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Ep. 182 - Creating Unforgettable Celebrations with the Supra Dinner Society (with Daniel Padrnos)
52 Plays2 days ago
🎧 Episode Overview:
In this heartfelt episode, Carissa sits down with Daniel Padrnos, a professional toastmaster and co-founder of Supra Dinner Society. Daniel introduces us to the ancient tradition of the Supra dinner, a celebration rooted in connection, meaning, and unforgettable memories.
He shares how his team transforms ordinary dinner parties into sacred, heartfelt experiences that go far beyond food and wine — using toasts, storytelling, and deep listening to create something truly magical. You’ll walk away inspired to rethink how you gather and celebrate life’s milestones.
🔥 Hot Topic:
How to Make Any Celebration Deeply Meaningful
🎯 Daniel’s Top Tips:
- Don’t get lost in the fancy details — focus on the meaning of the moment.
- Bring a toastmaster (Tamada) to guide the energy and storytelling.
- Open the floor for spontaneous, heartfelt toasts from guests.
- Celebrate people — not just the occasion.
💡 Main Takeaway:
Glitter is great, but human connection is what truly makes a gathering unforgettable.
💥 Daniel’s "HECK YES!" Sales Technique:
He builds trust and deep understanding before the celebration even begins — asking clients about their loved ones and what the event means to them, ensuring every moment is intentional and powerful.
🌟 Woo Factor:
Spontaneity and authentic human connection. Supra Dinners are unlike anything you’ve experienced!
🎁 Special Gift for Listeners:
Use promo code “WOOWARRIOR” for a discounted seat at a community Supra in Seattle!
👉 Learn more at supradinner.com
📱 Follow Daniel & Supra Dinner Society:
Instagram & Facebook: @supradinnersociety
Connect with Carissa https://instagram.com/carissawoo
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
Happy Woo Wednesdays! I'm Deanna, Carissa's video editor and assistant. I'm recording her intro today because she lost her voice. Meet Daniel Padernos, co-founder of the Supra Dinner Society and a professional toastmaster who helps turn ordinary dinner parties into unforgettable celebrations of meaning and connection.
00:00:21
Speaker
With a unique tradition called the Supra, Daniel brings heart, purpose, and spontaneous joy to every table he gathers around. Carissa met Daniel at the WIPA Seattle event where she spoke about how to lend luxury clients.
00:00:34
Speaker
She was impressed by his new company and had to have him on. Enjoy the conversation.
Carissa's Journey and Podcast Theme
00:00:43
Speaker
Welcome to Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. I'm your host Carissa and I've been a Los Angeles wedding photographer for over a decade. I've traveled the world, built my team, and seen it all.
00:00:54
Speaker
I now coach wedding photographers hit 10K a month and build a thriving business. In this podcast, we are going to deep dive into how top wedding creatives get that heck yes from their dream clients. We are not holding back on the struggles of the business and how to push through the noise. Some healthy hustle, mindset shifts, up-leveling your money story,
00:01:12
Speaker
Time hacks because I'm a mom of two, a little bit of woo-woo, and most importantly, self-love and confidence are just a few of the many things we will talk about. I want to give you a genuine thank you for following along my journey.
00:01:25
Speaker
i hope to inspire you every Woo Wednesday so that you say heck yes to listening to this podcast. See you guys soon.
Supra Dinner Society Success and Media Impact
00:01:35
Speaker
Hey everyone, welcome back to Get a Heck Yes with your girl, Carissa I have Daniel Powdernose today. He is from Supra Dinner Society. And a little introduction about him is he is a professional toastmaster.
00:01:50
Speaker
who facilitates a unique type of dinner party called a Supra. He is a co-founder of Supra Dinner Society, which transforms any dinner party into an unforgettable night of meaning and connection.
00:02:05
Speaker
What's up, Daniel? What's up, Chris? ouu Thanks for having me. Yes, and we met at WIPA Seattle. You were in the audience when I spoke at the keynote, and you were so nice to come up with me or come up to me at the end.
00:02:19
Speaker
Oh, you gave a killer talk. Thank you for your wisdom at that wonderful conference. Oh, you're welcome. And you just told me some exciting news. Can you share with the audience about your publication being or you being featured?
00:02:31
Speaker
Yeah, just just about a week ago, we were featured in the Seattle Times. We had one of their writers come to one of our Supra dinners, and he gave a really honest and sincere and amazing article about us. So I'm grateful. Oh, my God. And did that transpire into any like new bookings?
00:02:49
Speaker
We immediately sold out four tables, four of our community super dinner tables. And yeah, my inbox is much more full than it was a week ago. Congratulations.
00:03:01
Speaker
Thank God. Did you know like he was going to write about you or was it surprised? My brother sent me, there's an NPR show with Tan Vin.
00:03:12
Speaker
um And my brother my brother was like, you should invite him to one of your dinners and just see what happens. So he came and He fell in love with it and he came back with a photographer, mic, and you know we had we did no expectations. And then the article dropped and I only knew it dropped because I got flooded with emails and and calls and texts. so Congratulations. Thank you.
00:03:35
Speaker
Yeah, you have such a high f frequency, so I know big things come to you. i could tell. But tell the audience, you don't have to say everything about like your company, but just like in a nutshell, like who you are.
Understanding Supra Dinners
00:03:47
Speaker
Yeah. ah My name is Daniel. And like you said in your nice intro, I'm a Toastmaster. So basically what I do is i elevate any event that somebody has.
00:03:59
Speaker
And so I help... facilitate dinner parties. um and the it's ah It's a tradition from Georgia, the country, in which I facilitate. And basically what happens is people sit at a table.
00:04:11
Speaker
You can have as few as, I don't know, eight people, as many as. We're doing a 150-person Supra in a couple months, wow which is huge. I would say the average is maybe 20 to 30 people But what happens is um myself or one of my other Toastmaster tamadas, that's the word in Georgian for for Toastmaster, we walk people through this Georgian tradition called the Supra, which involves me toasting and inspiring people around the table to share from their heart and to build new connections and offer toasts that kind of inspire and and bring people deeper into what you're actually actually celebrating.
00:04:51
Speaker
that's what i do That's so cool. Okay, so now i want to go back into like, you as a kid, like, are you from Georgia, the country? And like, how did you grow up?
00:05:03
Speaker
I grew up in Colorado. I grew up just in the suburbs of Colorado. I'm not Georgian at all. um grew up I'm one of six kids. We were a sports family.
00:05:13
Speaker
ah just My whole life growing up was just playing basketball basically. I never ever thought I would give a toast in my life. I never even knew what that was. ah oh Okay. Are you like a little or what number are you in the ah family? I'm two of six.
00:05:27
Speaker
Okay. Okay. So basketball, did everyone play? Everyone played. Yep. We have one sister and she was just our supporter. And ah yeah, a lot of basketball. And then I started traveling after college. I went to West Africa for two years and got involved in this amazing organization called First Things Foundation, okay which also brought me to Georgia, this amazing country that I've now been to probably five or six times.
00:05:54
Speaker
And that's where I discovered the Supra. I should say that's where I was introduced to the Supra. And it's just this cool tradition that I started doing with my my family. My dad, every time I'm home, was like, Daniel, let's do a Supra. Come on.
00:06:09
Speaker
My friends and the organization, we would do Supras all the time to the point where it seemed like maybe there was an opportunity to um introduce it to more people.
00:06:21
Speaker
And so helped start a restaurant. Yeah, let's talk about South Africa. Yeah. real fast. So before we delve into that, sorry sorry tell me like why you wanted to go there and what your experience was like.
00:06:34
Speaker
Well, I was an engineer. and That's what I studied at Gonzaga, Go Zags. Yeah. And I finished and I just didn't, I don't know. I worked for six months and I i was a little bit restless, classic American restlessness. And so I, yeah, ended up in Sierra Leone.
00:06:50
Speaker
Just, i found an organization that would basically put me in the most raw, in the bush, kind of in the village, like in a mud home situation that I could find. And, you know, it wasn't at all what I expected, but that's kind of what I was hoping for. It was really transformative.
00:07:06
Speaker
I was basically there for two years to immerse into the culture. I learned the language. I learned a couple African dialects and then helped entrepreneurs over there with their own unique projects.
00:07:17
Speaker
Oh, Yeah. How did you learn a couple of dialects? evenpoint That was the job. yeah All you have is time on your hands. And we we weren't like other NGOs, nonprofits, where we had like secluded our own offices. It was very much in the community.
00:07:33
Speaker
So the only people ever had around me were Africans. So it's like, you know, do or die. Wow. So did you stay there for a total like two years straight or did you come back home?
00:07:43
Speaker
I was I came back maybe twice. My brother got married. I couldn't miss that. Yeah. And I think I come came back one other time. Nice. So now um you get back from South Africa and then what is life like at that time?
Expanding and Celebrating Supra Dinners
00:08:00
Speaker
I got back, it COVID hit basically the day that I got back, January 2020. And you know everyone had plans before COVID and then those plans, it seemed like for everyone changed. So yeah um whatever my plans were, it turned into me continuing to work for that nonprofit, which I did for the next five years. So I became the field director and I would travel overseas and take American volunteers and and help them do what I did, help them immerse and connected them to locals and set them up for success basically.
00:08:35
Speaker
And during that time, the nonprofit, we thought it would be a strategic idea two Sort of as a way to fundraise and build attention towards the cause, we we built a restaurant in South Carolina.
00:08:47
Speaker
Wow. And it's a Georgian restaurant because, like I said, we were doing these Supras kind of as fundraisers. We would do them to hire people sort of to onboard these field workers and like have this family and friend get together and send off And Americans love them. And so we thought, what what if we started a restaurant that did these frequently?
00:09:07
Speaker
And we had no idea. None of us had restaurant experience, but we just went for it. And um it's now just, I think next week, they're so celebrating their three-year anniversary. So wow thank God. and that's And that's in Greenville, South Carolina. You started that three years ago. Wow. That's amazing.
00:09:22
Speaker
So that was, yeah. Right. How do you start a restaurant during COVID? I guess probably one's getting out of it. Yeah. some Some places in the States were easier than others. I'll put it that way. Oh, okay.
00:09:34
Speaker
Okay. I guess now we could get into Supra society. Tell me about like how you started your business and anything you want to share to the audience. Yeah. Well, the restaurant really has taken off where at this point they're doing three Supras per week, something like that, two or three.
00:09:52
Speaker
And we'd get inquiries asking if we could travel to Texas or California, you know Colorado to do a Supra for a wedding or a Supra for this or that birthday party. And so I thought it would be cool to make this tradition accessible to anybody in the States.
00:10:09
Speaker
And at the time, you know, i I thought I'm not really close to my family um geographically. And so I have some family up here in Seattle and it was a good excuse to come up here. it seems like Seattle is the perfect place to start a concept like this.
00:10:24
Speaker
And it was nice to be closer to family. So I arrived here in November of 2024 and I've been slowly building Supra Dinner Society. Oh, amazing. Yeah, I mean, I did a lot of research on it. Like i watched all your Instagram videos, but what are um the things that separate like just a regular dinner party from like a Supra dinner party?
00:10:46
Speaker
So Supra gives a dinner party structure and it it's about more than just the food and the wine. um What happens is is by the end of the night, if you have if you're you know if you're there with your family or friends that you've known for a long time, you'll you'll see new sides of them.
00:11:05
Speaker
You'll learn about them and you things will come out basically, beautiful things because you go through a series of toasts. And my job as a Toastmaster is to basically give toast that will inspire people to give their own toast, more or less. And it's spontaneity is kind of um the currency of the Supra. It's not really scripted or forced. And so my goal is to kind of help people relax, help people feel like they're comfortable enough to say something because, you know, it's nerve wracking sometimes to speak in front of a table of 10, 20, 30 people.
00:11:41
Speaker
But you'd be surprised, Chris, that sometimes the quietest person in the room has like the most profound, heartfelt thing to say. And like next thing you know, everyone's in tears. So so it can be, you know, you go through themes.
00:11:52
Speaker
It can be light. It can be deep. Yeah. What are some of like your favorite prompts for the speeches or the toast? I mean, yeah. Yeah. Well, so so the way it works is you you go through themes. And so in Georgia, they'll sometimes say there's like 16 themes that you'll go through in one night.
00:12:13
Speaker
And those will change. And the Toastmaster will sort of read the room and determine what themes are most appropriate. So the first theme is usually the gratitude and that's on the table.
00:12:25
Speaker
And it's like, that just is easy. You know, anyone at the table can give a toast to what they're grateful for. um And, you know, you could, we can toast to family. We can toast to the occasion that we're gathered. We can toast to adventure. And like, I don't know, there's always a fun toast to, to bring out like hilarious travel stories, which everybody has. Yeah. Yeah.
00:12:48
Speaker
There's no matter what, ah we stay true to the Georgian tradition. And on the fifth toast, we toast to the departed, our ancestors or or the friends and family that we've lost. Yeah. And on that toast, everybody stands.
00:13:01
Speaker
And usually, you know, it's not forced again, but we kind of often go around and people can just like offer a name. and And we say, when you speak that name, then that person is again present at the table and and you're celebrating with them.
00:13:17
Speaker
Oh, I love that. I really love that. Okay, one more question before we go into hot do topic, which we're kind of pretty much already talking about it, but like, give a little bit more history about the Supra.
00:13:29
Speaker
um And even tell people like, where is Georgia country? Yeah. Yeah, I barely even know. Georgia. I know Europe. Yeah, it's it's kind of Eastern Europe, Western Asia.
00:13:43
Speaker
It separates those two worlds. um It's a bit south of Russia, near borders Armenia and the Black Sea. And it's it's one of the oldest nations in history, really. It goes back about 2,000 years. um And the Supra probably even pretty predates that.
00:14:03
Speaker
So it's this tradition that's lasted centuries. And i think you could argue because it's it's a tiny nation, that's surrounded by enemies basically throughout all of its history.
00:14:14
Speaker
But there seems to be a thread that the Georgians have maintained their identity and they have a unique identity. It's, it's a unique language family. It's a unique ethnic group. And I think there might be something to this super tradition that, that really is a binding force for people because at the table, they say the table is the, know,
00:14:34
Speaker
is the academy. That's what they say in Georgia. And so the the children are educated by their grandparents. They hear all the stories passed down. They hear the lore. Music is a huge part of the Supra tradition for Georgians. And so all of these traditions that are ancient, they they get passed down just at dinner because the Supra is just their etiquette. It's their way of eating.
00:14:55
Speaker
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00:15:09
Speaker
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00:15:51
Speaker
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00:16:06
Speaker
Heck yes. And it's going to give you guys 50% off your first annual membership. How amazing is that? Wow. Um, what was your first Supra and like,
00:16:19
Speaker
how was How did you do? oh gosh. Good question. but So when I was hired to go to Africa, John Hears, he's the founder of First Things Foundation, that nonprofit.
00:16:32
Speaker
And he came to my home in Colorado. And I had 45 family, friends, my neighbors. ah And i never met John before. And I was very nervous because I had no idea who this guy was. My family was quite nervous that I was going to West Africa.
00:16:48
Speaker
And John showed up. ah He was humorous. He was deep. He was poetic. And by the end of the night, like my friends still talk about this night, how how much it touched them and how much they want to do more of these ah events.
00:17:04
Speaker
But for me, like it was terrifying. I never thought that I would ever be a Toastmaster. um i remember I gave a toast to my mom and I was so nervous. But it it was it was touching, you know.
00:17:16
Speaker
Oh my God, that's so special. How do you conduct it like when there's like 45 people or like 150 people? Does everyone get to speak at one point? you the It's an invitation.
00:17:27
Speaker
Every toast, there's an invitation. So if I toast a family, then family's on the table and anybody can ask me. it's the The hierarchy and the structure kind of makes the facilitation more smooth.
00:17:40
Speaker
And so yeah people can ask the Toastmaster for a toast of their own. And usually, usually, you know, there's a good balanced amount of toast. Often, everybody in the room will say something by the end of the night.
00:17:52
Speaker
and But sometimes, you know, it's a rowdy and everyone wants to just constantly say stuff. And so it's a it's a tricky job sometimes for the Toastmaster to create that balance of, okay, now it's a good time to continue now it's a good time for us to sort of settle and break into our little, you know, natural organic table conversations.
00:18:11
Speaker
So yeah yeah it's facilitation. Yeah, I get that. Okay. So, I mean, here's we're talking about already, but what is your hot topic and why is it so near and dear to your heart?
00:18:23
Speaker
My hot topic is something like humanity. It's something like um i'm I'm pretty new to the events industry. you know I've been doing Supras for several years, but...
00:18:36
Speaker
It's my first time seeing it and and mingling with the professional side of things. And I think the supra adds humanity and meaning in a way that sometimes is forgotten.
00:18:49
Speaker
um Sometimes I think people are preoccupied with sort of the aesthetics or the sparklers or, you know, what type of linens are on the table. And those are all important things, ah but, but they're not necessarily memorable things.
Creating Lasting Memories through Supra Dinners
00:19:04
Speaker
And with the Supra, like I, I meet people that I was doing Supra for five years ago and they remember very specific moments from that night because it stuck with them and they were inspired.
00:19:17
Speaker
So, so humanity, that's my hot topic. Yeah. I mean, I'm just like really wrapping my head around it. Like thinking all like the parties that you go to that do have all like, you know, the bells and whistles, but you don't feel like connected when you leave, you know, you like barely met a friend.
00:19:33
Speaker
So, um, I think, I don't know if it's like an LA thing. People could be like somewhat cold um or disconnected or even in your own like friend group. Like it's a little awkward to say a toast or like say something meaningful or um say that you appreciate them, you know, and it's like for you to facilitate that and like bring that out of them. I think that's so you unique.
00:20:01
Speaker
It's nice to have a third party who's facilitating it because it's just difficult. you know like For a rehearsal dinner, I think a lot of people are worried that, like oh, my dad's not not never going shut up and he's just going to own the whole conversation or something. But it's like like my job is to bring people to what we call a third space. And you do that through the aesthetics of it, through the food.
00:20:24
Speaker
Often we have Georgian food and wine with these. We'll have kind of, we'll transport them with music and something about transporting people um lets them be vulnerable somehow.
00:20:37
Speaker
What is Georgian food? And like, where do you get it from? Like, do you have to just like find the nearest ah caterer or like fly them out? that's That's how we're doing it so far. We're pretty new, but Seattle, thank God, we found an amazing Georgian catering company. and there I don't understand how this works, Carissa, but...
00:20:57
Speaker
They come from a lineage of famous Georgian chefs. her Her mother, her name is Marina. Her mother was in the Guinness Book of World Records for the best Georgian food in the world. i don't I don't know how they measure that, but ah but they're amazing. So here in Seattle, we have our Georgian food locked in.
00:21:12
Speaker
But like I said, we we travel a lot and do these. So I'm always looking for Georgian partners. And obviously LA, I was just in LA. We did a Supra in LA and had some amazing Georgian food.
00:21:23
Speaker
Bigger cities, it's easier to find. um But we're working on that piece. I would love to have kind of a traveling chef for those yeah regions of the state that are inaccessible to Georgians.
00:21:35
Speaker
what what kind I didn't really see on the videos, but like what are the key dishes? so it's kind of So it's all family style. That's one of the marks of Georgian food.
00:21:47
Speaker
All the food gets placed on the table right from the get-go. So you just have this feeling of abundance and it's colorful. And in Georgia, they just stack dishes on top of dishes. um But you'll have cheese breads. It's called khajapuri.
00:21:59
Speaker
There's dumplings, like these delicious big dumplings that are like soupy and meaty called hinkali. They have delicious kind of Mediterranean type salads, lots of eggplant, walnuts, pomegranates.
00:22:11
Speaker
It's sort of in the... like the one of those trading routes. so they have a lot of Persian influence, almost some Asian influence with their dumplings, some Russian russian influence and Mediterranean as well. So it's a good mix, but it's it's cozy. It's really cozy food. Okay. Yeah. Comfort food. um What did the Seattle Times say about you guys? Like what are some of the key things?
00:22:36
Speaker
The reason I was so glad with that article was because the the man who wrote it, Tanvin, he sat at two of our dinners and he really paid attention. And he he was cued in on the the effect that the super had on people around the table.
00:22:54
Speaker
um So he he mostly talked about some of the toasting themes. So he talked about how we toasted to peace and how we were As a table, we were exploring how peace is – when we think of it, we we often think of like world peace or you know like military operations to create yeah.
00:23:13
Speaker
but But peace, as we were exploring, is actually maybe most obviously found at a table among and um among people. And that's a goal, I think, that but most of us have is to just like experience that peace and harmony with our own family and friends. And that can hopefully emanate out.
00:23:30
Speaker
So he found cool little toasting themes like that and expounded on them. And he even, I won't spoil it, but he, he wrote about one of his own toast that he gave. And many people wrote me about the article and they're like, man, that brought me to tears.
00:23:44
Speaker
The toast that he so Oh my God. i mean what it Okay. I will read it. But what did he just talk about his family? He talked about, and so he talked about a departed relative of his and that he was involved.
00:23:56
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, OK, I have a fun question, but I guess it was almost answered it, but could be any speech. But like what speech really sticks out into your heart? And like, like easy you've heard probably at this point, like ah thousands of speeches or hundreds of speeches.
00:24:14
Speaker
Is there any speech that really stick out to you? And you're like you like tell your friends about it. ah there's a lot. There's so many. Every every night, like my favorite part is the next day going over some of people's toasts.
00:24:28
Speaker
but I don't know. One comes to mind. i did a table maybe a year ago and We sometimes will do like some poetry, um ah little bit, you know, not too much. But but one woman ah happened to have a poem written on her phone.
00:24:46
Speaker
And I don't think she was expecting to bring it out or read it or anything. But she was like, I want to offer this. And it was this beautiful poem. ah And at the end, she said,
00:24:59
Speaker
ah so So the poem, her her daughter was at the table and she was speaking the poem to her daughter and it's ah it's a poem about a mother's love for a daughter. And it turned out that she wrote the poem like the day after she gave birth to her daughter.
00:25:12
Speaker
it was written by her. And it was the sweetest thing I'd ever heard. That's so beautiful. and love that. um I just wanted to ask, like, just back to the ah hot topic, humanity. Like, do you feel like you changed as a person like the last year and how so?
00:25:32
Speaker
Wow. Great question. Very much. ah it's such ah It's such an honor and blessing to to facilitate these tables. and it And it kind of like renews my hope in a lot of ways.
00:25:46
Speaker
um Because I'm so lucky. i get as As the Toastmaster, your job is to highlight the beautiful things in life and to bring that out of people. like you're You're not going to toast to things that bring you down, obviously.
00:25:58
Speaker
ah but But really, you're in search of... universal themes that bind everyone together. And that, you know, so you're not going to toast to like the Seattle Seahawks, for example, because I don't know, maybe only a few people are Seahawks fans or care at all, but you could toast a competition.
00:26:15
Speaker
And, and when you kind of discover those bigger themes, know, um personally I think it's been it's been transformative in the sense that you realize you can just talk to anybody ah if you can if you can hit on those things that anybody can relate to and it's it's it's cool to be a facilitator and also my dream is to bring more Toastmasters into this and uh and also give them that kind of perspective of like oh wow like
00:26:48
Speaker
there's something as simple as a dinner party could be elevated to something so much more. And all you have to do is just have a little bit of knowledge of how this works. So yeah, it's, it's definitely transformed the way I see eating and conversation and relationships.
00:27:04
Speaker
Indeed. Yeah. i um when, when me and you met um and then you said Toastmaster, I would, you know, cause I'm a Toastmaster, yeah, the public speaking international group Toastmaster.
00:27:16
Speaker
so was like, Oh, you're a Toastmaster. But then you explained it. I was like, Oh, okay. Like that's totally different. um But anyways, i was going to ask you, you can be you can be one of our Toastmasters. I would be so good. Yeah.
00:27:28
Speaker
And would be good. Yeah.
00:27:32
Speaker
I'm very, very, very, very into like um getting close fast. And um I could tell that with you and, the beautiful girl you're with. ah yeah yeah I was gonna ask you a business question. um How did you tap into like the Seattle market in the very, very, very beginning? I know you're on WIPA.
00:27:53
Speaker
And then how do you think like your mindset was just for it to just grow and grow and grow? But look, I mean, what was your mindset for it to grow?
00:28:04
Speaker
That's a good question. it brings up something that you said in your wonderful talk. I remember you said that you used to sort of hide behind your blog. Yeah. and that really resonated with me because especially trying a new business that nobody's heard of a Supra in a new city, i knew like two people, my brother and sister-in-law.
00:28:23
Speaker
And that, ah yeah, I think it's a temptation to think that you can just tinker with the algorithm and um have a perfectly aesthetic website. Those things are important.
00:28:35
Speaker
But yeah, the way that for me getting in was showing up at things like WIPA and meeting beautiful people like you and meeting um people in person. And I think also being generous.
00:28:46
Speaker
ah because the Supra is something that I completely believe in. And I've seen so many people ah be grateful for having experienced them. Yeah. And so for me, like, I've just been very generous in inviting people to our dinners, important people, or just, I don't know, anybody that I meet oftentimes, especially in the beginning when we didn't have any traction and, you know, nobody knew what we were doing. So yeah,
00:29:10
Speaker
that's how we That's how we got on the Seattle Times. I just reached out to Tom and he was like, hey I'll show up. So I would say generosity. guess your sister works for LA Times. Oh, what?
00:29:22
Speaker
So I'll hook you up, dude. Yeah, let's do it. Why not? And she's the experience editor too, so it's perfect. You said your sister? Yeah. She works at LA Times.
00:29:34
Speaker
yeah I know. but I'll tell her tonight. I see here her tonight. All right, let's do it. Yeah, so... um The energy is, yeah. I mean, you guys came up to me like after and you made me feel so good good about myself saying, woo warriors.
00:29:49
Speaker
Oh, we're the woo warriors. Yeah. My girlfriend and I, that's that's our that's our slogan. ah yeah And it was so sweet to see your mom show up. ah that was That was really neat.
00:30:00
Speaker
Yeah, it was a really good experience. Okay, back to Super Society. a couple more questions. um What do you see the business like in like the next year or so? Like what are your big goals?
Expanding Supra Dinners to New Markets
00:30:17
Speaker
I would love to get into more weddings. um Right now we have a lot of community tables where folks sign up for seats on our website and and like mingle with strangers.
00:30:28
Speaker
Super fun. I've done, i just did a wedding last weekend in South Carolina and I'm just realizing like this tradition is so perfect for weddings. In Georgia, they do them for weddings, they do them for funerals, they do them for any occasion.
00:30:41
Speaker
But think weddings is especially on brand because it's, bringing two families together can be tricky. It can be a little messy sometimes. And you only have so much time too. You might just have a weekend and you wanna do that really well.
00:30:59
Speaker
And I think that the Supra is very effective at it. So that would be a goal of mine is to get, to get into more weddings and, and help, you know, couples who are getting married, see the value in something like a Supra.
00:31:13
Speaker
and And another goal is to get more, more Toastmasters, Krista. I need, I need more Tamadas. That's, that's the time girl. And I want to bring it to the Asian market because we're so like,
00:31:25
Speaker
you know, it's hard for us to show our emotions for the parents. Um, they obviously love us so much cause they show us like actions, but it's, it's hard for them to express that.
00:31:37
Speaker
Um, but they obviously want to, but it's just, they're not just going to like openly say, Oh, you know, you know, I love my, my daughter so much. And this is the most beautiful day of my life. Um,
00:31:51
Speaker
But if someone was to like give the um the opportunity and then for their kids to hear that, I think it's just so like groundbreaking. think you're right. Yeah. um I was also going to say like if you um network with WIPA planners in the ah LA area, I know all of them.
00:32:15
Speaker
so Oh, good. right Yeah. Yeah. I'm part of the WIPA board. So, um, it's really something like they haven't heard of before because i have like the open areas of who's who and this vendor and this new thing. So you're definitely the first person to do this. Yeah.
00:32:36
Speaker
Well, yeah, I mean, it it would be a great, don't know, WIPA board mingling mixer or whatever. yeah um um i'm talking to the WIPA Seattle up here and trying to do something like that.
00:32:48
Speaker
So yeah, we'd love to be involved with WIPA. Yay. Okay, so what is like your biggest like organizational hack? Because like you're...
00:33:00
Speaker
You have these dinners, but there's like a lot that goes into it. Like you're almost like the planner as well. So it's like the food, the caterer, the travels, like the logistics of the invitations, um you know, the rentals, the location.
00:33:13
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:33:37
Speaker
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00:33:48
Speaker
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00:33:57
Speaker
I would say one of my gifts and weaknesses is probably being obsessed with organization. So I'm just, a i'm I've always been a big checklist guy, calendar, um to the point where I'm probably looking at my checklist way too often.
00:34:13
Speaker
Yeah. but But, you know, that's how it's worked. It's worked so far, um doing that personally. yeah. I'll have to be talking to you, Chris, about how you do it, because you're you're probably way busier than me. I'll have to get some tool recommendations in a few months, probably. I keep getting targeted for emotion, I haven't signed up yet.
00:34:35
Speaker
Yeah, that sounds like good one. Okay. um We didn't talk too much about you in the beginning. That's kind of like my thing. But what were your like parents like growing up with five boys and a daughter?
00:34:52
Speaker
I'm so, I am so lucky. i had two extremely supportive parents and they are so deeply in love. um Even today, they've been married, I think 33 years and there, yeah, my, my mom wanted us to be more artistic. You know, we had piano piano lessons, which none of us wanted to do because we were a bunch of boys that just wanted to wrestle each other. Yes.
00:35:18
Speaker
And like I said, my dad, he was the coach. My dad would coach us in baseball and basketball. And I didn't really realize how um much that affects you. Just having that like stability in a family and and parents growing up and,
00:35:35
Speaker
siblings that love each other still. We're all getting together in Colorado this summer. where We all climb mountains. That's another thing that my mom definitely put in us. we We try to summit all of Colorado's 14ers, all the allive peaks over 14,000 feet.
00:35:49
Speaker
oh And yeah, in my family growing up, there was definitely a spirit of competition. ah We were always trying to outdo each other, which is healthy in some ways. And i don't know, makes you want to kill each other sometimes.
00:36:02
Speaker
Yeah, But there's definitely always love. There's always love in the home. And um i think I think even now, you know, I still have to thank my parents constantly for how much they supported us. And I don't do it enough.
00:36:15
Speaker
Aww. Do they live in Seattle as well? or my My folks live in Colorado. Okay. So we i visit I visit a couple of times a year and my older brother and sister-in-law and new nephew, ah Lawrence, live they live close by, which was a big inspiration to also move to Seattle.
00:36:37
Speaker
So ah is any of your family like i'm helping you with the business?
00:36:43
Speaker
My brother hooked up the Seattle Times Connection. he's He's also a Tomada. He's a great Toastmaster. But he's ah he's a principal at a K-8 here. So it takes a lot of social battery to be a K-8 principal. of all And I'm trying to convince him to be a Tomada more.
00:37:00
Speaker
but, but he's been extremely supportive. My sister-in-law has done a lot of events and, and she's in PR up here in Seattle. So yeah, extremely supportive. I mean, there's nothing more supportive than, than family and nothing, you know, friends friends can come and go, but family always stays. So it's nice to have those relationships.
00:37:23
Speaker
Okay. Well, last question, speak to the hearts of wedding pros. You're new to the game, but you've, done so much and done so well and you gave so much good advice but what is like one thing you could tell the audience to do today to just make their dreams come true
00:37:44
Speaker
i would say again i would say be generous you know if you um if you believe in your product or your service offer it because that's going to pay off um some way.
00:37:59
Speaker
You know, it's, I wouldn't try calculating the ah ROI on it, but there in my experience so far, when I started this, um you know, in November last year, not long ago, I had a very, ah my mentality was very small.
Business Insights and Advice
00:38:16
Speaker
And only in the last few months have, has I've learned to have a bit more of an abundance mentality and it's it's paid off a lot.
00:38:26
Speaker
And um your your mood is also different also when you have a generous mindset. So i think I think that translates into business. I think it translates into a lot of things, but that would be my,
00:38:40
Speaker
recommendation. Oh, I love that. And where can everyone find you and work with you and start, not start, but plan their first Supra.
00:38:52
Speaker
You can find us on SupraDinner.com, S-U-P-R-A, Dinner.com. And it's pretty easy. ah You can click book now on the top right. ah Basically, you just submit an inquiry.
00:39:05
Speaker
um It's just myself and my business partner, David, who rocks it as well. He's a great Tamada. And one of us will be in touch with you and we'll go over your logistics. And the way the process works is we kind of just hear what you need. You know, sometimes people just want a Toastmaster to show up, which is a lot what we do. Sometimes they want a venue and food so we can work with whatever you have or don't have and whatever you need.
00:39:29
Speaker
And um my favorite part of the process is talking about kind of what you want out of the dinner itself. So like getting to know who are the important characters who are going to be there, who what are some like landmines that we should try avoiding, certain topics that we shouldn't get into or certain topics that we could kind of gently explore.
00:39:50
Speaker
That's really fun kind of strategizing about that and not really choreographing it exactly, but creating sort of a mental map of of what's out there. So yeah, it's a fun process. I love doing it.
00:40:02
Speaker
So yeah, free feel free to reach out anytime and and um yeah, you can find that on the website. Thank you, Daniel. This is a great conversation and i can't wait to share this to the world.
00:40:16
Speaker
Thanks for joining me this week on Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. Make sure to follow, subscribe, leave a review, or tell a friend about the show. Take a screenshot and post to IG. Tag me. Also, don't forget to download my free guide on how to become a lead generating machine.
00:40:31
Speaker
See you next time, wedding pros.