come and enjoy Pretty much. Yeah, well, tell them a little bit about our big backdrop that we did.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the tap room arguably has the best lighting. So we decided that instead of doing a bunch of different backdrops, we wanted to have one main one and make it like a big experience. So our VIP guests got in first. They had early entry, and so we invited Caitlin from KKP Boudoir, hey girl, and she actually came and did professional portraits for all of our VIP guests against our backdrop and we had seen these on Pinterest people making these cellophane backdrops. So basically it's a foam core kind of. It's technically installation panels.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I bought four of the four by eight sheets of insulation. I believe that they're like an inch thick, yeah, something like that, and it was just a lot less heavy than doing it on plywood, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:That'd be a lot. It would be a lot. But yeah, I mean, we got these panels. They were super lightweight to move and then we just got a bunch of rolls of cellophane, this iridescent cellophane, that looked so cool, but really the process for it I think we knocked all. It was three panels, Four, Four. So we had like two that went across straight across the back and then two that kind of came out on an angle to enclose the backdrop a little bit but also keep it upright.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because it was just leaning. Yeah, and y'all put a bunch of our sparkly like payette curtains on the back of it, on the backside.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because we tried to spray it and we were like, oh, this isn't covering all the like printed words that are on it.
Speaker 2:The brand of the installation I'm like nobody needs to see that on it the brand of the insulation. I'm like nobody needs to see that. So we were like you know what? We're just going to tack this fabric backdrop along the backside and it looked. I mean, it looked good. Yeah, it served its purpose. But, yeah, we knocked the panels out in pretty much one afternoon. Yeah, we got it. Yeah, because the process.
Speaker 1:We still have them again, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's something that we can continue to have, but the process is really quick. You basically just have your roll of cellophane and we use spray Gorilla.
Speaker 1:Glue.
Speaker 2:And we sprayed the panel and we kind of worked in sections so we would spray kind of like one length of the panel and you're basically just scrunching the cellophane onto it and it takes a minute for the glue to dry, so you can kind of move it around.
Speaker 1:So you can kind of adjust around.
Speaker 2:It's going to be tacky a little bit, yeah, so you can kind of adjust. But you want it to have like a crinkled look, so it's textured and there's different bits that come out all over it. But, yeah, we just did four panels in that and it looked awesome. Especially, we like set up some colored lighting. Caitlin brought some like stand lighting in different colors. It's really reflective.
Speaker 1:And one of the things. So my only issue was my jumpsuit literally matched it.
Speaker 2:You blended in. I was like a floating head.
Speaker 1:I mean not too bad, but still. But we were like, oh, a lot of people are going to be wearing pink, so do we really want a pink backdrop, or is iridescent the way to go, because then it can pull in any color? Well, obviously we went iridescent and I think that was a really smart move. We did bring our pink shopping cart, of course, full of disco balls, which literally is everyone's favorite. I mean, I just think people love interacting with it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and well, it's like people who aren't used to posing for you know they're always like I don't know what to do. And it's like people who aren't used to posing for you know they're always like I don't know what to do and it's like just hold on to the shopping cart, yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, it gives you a little bit different option. You can play with the disco ball, you can like hold it up, you can like be pushing the cart, and I mean Caitlin is like a master poser of people. Yeah, I mean she does. People's ankles are looking real good and I love her editing style because I feel like it's such a beautiful like there's so much like contrast in it that everybody just looked I don't know like fabulous.
Speaker 1:I mean, some of the photos she took are like my favorites I've ever had, so they're good. Get it, girl. Yeah, get it. Hire Caitlin from KKP, we love you, and her friend lauren.
Speaker 2:You guys are wearing the same jumpsuit charlie's angels in it in our photos together. You guys are so cute. I mean I was like I have a feeling I'm gonna see this jumpsuit there. Like it. I got it from unique vintage and they like had a curated valentine's collection and I was like, well, I definitely want a jumpsuit. This seems perfect. And I was like but I feel like definitely want a jumpsuit. This seems perfect. And I was like, but I feel like I might see it somewhere. And sure enough, like Caitlin and Lauren showed up and I was like what's up twin? Hey, but it was fun. I mean you guys are, I'm happy to twin with people, exactly, and especially Lauren.
Speaker 1:She's such a beautiful spirit and I don't know I love her laugh too. Just so good. She's so funny, it's the best. And she's like Caitlin's introduced me to all kinds of new stuff since we met and I'm like, yeah, I get that and she's along for the beautiful ride and I'm here for it. I'll do anything that Caitlin or Lauren do. I'm like let's hang out every day I'm down and I mean I literally would. I'm obsessed with them.
Speaker 2:They're a good time.
Speaker 1:So call me girl, let's do it, let's do it. So we got our beautiful backdrop. We made sure our VIPs had that moment. What else did we do for our VIPs? That was a little bit different, because last year we had a tote bag. It had a few things in it, got in an hour early last time, which was too much time, honestly. Yeah, it was like made the event start at 1pm versus the event for general admission starting at noon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, and also last year we didn't have as many experiential vendors yeah, so, with a lot of our experiential vendors that we had this year, they had time signups.
Speaker 1:Right, well, and that happened at Booby Bash. Yeah, we had tarot card reading and energy reading kind of things, and those got full so fast that in order to be able to sign up for them and make sure you got a spot in the beginning of the event, you had to be able to sign up for them and make sure you got a spot in the beginning of the event you had to be VIP.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So this year, yeah, that was definitely a perk of the 30-minute early entries that you got to go grab your free drink and then get your photo taken by a Caitlin, and then you had 30 minutes before the general admission crowd came in to get your name in on all the signups for all the fun stuff. So that's one big perk.
Speaker 1:That was a great perk and I feel like we really did it. Like did our bags, our VIP bags, like good. This year we did Kind of like just put it out to all the vendors too, Like hey, like you have this option if you want to put stuff in there. Because last year one of our critiques was like, oh, I didn't realize you guys were going to have a swag bag. I would have brought stuff, yeah. And I was like, oh duh, I need to be okay with asking and I'm also okay if you don't want to do it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I mean pretty much every single vendor this year put stuff in there, so the bags were full, yeah yeah. And a lot of them had like coupons or like special deals for the day, so you could immediately use it and cash in on it.
Speaker 1:We're like with KKPs. Yeah, the little stress balls were boobs. Yes, we're looking at one right now. Both of our husbands were like can you bring those home? Yeah, and there were two different skin tones and I brought one of each. Yeah, here you go, babe. It's like the options.
Speaker 2:Yeah, beach, yeah, here you go, babe. It's like like the options, yeah, you're welcome. But yeah, I'm trying to think. I mean there was a lot of stuff that we added. Yeah, the t-shirts, yeah, you got our heart shape. Cake, baby tea.
Speaker 1:We were like what do we call this? It's really long because we have our disco tits tea, so that's like pretty quick to say, but it's kind of like the vintage heart shape cakes that we've seen, you know, all over Pinterest and Instagram and everything, and we did a really fun giveaway with Bay's Bakery, so obsessed with them Anyway, we're like how can we like do something fun with them? So we did the heart cake teas and there's one over each boobie cuties and when you signed up for VIP, you got one of those which we started selling at the event. Yeah, so you were guaranteed a cutie, a cutie, a cutie. Yeah, I thought that was really good. We put in a bunch of our stickers as well, some mystery packs, yeah.
Speaker 2:That was fun. It was fun, but yeah, I mean, the bags were full and you obviously got a really cute tote which, if you're shopping and supporting, woman-owned that day.
Speaker 1:You needed a bag, so it came in handy for sure, sure did and I think, with all that extra time, the free drink that came with it, the experience of also getting to be at the puppy kissing booth first, yeah, and well, glitter highlights, obviously.
Speaker 2:Our first year we had Kitsch Salon Lindsay. She came and did glitter highlights for everyone, right, and it was a big hit and she had a line all day and we were like, well, that seems pretty in demand. So like what if we offered that just to VIPs this year?
Speaker 1:And she was so grateful to do it for everyone the year before, but it was just overwhelming, yeah, and we had over 500 people. So she's one woman, yeah, and so she was like so is there a different way we can set this up? Just because she also wanted to enjoy the event? Yeah, I'm like, of course, let's figure it out. So we popped her in our area with registration and had the VIPs get some glitter highlights for free. And then there were options through other vendors to do tinsel, hair tinsel. And I saw a girl the other day and it's still in her hair. Really, yeah, laura Lee, it's still in her hair. Amazing. And she just went on the wild tour with us and I was like dang fancy, I mean, you take care of your hair. Yeah, works out. So that was. They had other options, but the VIP specifically got the free hair glitter, which I always love. Yeah, I mean, we got our hair done that day, so I didn't end up in any glitter because I was pink Marilyn that day, but really awesome.
Speaker 1:Always a hit Yay, all right. So then, what about? Always a hit, yay, all right. So then what about? How do we make it better for our vendors this year?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, as we mentioned, the VIP bags and how, all of the vendors together? Because some of them are friends, a lot of them run the market circuit together and are at a lot of the same events, but there's also quite a few. We had some out-of-town people this year who are vending just some newer people who might not know everyone, and you don't get a lot of time the day of the event while you're vending your own booth to really like mosey around and network and meet people. So we're like, well, let's get everyone in one room. We have this event space. So we had a vendor meetup night prior to the event and so that's when we collected all of our VIP bag contributions and just had like a fun mingling night.
Speaker 2:Kkp was also there. She did headshots for the vendors that night. She did headshots for the vendors and then we also just kind of went over day of timeline. Everyone got to sign up. We provide lunch to all of the vendors the day of, so they signed up for their lunch option. But it was just a nice way to kind of like streamline some things and get everyone comfortable with each other. So then when they showed up for the day of the event, they knew familiar faces.
Speaker 1:I mean, so much of what we do is about bringing people together, why would we not? I feel like it makes so much sense for us to do that, and we couldn't have done it last year because we didn't have the space. And now one of the main value adds to our business is the fact that we have an event space. We can host whatever the fuck we want, whenever the fuck we want to, and I just feel like, without this opportunity of this space, no matter how much work we've had to put into it, the value add to WOW as a business is, I mean, immeasurable. So, being able to have everybody here and I do want to shout out Momo's Catering too yeah, that menu, yeah, there were so many options, and I felt like even being able to offer multiple options of sides, and some of them we had vegetarian options, gluten-free, like we had a lot of options for the main and the sides that came with it, and it came with, like a dessert on each person, yeah. So they were willing and open, because they do this all the time, and I was like are you sure this isn't stressful? And they were like, of course not, we do it all the time. Oh yeah, sorry it would be stressful for me to make that many different things. Yeah, but for them it's the way it goes. So, barbara, that runs it with Amber mother-daughter team is really cool, and they brought everything in with everyone's name on it. So when it was time for lunch, you just went up and found your name, or I had people walking around with people's lunch if they were still setting up, or something like that and I just thought it was so simple at the end of the day.
Speaker 1:I mean, of course, collecting all that information can be a lot, yeah, so we need to maybe find the next time how do we streamline that?
Speaker 1:And now that we know we love, we love some forms, we love forms, goodness y'all. But getting everybody to fill out forms is also, I mean, it's just a whole communication strategy that you have to have for events with vendors and with us being vendors for such a long time at other events. We just really want to make sure that our people are taken care of, and that part of doing that is making sure that they are eating throughout the day, even though I did a terrible job at that and I really had to sit down and eat my chicken salad sandwich, which was delicious still halfway through the day. Last time we had hot dishes and I just saw a lot of plates places and I was like, oh, I feel bad that they can't like close the box up and snack on it throughout the day, and so I think doing a cold option this time and more of like a picnic style kind of vibe, was the way to go.
Speaker 2:It was like a sandwich and lots of pasta salad, Lots of potato salad. I mean it was good. I had potato salad. It was yummy. Yeah, I think I got the Greek pasta salad, oh nice, solid.
Speaker 1:Did you get a brownie or a snickerdoodle, snickerdoodle? I think I got the brownie. I mean, when would I not choose a brownie?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love a brownie.
Speaker 1:It's too good. So thank you so much to Momo's Gatorade because, seriously, keeping everyone and everyone said they also were at the Wow Factor opening and I'm not sure we mentioned them then so I'm going to give them a second shout out they created a full, beautiful oh my gosh, just gorgeous display of food for our Wow Factor collective space opening last August, and I mean the pricing is so affordable. Y'all Like I think you've really got to like look at these local catering companies and make sure like hey, this is what I'm looking for and get them to do it for your events, because it really relieves a lot of stress and they're just beautiful humans that do it all the time, that are ready to show up for you, so let them do it. Yeah, if you need a spread or if you need individual lunches, go for it spread, or if you need individual lunches go for it.
Speaker 1:I think both times I spent maybe under $600 on each one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's like 30, it was probably like 35 meals with all us included our staff and everyone, so not bad, not bad, not bad.
Speaker 1:We knew that it was going to show up on time. We knew it was going to be exactly what our vendors needed. So I did love, love that, and I feel like having the event here before just made everybody feel a little bit more comfortable. If they had any questions, if they hadn't been to the Galentine's before, then we could answer that all in person. And, like you're saying, there's a lot of emails that go out and if these are all beautiful makers, they might just need some in-person, face-to-face time. Yeah, and if they could come, great. And if they couldn't, we were still able to communicate with them. But it's nice to have that little extra, have a little cocktail or mocktail together. Yeah, little vibies, I like it, all right. So we did change up. Let's actually talk through the puppy kissing booth next. So kind of I don't know how to start it, I can get us, you got this, you got this.
Speaker 2:So, since I've been communicating with vendors for most of the time getting it ready, we actually had an artist from Tennessee, ari. She reached out to us on I think it was, instagram. She actually was working at Publix and they just opened one here in Louisville prior to Galentine's and she was like I'm coming up to help open the store here in Louisville and I was just kind of looking around on social media seeing what the Louisville scene is like and I found your shop and saw that you're having an event and I just wanted to see if I could jump on board and being a part of it. So we were like I mean, yes, you know, we looked at Ari's stuff Ari Farley art and she does illustrations and graphics and murals and all kinds of things.
Speaker 2:A lot of hand lettering, yeah, lots of hand lettering. So we just got to talking with Ari and she was awesome. She's so cool. Yeah, love Ari. We're like do you want to be best friends? Yeah, pretty much. So we were like, okay, let's think about ways that we can get you involved in the event. And so last year, puppy Kissing Booth with Fat Heads Rescue was a big hit and we were like, well, how can we kind of expand on these experiences while also adding to our backdrop collections to reuse and, you know, like really get our money's worth on those Right? So she suggested that she could make a backdrop painted backdrop for the puppy kissing booth and it was a freestanding one this year, so it was like a true booth that you could get in A lot of people. The dogs actually ended up getting in the booth, which was really cute.
Speaker 2:So you got to like go up to the front, you know, and get your little puppy kisses. But yeah, so she came up to Louisville Probably like a month before.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so she was here for a few days working on the opening of Publix. But she came into Wow Factor and worked in the space for two days yeah, two days To work on the kissing booth. And we just got to connect with her and get to know her and love her so much that we decided to continue on our collaboration and use her to help kind of promote our next events that we have. So for Galentine's obviously the puppy kissing booth was already made ahead of time so it was ready for the event. But then she also came and did a live mural painting. Yeah, I thought that was so cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like interactive marketing for our next WOW event, which is WOW Summer Camp. Summer Camp yes, we'll have to do a whole episode, yeah, yeah. So this event is a little different than our market events. This one is more educational, based for our business owners.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're so luckily and beautifully surrounded by women in business and I mean that's who we connect with. I've obviously been an entrepreneur for such a long time I mean not obviously if you haven't listened to the other episodes, but 15 years in. We love especially on this podcast speaking with women about their businesses and their stories and learning from one another in the same beautiful way. So summer camp is going to be a very wow-worthy experience that mixes a lot of creativity, especially since we know so many amazing creative leaders. You don't have to be an entrepreneur to come. There's a lot of leadership and creativity that's going to be mixed in through the day, as well as movement and a little keynote speech from me about just fearing less and earning more. Maybe some cool panels, maybe some live podcasting. We got to see what we can do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's still in the works. Figure out the tech yeah, but if we can do it, we will, and we're going to really try to bring together some beautiful humans and have an experience that is a learning environment for creative leaders, but not so stuffy. No, not your dad's business conference. No, definitely. Nobody has seen this before and I'm very excited about it. So summer camp wow, summer camp. We will kind of keep you in the loop about that as it progresses. But I would say, look out end of April probably by the time this podcast comes out there'll be more information. So if not, DM us, be like what's this fucking thing called summer camp? I'll be like it's fucking this, yeah, and we'll be fine.
Speaker 2:But yeah, if you were at Galentine's, Ari was kind of up along by our registration just painting our backdrop. It says Happy Camper on it, so that'll be the photo backdrop for that event and she's going to do something for us for.
Speaker 1:Pinkmas as well. Yeah, so at summer camp, the plan like we're talking about is, you know, we want each event to lead to the next one, because we're planning stuff all the time for each different one. We're always thinking about it and Pinkmas will be November 17th, I think, so we have that already on the calendar and so by the time summer camp happens, and right after we're gathering vendors for Pinkmas because we had Boobie Bash last year, which was really fun, but we did notice that at Boobie Bash, so many people asked us to have a holiday-centered event for Shopping Woman Owned so we decided four events was too many. We would have to adjust. We'll see where the future goes with it, but we're going to adjust and we're going to have pinkmas instead. So November 17th, right before Small Business Saturday and Thanksgiving, right before then you can get your shopping started.
Speaker 2:Kick off to Christmas shopping.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think, and we got to get ahead of it a little bit, because if we're going to shop anywhere, we need to give these artists time to make your amazing things. Yeah, so definitely, at summer camp, we're going to be talking about Pinkmas and how to sign up for it and how to come to it, and it's going to be fun, and Ari's going to help us do that by doing another live mural. I love that. Yeah, I think that's really. I don't know, I don't see that often, no, or ever. Yeah, I'm so glad she reached out to us. I know and listen, she was just on TikTok learning about sending cold emails to people and she looked us up and started following and learned from another mural artist what to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so TikTok is a lesson. You guys, if you want something, reach out. The worst that can happen is they say no, yes.
Speaker 1:That's all they can do. It won't hurt you physically, maybe emotionally, but hey, you can get over it. And every time you get a no, it's a lesson or a driver to your next thing, yeah.
Speaker 2:And maybe it's not a no, it's maybe not at this moment, but let's see how we can get together at another time, not yet.
Speaker 1:You never know. Yeah, and I think it's even funny because that's the same idea. It's like we literally got asked the question, like we were painting a mural, and we told the person in that space, leslie. She was like why did you not paint the mural at Galentine's? If you can paint murals, we're like well, just because you can do it doesn't mean you have time to do it and to be able to present it. In a way, we wanted to make sure we had as many. Like you said, we were putting money in the walls of women as much as we could during the experience as well, and that was just one more great way to do it. Yeah, and I really love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I mean Ari was the perfect person to do the puppy kissing booth, because she's a little pity mom too.
Speaker 1:So just perfect, yeah, and even building that whole backdrop booth. My husband, our engineer IT, my lifeline and best friend he made all his drawings. I love him. I can't interact with him when he's doing his engineer thing because I'm just too free Like, well, let's just cut the wood. I don't know, I'm just, I got to chill out. So I appreciate and love that he sat down, drew out the whole thing, figured out all the pieces we needed and then presented it to me and I'm like, wow, I can't do that. Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2:I mean it's just a full team effort in here. Our spouses get involved, yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean all of them were over making sure stuff was getting unloaded, like Paige's wife Abby was like literally going to like a really big basketball game like the same day as we were loading in for Galentine's and I was like, wow, thank you so much for like and she's like pumped, she like cannot wait to like show up for those and then she works it with us and it's just so nice Like. And obviously Colton and Ryan like coming through in the clutch Like thanks, boys Doing the heavy lifting, yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean we really did hurt our rotator. Yeah, and I mean any excuse that Colton can use his truck.
Speaker 1:He's like yes, it's like I love this, I love this truck, let's put.
Speaker 2:Charlene the truck.
Speaker 1:Let's put stuff in her and drive her two blocks. Yep, perfect. Yeah, it wasn't too stressful, no, and I mean it's just so beautiful to have supportive partners and I will say also very supportive men around is the exact idea that you know, feminism is for everyone. And Ryan was wearing his Ken shirt around, so I just call him my Ken now and he actually prefers it because, just like Dolly Parton's husband, he does not like the spotlight. Yeah, he does love to arrange lights in 1020.
Speaker 1:We are big on lighting. Does he love it? He does it. It's not that he loves doing it, he loves when it's done right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like, all of our lighting in here is like at wow factor, is like crossover, and he's like, okay, what about this, what about that? Like, that's like his, the way he visualizes, he wants to make sure and everybody that was like, wow, your husband came over and like literally moved a light into the exact right spot, because those track lights get moved around a lot for every different event that they have, or I guess, maybe not, I don't know they're probably still in the same spot as when we left them, but it does. I mean, the event needs good lighting and that is something that we add to it. It's not difficult, but it is a lot up and down on a ladder, so you know it's the small details that count. It is, and he entertained.
Speaker 1:In-laws came that day as well as my full family. In-laws came that day as well as my full family, so he entertained them for me while I was working. So thanks, babe, love you. So yeah, let's talk a little bit about the biggest kind of shift I felt like. So we decided to. Last year we had a whole room of this event that was for Wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we basically moved the whole entire store.
Speaker 1:Oh, we did, and we did that mainly because, again, we really wanted to make sure we were going to hit our 500,000 of lifetime sales at Galentine's. It worked out so beautifully, and so we brought a bunch of stuff over. We also did not have access to that room until super late the night before. Yeah, man, just think about last year to this year.
Speaker 2:I think I blocked some of it out. I agree I had a traumatic experience with a balloon that really just pushed me over the edge.
Speaker 1:When you buy balloon letters, buy extra.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's okay, we still have let's Go Girls instead of let's Go Girls. Yeah, rip to that L bloom, that L Didn't make it, so sorry, definitely not bringing our whole store. We were like, okay, we sell a lot in our store all the time, it's not an issue, it's a lot of stress. Even at Booby Bash we did it. We had a smaller booth so we were like, okay, we really want to utilize these events as community events and focus in our entire team on the vendors on the space, on the decor, on the run of show and we don't want to be as worried. Of course we brought a few products.
Speaker 1:That made sense. We had some Taylor's version sweatshirts. Obviously, they sold out. They're literally NFL shirts when the Chiefs were in the Super Bowl, so we sold out of those and also had our heart cake shirts available, like a couple things, and it was all at registration and before we had an entire room that we had to set up and bring everything over. Like our U-Haul was packed full to the top last year and it was like a third of the way full.
Speaker 2:Yeah, maybe. Well, I think what I remember of last year was that we literally had to cover the storefront windows in the Galentine's Bash event flyer, because people would have thought that we got ransacked. Yeah, because there was nothing left in the store Nothing, yeah.
Speaker 1:We had to make two trips, yeah, and then when we loaded out everyone's car, yeah.
Speaker 1:And the U-Haul was full of stuff because we didn't really consider the second trip wouldn't fit back into the U-Haul on the way back. Yeah, but this time when we loaded up, of course we have decor and everything that we got to get over there and all the VIP bags. That was a lot to organize. So we put all of those into the U-Haul and it was like a third of the way full and it was the same size U-Haul and I was just like dang and when we came back it was a third of the way full, except we did put something in too, because we did bring the happy camper mural later. We put that in a Colton's truck. We did, and he was fine. Obviously, charlene, sure. So I think the idea that you can have all these different revenue streams in your business and we are a retail store Wow is that's how it makes its most money. But during these community events we're just being the sisters and the tour guides and the connectors for the full day to make sure that the event runs as smoothly as possible.
Speaker 1:We don't need to have a full room of all of our stuff. Oh, not necessary, not necessary. And I mean it's enough. And just remembering that which obviously is hard for me, because I just want to impress you guys, I just want to have all these sisters around me and have you know, I don't always know how to make sure that it's enough. Yeah, and Adrian says it's enough. Amanda, I'm like okay, thanks, yeah, I just need you to tell me that Like every day all the time. But yeah, that's kind of what we focused on. I feel good about that. The registration was inside. What are still some things? I mean, I feel like we have a few things that we want to change next year, even.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean always. You know, with every event that we do, we get a little bit better, we learn some things you have to adjust and grow and evolve y'all.
Speaker 1:It's okay, and it's not like admitting anything wrong. It's fine. We did the best we could with the knowledge that we had at the time and now we have a little more knowledge, so let's do the best we can with this knowledge. I know the VIP area.
Speaker 2:VIP. Yeah, I mean creating like an outright area for them to, you know, hang out in and lounge is definitely on our list to improve upon. But I mean, from last year's VIP experience to this year's was a big leap for us and we learned a lot of good things. But yeah, I think next is really carving out a special spot for them in the event and making them just feel extra, extra.
Speaker 1:VIP. So VIP, I'd really love to figure out some food for them if possible. But it's all an open space so it is kind of hard to figure out where we could place that VIP area. But I have a few ideas yeah, you know always and so we could put some of the extra furniture in there the couches. We can make sure that there's kind of an attendant for if they want to leave their purchases or their purses or their jackets back there, and then they could have, like we talked about with the free drink and the free food, like and maybe it's not free, but it's included obviously in the price point. So we want to make sure that they're really taken care of and we decided to. Each time we've lessened our amount of VIPs. So we had 100 VIPs this year, but we're going to have 50 VIPs next year. So get that ticket early.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's worth it.
Speaker 1:We start to sell the tickets also at Pink Friday, which is Black Friday, but we call it Pink Friday, so be ready Another thing with VIP that I hadn't really considered.
Speaker 2:But getting to the event early also means that you do not have to park as far away Because if you all know Nulu, you know that parking is incredibly hard.
Speaker 1:I will also say I was looking into valet.
Speaker 2:I mean I'm just saying VIP it up.
Speaker 1:VIP valet, like other people would have to pay, but it might be included with theirs. Yeah, just saying Just something to think about, something to think about. That way you know you can wear those stilettos and not have to worry about it. Yeah, and I think that could be another option. I mean, I would love valet. You remember in LA when I was Valet LA but I was like man, if I could afford valet everywhere, I went every day.
Speaker 2:That would be nice. It is nice, I mean especially in LA, because parking is tricky there too. So I mean it's kind of worth it. It's like, do I want to pay $20 for a valet, or do I want to get a $15 ticket that I'm inevitably going to get?
Speaker 1:So it comes out in the wash, and the ticket I got there was $160.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I guess our tickets here are $15, not in LA, never mind in LA.
Speaker 1:Never mind. Well, and luckily at least it's on Sunday, so you wouldn't get a ticket.
Speaker 2:That's true. I know what you're saying.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would rather pay in LA, I mean, if you don't want to park blocks away. But also, louisville just hates parking. They hate paying for parking. Yeah, us as a town, we think we're this big town but we have a small town mentality of like, why are we paying for anything you know, especially parking I mean? So Ballet, ballet is the way. Ballet is the way, and then you get extra puppy kisses too, you know, yeah, like maybe we do a little puppy parade.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, I just came up with that and it sounds adorable, I mean when, well, at one point during the event, they all did come out to the tap room to get a photo in front of the backdrop and that kind of was like a puppy parade. Honestly, people came out from all the rooms to just snap photos of them all and I mean it was adorable. These dogs are dressed up, you guys.
Speaker 1:They have on tutus, little headbands.
Speaker 2:They come correct, so it's adorable, correct, correct, so it's adorable yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I do think that you know, going to more of a specialty VIP and just making sure those people feel really comfortable, like ultra comfort at the event. You know, maybe we pop a few, like I said, like coat racks back there, comfy chairs, like just a space to leave your things so that you can enjoy the event to its fullest. Yeah, and I do think we had some really fun experiences that were included this year. Obviously, the kissing booth for the puppies, always free. They love taking donations at Fathead, so please always donate. But then we also had a button making area. That Was a hit. Yeah, somebody Society yeah, get it Lexi, and she was doing somebody interviews, yeah, and so we have a lot of interviews of people that were at the event, either just talking about silly things or talking about Galentine's Day. Yeah, and the idea of like being somebody special for Valentine's or Galentine's Day was really fun. But we obviously know that we're the somebody special. We need to be our own somebody special. So for us we're kind of telling them okay, we're going to ask you some questions about somebody special and then, twist like plot twist, we're going to ask them about you, and then I think that really, really bought the girlies back into making sure that they felt special from the day. So I really appreciate Lexi for being there and doing that and leading the.
Speaker 1:I keep calling them friendship buttons because of friendship bracelets. It's not really a friendship button, but it's like a design, your own little button. They were three inches wide, so it's pretty big. Yeah, and Dr Julie, who's one of my friends, ran most of it for us. Shereen also ran it for some time as well and I don't know like adults and kids alike felt really excited there. We had a lot of kids this year. We did. Yeah, I feel like last year there was only a few. I mean maybe like less than 20 out of 500. And there was definitely more. People knew that it was like a comfortable event, you know, to bring kids to and enjoy. So we had the friendship buttons.
Speaker 2:I'm just going to keep calling them that and had the friendship bracelets, which was a fun activity.
Speaker 1:We did, yeah. So Liv Bracelets, olivia is 12 years old and she is an entrepreneur and I'm like you're so cool, I love you, I love to see it. So Deja and Liv came, deja's her mother, and she was like this is her thing, I'm just her support system and I'm like I love you, you're amazing. So they we set up like a whole friendship bracelet making area, got them all cozy. We had them in the West wing. So to give you an idea of like how we spread out the free experiences, as you walked in, there was the backdrop in the tap room. You walked in one more room it was the friendship button making and the interviews. You walked into the next room it was the puppy kissing booth and then the final room had the friendship bracelet making and so somebody different is there to help you out and make sure you can get fun pictures and everything.
Speaker 1:And I also saw some people that were still wearing their friendship bracelet, like they hadn't taken them off, and I was like, are these permanent? I'm just kidding, permanent jewelry is way more fancy. But it was really cool to have Liv. She wasn't necessarily selling anything at this event, because we did meet her close to the event, but what's great about that is that she could teach you. She was there to support you and you could sit down at these little tables that we had set out with product that we purchased in order to be able to have that friendship bracelet and either make it for your bestie or keep it for yourself, and I just feel like I've saw so many people enjoying that experience and I really liked it.
Speaker 2:Yeah and she, yeah. So she was guiding people and helping people make their bracelets through the process. But also, if you didn't want to stop and sit down, she was making, basically, bracelet kits that you could take home with you of all the supplies packaged in a really cute little pink Ziploc. So she was just kind of making curated bracelets and handing them out so you could go home and make one.
Speaker 1:I love that. Yeah, thank you, liv so much for coming and being a part of our little girl gang here of 500 plus people at this event. You know, just like just our little thing. I really appreciate it because I felt like so many people have talked to me about her since then and now they can purchase her bracelets Like you could never have enough friendship bracelets.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Not possible. And I mean also it's just how cool is that to be in an event and see a 12-year-old entrepreneur like out there doing her thing, Doing her thing. So many people are like that's amazing, Like how cool is that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm just like in awe. Yeah, like it was never on my radar when I was 12 years old, never once. Her mom was like yeah, the other day DoorDash got like dropped off and I was like I didn't know where this and Lynn was like it's mine. I was just like dang, 12 year olds are doing more than I'm doing on DoorDash. And like making her own money to buy her own coffees. And at 12, know and like just my brain at 12 was obviously not the beginnings of financial freedom. Yeah, oh, my God, it makes me so happy, so, so happy, and so just to be surrounded by people of all ages and everything too just I felt like such a beautiful and diverse experience to have in our community which it's hard sometimes to bring everybody into one space and gather around one concept, but you know, gals supporting gals, it feels.
Speaker 2:It's a pretty easy one to support.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it doesn't feel as hard to support as a full concept.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Hopefully not, hopefully, not. If you're this far into the podcast, I'm pretty sure you're all about the gals supporting the gals. I'm getting a really cute text from Deirdre, who has Fly Girl Candles, who is also at Galentine's Day and has been on the podcast, and I'm obsessed with her and I'm so excited for her. She's got a big, big news, ooh. So she's moving on, you know, vibing and doing her own thing and I'm so here for it. Well, yay, I mean I feel really great about you know, talking through everything today. I'm trying to figure out if there's I know we didn't get to talk about each vendor and everything and I mean please go back through and check it out through our stories on Instagram and I'd still love to figure out doing a little bit more of kind of like a blog style to talk about people and really get them through. But if they haven't been on the podcast, they're also on the top of my list. So, talking with a lot of the vendors we had before, definitely check back through. Deirdre was one of ours, just like, we said, our vendors at Galentine's Day. She has had a episode on the podcast, say, she has had a episode on the podcast. Haley was also there with Busy Craft Bee and Honey Bee, fiberco.
Speaker 1:Yes, and oh, she gave me the cutest little chicken for my niece. It was so cute, I mean, and even like being able to have my niece there to see everything. She's three and I mean to have her be able to see this kind of event and I got to share that with my whole family and with her mom as well. It was just cool to be able to walk her around. She had to play with stuff and interact with people and she was just like the cutest thing ever and ate way too many macarons from Mac Way too many. Her grandma was not holding back with macarons, so I don't know.
Speaker 1:It was just a really beautiful experience and a beautiful day and the fact that it wasn't as complicated as last year and it's still very complicated to make sure everything gets through, and I'm really proud of our team and especially you, to make sure everything gets through, and I'm really proud of our team and especially you, adrienne. You really rocked it. Thank you, you really brought it together. So I really rely on you so much for that in order to make sure that these connections that we have with everybody are true and genuine and they are, and we get to put all those cool people into one place and having us as this little dynamic duo like hell yeah, oh yeah. Us as this little dynamic duo like hell yeah, oh yeah. Here, I'll do this one. I let it go the whole time I wanted the full applause.
Speaker 2:It's really for you.
Speaker 1:But we all did a really great job this year. We did, and I think we made a lot of really smart decisions and we're just going to keep doing it, yeah. And so look out for Summer Camp and Pink Miss coming up this year, presented by Wow Factor Collective, because that's our events in collaboration with Wow, but most of it's, you know, we're kind of splitting it off a little bit retail shop and events a little bit separate. So just watch as we try to do that. Yeah, it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 2:Always, always happening.
Speaker 1:Always, and I mean like we didn't even get to talk through everything, so if we didn't get to give you a shout out, I mean we had beautiful sponsors, beautiful charities that we worked with. Again, 1020. There's just so.
Speaker 2:There's so many people that helped make that day a success, and we love all of you all we do.
Speaker 1:We love you so much and really it's such a beautiful experience for our community and just thank you for being a part of that and all the people that come. I mean literally over 500 people attend. Yeah, like what? Like we did it last year and I was like can we fucking do it again? I don't know. And I mean we're even looking like how do we make it bigger? So we're going to keep working on that.
Speaker 1:You just keep watching, signing up for stuff, buying stuff, putting money in the wallets of women from Woman Owned Wallet. Follow us on Instagram at Woman Owned Wallet or Wow Factor Collective. We'd love to see you in both spaces. Yeah, and if you want to be a vendor, definitely get on our email list at womanownedwalletcom. We also have a wowfactorcollectivecom. If you go to the bottom of that, you can sign up for emails from Wow Factor. There's a few less of those, but we'll get there. But definitely womanownedwalletcom is the best place to find everything for us and across social media, and I can't wait for more episodes of the podcast with Adrienne.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think the next ones coming up are going to be with a few other entrepreneurs. We might even do some solo episodes. We're trying to bring this back and revive it, since we had to miss out on last fall's season. We're back. We're back and y'all have been demanding it in the most beautiful way and really showing up for us for the podcast. So thank you for that. Thank you for just being here. Yeah, thank you to Adrienne. Thank you, thanks. Love you so much, love you. I'm so excited that we get to do these crazy fun things together and fuck it up too.
Speaker 1:Another day at work she tossed her hair. It was such a good it was a really good hair toss for wearing headphones. Thank you, I'm proud of you. It's not long hair. I can't look, I can't even do it. I'm a tendril. Well, thanks so much for listening and unless there's anything else, adrian, I always have to check in. No, I think we got it all. Yeah, feeling good, feeling good. Yay, the money makers. Thank you so much for listening and remember, go out there and make that money. If you want to put more money into the wallets of women, like we do, then check out our website, thewomanownedwalletcom, and we can't wait to continue the conversation on our social media. So definitely follow us on our Instagram, at womanownedwallet, and on TikTok at womanownedwallet. You can support us by following our podcast on Apple, google and Spotify, and don't forget to leave us a review. Thank you for listening to Woman Owned Wallet, the podcast.
