First Event: Yard Party – July 2022
My first event! I was the brokest I have ever been in my life and all I had in my front pockets were audacity and passion. So I wouldn’t recommend this to other people trying to get into the event planning business (because this was very much NOT ALLOWED).
But my best friend was a DJ (in the photo) and I knew I wanted to have a fun event but we had no location. My bestie, DJ Doobie, suggested the Yard, the center of Howard University. This was my first taste of a successful event. After this, everyone knew me (maybe not my name but i digress). I had random people coming up to me going to classes, asking about the next event we are doing.
Our niche picked up stem pretty quickly. “We are for the weirdos looking for a more musically diverse party scene.” Howard was hungry for new music, new vibes, and we were prepared to give it to them. So we create our promo group Da Wild Things. It didn’t last long, as I graduate a couple of months after it’s inception but I laid the groundwork for my career pivot.
Second Event: For All Gays and Strays (F.A.G.S) – Sept 2022
I know what it sounds like LOL. I was a little activist and my first solo event, I wanted it to center around my identities. F.A.G.S was a collaborative art show/fashion show to showcase black queer artists in the DMV. The event’s message was to change the meaning of the slur to mean “For All Gays and Strays” aka F.A.G.S.
This was actually super awesome. I didn’t know I had so many artist friends until I posted this call on Instagram. We had rehearsals every Thursday, where we went through everything; questions, playlist, timing, blocking, everything. But there was one problem: I had no location.
I am learning that location is always going to be the major problem because in order to find venues, you need MONEY. But I had something better.. a love for talking. I convinced a church in D.C. to let me use their space for $300. A blessing (or so I thought).
The owner of the church ended up being super homophobic towards one of the non-binary models and stated that because of the way they looked, they couldn’t participate in the show. I let it be known that this event was paid for by me and they couldn’t change my event. It was a huge ordeal but the owner couldn’t do anything to stop progression. The event was a success!
Third Event: Spiritual Elixir – Oct 2023
Another solo event! This time around, I knew I wanted to bring together the spiritual community. At this point, I had been doing weekly meditation every Saturday, either on live or at Memorial Park in Houston.
The event was on the day of the solar eclipse so the event gathered a pretty good crowd. I met a lot of people who are customers to this day! I recruited some small businesses in Houston to set up a booth and sell their product. When i first came to Houston, the amount of money I spent on vendor fees was OUTRAGEOUS. So for my event, the fee per vendor was only $25, to help pay for the event space.
All vendors made an average of $300 and since there were only about 4 booths set up, no one complained!
PlantCon- Director of Education and Engagement – Jan 2024 to Dec 2024
Jan 2024 to Dec 2024, in contract with With Heart Company, I work as their Director of Education and Engagement for PlantCon International. That means I coordinate and execute all the session’s for PlantCon conventions. All speakers, panelist, and workshop hosts were found and scheduled by me. This was super stressful but usually when I had that shot of tequila after each PlantCon weekend, I know the stress is worth it LOL.
Event/Market Coordinator – Current
that’s it folks! y’all are all caught up. I currently contract my services to small businesses and non-profits. For up-to-date information on current markets I am organizing in Houston, tx, please check out my Instagram! click here!
Z&Z 