Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Ep. 166 - Bringing Culture Into Your Brand with Yasmine
35 Plays2 days ago
Happy Woo Weds!
I’m back after a much-needed three-week break. The devastating LA fires and the passing of my closest aunt hit hard, and I’m so grateful for the space to grieve.
Before we dive into today’s episode, I have some exciting updates:
I’m hosting a Family Session Marathon in Redondo Beach on February 15th! Use the code Redcross to get $150 off your session. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to fire victims. Let’s come together for a great cause.
Now, let’s talk about today’s amazing guest: Yasmine!
Yasmine and her husband own the cutest event space in Orange County. She’s also a mama, and on February 2nd, she’s hosting It Takes a Village, a free event that’s your ultimate destination for party planning tips, parenthood inspiration, and building community. I’ll be there photographing the event, so come say hi!
In this episode, Yasmine shares her story of going viral on TikTok during the pandemic and the incredible lessons she learned along the way. We also dive into the hot topic of how to infuse your unique culture into your brand.
This is such a rich and inspiring conversation that every creative entrepreneur and parent will appreciate.
Resources & Links:
• Sign up for the Family Session Marathon here: https://book.usesession.com/s/bhEbNWDQtS
• Check out Yasmine’s event, It Takes a Village, happening on February 2nd: https://www.instagram.com/evntfullspace
Thank you for tuning in and allowing me to share my journey. If you loved this episode, don’t forget to leave a review and share it with a friend!
Let’s connect:
https://www.instagram.com/carissawoo
Join the 24 hour A.I challenge https://www.digitalwealthhypegirl.com/24-hr-ai-challenge
Recommended
Transcript
Host Returns and Upcoming Event Announcements
00:00:00
Speaker
Happy Woo Wednesdays everyone! I took a three week break from posting due to the LA fires and death from my closest and thank you for allowing me to grieve. I'm hosting a family session marathon in Redondo Beach on February 15th. Use code redcross to get $150 off and all proceeds go to a fire victims. So today I have the amazing Yasmin Her and her heavy own a cute event space in OC. And Moms, she is hosting an event on February 2nd, and it's called It Takes a Village. It's your one stop shop destination for all things party planning, parenthood inspiration, and community building.
Interview with Yasmin Her
00:00:47
Speaker
And it's free, so come, I'll link it up in the show notes and I'll be photographing the event.
00:00:54
Speaker
So today we talk about a lot of things. I like her story about her and her hubby going viral on TikTok during the pandemic. um She has such a great personality and you are going to love her vibe.
Introduction to Podcast and Themes
00:01:08
Speaker
Today, the hot topic is how to bring culture into your brand. Enjoy.
00:01:17
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. 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,
00:01:46
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. I hope to inspire you every Woo Wednesday so that you say heck yes to listening to this podcast. See you guys soon!
00:02:09
Speaker
Welcome back to Get a Heck Yes. Today, I'm thrilled to introduce Yasmin, a powerhouse entrepreneur and owner of Eventful Space in Fullerton and the founder of TouchUp PR. But her story doesn't stop there. Yasmin is a true multi-hyphenate with a background in PR, a thriving social media presence,
00:02:30
Speaker
And at MBA under her belt, she brings a unique perspective to everything she does. And her journey is deeply rooted in her Egyptian-American heritage, which inspires her to create inclusive spaces and foster authentic community
Yasmin Her's Background and Career Journey
00:02:45
Speaker
connections. And we're going to dive deep into how she is using her expertise to host events like Upcoming, It Takes a Village, I'll be the photographer, February 2nd, perfect for IG aesthetic moms looking to connect and thrive.
00:02:58
Speaker
And in today's Hot Topic, Yasmin will share her journey of transformation, shifting from being an influencer to becoming a brand liaison and business owner. And you won't want to miss the gems she has to share about diversity, creativity, and carving your own path. Welcome Yasmin!
00:03:16
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me. And thank you for the amazing intro. That was so kind of you, honestly. I really appreciate it. Oh, yeah, yeah. I look up to you even though you're a baby, but like, you're so inspiring. But I guess, ah yeah, I guess just, um we're just going to do like rapid fire dance today, but tell everyone like who you are.
00:03:37
Speaker
Yeah, sure. um My name is Yasmina Bhutadi. I have been a SoCal native pretty much, although I wasn't born born there, but I was pretty much raised there my entire life. um And I feel like it's truly, truly like amazing and such a blessing of where we live, just having access to so many things and meeting so many wonderful diverse people like I really feel like that did have a huge part of my upbringing and a huge part of who I am today. um But yeah, I mean, you did mention the MBA, I am finalizing that actually this semester. So I'm pretty much walking in May, very excited.
00:04:11
Speaker
ah And yeah, so I'm focusing on organizational leadership and management. um That's kind of where my concentration
Cultural Identity and Overcoming Stereotypes
00:04:18
Speaker
is. I've worked in marketing, digital marketing in all kinds of fields. I've worked in event management um under like the spa world. And yeah, so I'm pretty much starting up my new PR agency where we kind of touch up um agencies and brands and connect them with influencers. And I think that since I've been an influencer and you know I've been on TikTok for a little bit, I think that it gives me a unique perspective. like I understand what influencers are looking for, what motivates them, and really just to create the most value for a
00:04:49
Speaker
transaction or a deal between the brand and influencers. Obviously, it helps a lot when you have someone who's been in their shoes and understands exactly what they're kind of looking for, and what can entice them. So yeah, so if you guys are not driving, I will link up her tik tok. So she's very cool. Let's go back into Yasmin as a child, like what was it like growing up in egypt Egyptian background, um or your hobbies, anything you want to share, maybe any story that shaped ah the way you are today. Yes, absolutely. So um I did grow up in an Egyptian family and I think that ah I grew up also in a Muslim family. So that was definitely like we were the ones who we definitely stood out. I'll put it that way um and not always in the best way. So I think that it really gave me thicker skin and it allowed me to learn how to show people who I am from the inside.
00:05:42
Speaker
That was kind of my biggest hurdle was that I used to wear hijab. So at that time, I felt like a lot of people didn't really necessarily want to speak to me directly. People were a little hesitant with me. They didn't know what kind of person I was going to be like. So I felt like I had to really push through my personality. And I think that that is a superpower that I have now, which is that through that like difficult time growing up, I was able to kind of push out my personality even more, which helps me now. So um yeah, but I love my family. I'm very family centered.
00:06:11
Speaker
I think family is a big part of like the Arab culture, so I definitely kept that part of me, even though I do live in America. Yeah, I was watching the TikTok with your mom during- Oh my gosh, you guys are hilarious. She was like giggling and adorable. She's actually in Egypt right now, so I miss her a lot, and I wish I was there. I'll keep it. But yeah, so my mom is definitely a character, for sure. oh did you Did you go to Egypt when you were a kid? and Yes, every summer I would go for three months um out of the year, every single year, so um that was a lot. I speak Arabic fluently, so that is also, I think,
00:06:50
Speaker
a superpower in and of itself. But when I would come back, I would forget English a little bit. And then when I would go to Egypt, I'd forget Arabic a little bit. So it's like, I felt like Hannah Montana was my favorite show because I felt like I was living two lives kind of. And I get made fun of for this, but I really did. I feel like that's why I love that was my favorite show of all time. Oh my God. And you're like, it's a class. It's really me. Oh my God. Okay. Let's show. I love that. Let's dig deeper into how, um,
00:07:18
Speaker
like we're in the hijab and like your culture like made you have a better personality. Like you had to like express yourself and maybe show yourself in different ways because people weren't just, you know, coming up to you saying, hey, how are you doing? And you kind of had to, you know, put yourself out there. So let's tap in a little bit more.
00:07:34
Speaker
yeah Yeah, I mean, I truly loved wearing the hijab and I hope to do it again um when I feel like I'm a little bit more doing it for the right reasons again, you know, like I lost sight of that a little bit. um But um yeah, definitely wearing the hijab also put me in gave me opportunities that I don't think I would have gotten otherwise, like I was able to give a TED talk when I was 18 years old just because I was talking about the hijab, yeah things like that. So it did put me in rooms that I'm really thankful for. But definitely like that was a skill that I had to learn very when I was very young of just learning how to speak to people and get them to look past kind of like a stereotype that they have of me without even meeting me. They think that I'm soft spoken. They think that I'm quiet. They think that I'm obedient. And I'm very much the opposite of all of these things. So I've pretty much had to kind of show them that this is just a stereotype. And, you know, so I do think that I would say that that taught me how to be very loud and outspoken and all of that from a young age. yeah But obviously, you know, I don't really want that for for girls who are also Muslim who are growing up in America. And, you know, they might also be facing adversity. I don't want that for, you know, everyone. But thankfully for me, it did end up actually working out um
00:08:50
Speaker
beautifully, I think. I love that. And that's self-aware for you to say that, like doing it for the right reasons. and yeah know Honestly, that was, it took me years to make that decision. But I mean, i I did feel like by not doing it for the right decisions, it was only pushing me away from the real decisions. and i not know I wasn't being honest with myself. So yeah, but yeah, hopefully I could put it, I want to put it back on. I think it's very strong. I think it's beautiful. I think it stands for very feminist things, so I definitely want to wear it, but just, you know, yeah. Let's talk about, let's fast forward a little bit to like high school, college, what you were you like, what kind of jobs did you you have, and anything you want to share? Sure, yeah, so um high school, I think high school would fall onto the hijab story. I think that was kind of like my biggest struggle in high school, like alongside obviously the typical high school
00:09:41
Speaker
difficulties that everyone goes through, just awkwardness, puberty, just friends, like struggling with all of these things. I had that. And then I also had on top of that, that was like, just nice little cherry on top for me to kind of learn how to deal with. yeah But then, yeah, at college, I was a lot more comfortable. I had an amazing group of friends. They were American, ah sorry, Arab American as well.
00:10:03
Speaker
So I felt a lot more seen and I felt a lot more community. And we were actually able, it was pretty awesome. We were actually able to create a swana, which is Southwest Asian, North African, um like a community and a resource center um by the university, which took so long to do. Getting things done officially through a university takes literally years and thankfully we call ourselves like the founding fathers so we were able to get it all passed and so now they're building like a resource center with like um someone who's offering guidance there that is also Arab American for
00:10:36
Speaker
anyone that falls under that that umbrella of swana so yeah thankfully we yeah it's really i think it's really awesome although we didn't get to enjoy it um i think it's really excuse me really awesome that younger people who are also arab american or fall under the middle eastern or ah southwest asian north african umbrella that they have a place where they feel community where they feel seen where they feel you know supported as well so i'm i'm happy that we got to do that and in my I love that. And what what school? What college? House of Fullerton. Yes. I'm telling you, i I didn't really leave. I love it and took out a little bit too much. yeah
00:11:12
Speaker
like Do we have to leave? I like ear i want to see. I love my hair too. And I have lots of questions. Tell me a little bit more about how you landed this TED Talk at 18 years old and a little bit what it was like, paint the picture. Yeah, sure, sure. um so yeah So when I, they were basically having a TEDx um event at our high school, which was amazing. i didn't It was the first year that they ever did anything like that.
00:11:36
Speaker
um And so I heard that there were tryouts and I was like, why not? I'll just do it. I don't know why I did it, honestly, but I definitely didn't think I was going to make it because I think like 90 people tried out for it, like 90 students. And I'm dealing with like the super smart kids, you know, who would like have a lot, they a lot of stuff to kind of share as well. ah I didn't really expect to to make it through at all.
00:11:57
Speaker
um And then I got a callback and then I got another callback and then they kind of pair you with um like a trainer or like, I'm not really sure exactly what their role was, but they were supposed to help me craft my TED Talk even more. And they give you a theme. So the event has like a theme word and then they they see what you can kind of connect to it. So the word was connect. um So I basically talked about how my hijab makes me feel connected to my religion. So that was pretty cool. And then I found out that I got it. And I was like, oh my God, no way. And so I think that was amazing. And I didn't like to watch it because I feel very cringed out. Like it's 18 years old. Like I don't like to hear myself talk. But ah but yeah, I'm very obviously very proud of it. But I i like when it's on, I'm going to go away. I'm going to go to the other room pretty much.
00:12:43
Speaker
No, I can't wait to listen to it and make you watch it. Okay, so let's talk about after college, like um first jobs you've done so much, um you're maybe starting up out as an Tell me like the younger years, which is probably not even that long ago. Yeah, no. um Actually, like when I was still in college, i was like still my ah concentration was marketing in the business ah school, and um I kind of wanted to test out the waters and try it out. So I did um i worked at an agency, a marketing agency, that specialized in PPC and CRO, which is very techie stuff.
00:13:22
Speaker
And I applied and I got the job without even my marketing degree, which I was like honestly shocked that I even that I even got that. ah And so yeah, I went in there and I kind of worked a little bit on that kind of stuff. And i I think I realized I was there for about a year. And I think I realized at that point that I wasn't really interested in the digital marketing in terms of like,
00:13:42
Speaker
Google ads and like landing pages, just like optimizing websites and stuff. I think that was a little bit more on the like coding side for me that I wasn't really interested in. um So I ended up departing from there. And um that was kind of when I graduated. I got married at this time. like A lot of things were happening around this time.
00:14:01
Speaker
and not my dot
00:14:04
Speaker
um just here So, so um at that time I was kind of we were really busy honestly with wedding planning and I kind of entire wedding and I cheated it like a full time job was that we had so many events for like our wedding party like Arab Americans kind of they pop off with events. We had like 100, honestly. So um I kind of worked on that. I had an amazing team of support, but pretty much it fell on me and didn't really have a planner. um And so, yeah, I treated it as a full-time job. And then, um yeah, so we had we got married, had our honeymoon. And at this time, ah Josh and I started our property management agency. So that was kind of what we were doing, was that we realized that we could travel and also manage properties.
00:14:45
Speaker
while on our honeymoon. So that was kind of when that
Entrepreneurial Ventures and Community Impact
00:14:47
Speaker
started. yeah So that actually grew into what we do full-time now, um is that we do management for properties, specifically vacation rentals all around SoCal. So that's kind of, I guess, what would what's taking up a majority of our time right now?
00:15:03
Speaker
eventful falls under there in terms of our management um for it. But I would say that the more time consuming ones are definitely just the properties all around Orange County. Honestly, it's a lot. It's quite a bit. that I mean, talk about all these different directions I get taken this conversation.
00:15:18
Speaker
because you're just like blowing my mind right now as you did when I met you. But tell me about this space in Fullerton. I've been there, I photographed it. It was like the new hotspot for birthday parties and showers and proposals and, you know. You can shoot. Yeah, 40 other milestones, birthday parties. But tell me about the space and how you made it pop off.
00:15:43
Speaker
I'm excited to share with you all about our first Get A Heck Yes sponsor, Seventeen Hats. I've been using this CRM company for over a decade and I've been referring them to all my frienders for all this time. I always know when I'm going to get paid and most importantly, I get paid. So here is a question. What is holding you back? What's keeping you from finding success as a small business person?
00:16:09
Speaker
It's not passion. The fact that you're listening to my podcast shows that you're eager to learn and get better. Know what holds you back is all the chaos of business, paperwork, mailed invoices, and no system to handle at all. That's where Seventeen Hats comes in. Seventeen Hats is a better way to manage your small business. It's an all-in-one platform that streamlines everything from lead capture to client communication to clicking your done automated invoices.
00:16:38
Speaker
17 Hats paves a way for success you deserve by giving you back hours in your day. Find what success looks like for you with 17 Hats. Get started for free at 17hats.com and use my code HECKYES and it's going to give you guys 50% off your first annual membership. How amazing is that?
00:17:02
Speaker
Yeah, um so actually it's kind of funny, the story is that we kind of saw it the first time, the building, just and I don't know if you've ever like driven past it like before we started. It was really ugly. the kid wasn't like cute It was not a cute spot at all. And it took a long time to get it to look cute. um So we actually, the story is that like we walked in together and I was like, dude, like we have so much work to do. like Let's leave. I don't want to be here.
00:17:27
Speaker
And Josh was like, I love it. And I was like, what are you talking about? This is so ugly. And the space was like full of like boxes. And like it was like kind of like a storage unit at the time. So I was like, what are you even talking about? This is so ugly. And he was like, this can be the most beautiful spot ever. And I was like, what are you talking about? So um basically, he he was the one who actually like saw the vision. And I'm so glad that he did. And he kind of kind of made it beautiful and look the way it does now, thankfully. um But yeah, I mean, I think you guys were like one of the first I think when we first met was when we had just started. Yeah. Yeah. And like you guys came in, we had that styled shoot. It was beautiful. Honestly, we still like look back and we're like, wow, that was such a gorgeous. Excuse me, there's like, I need my coffee in one second. Like, i don't want worry I'll just give a shout out to Sally from pretty little, wait, pretty thing events.
00:18:21
Speaker
Pretty little event, right? Yeah, pretty little event. You're right. Shout out to the planner that made that happen. That was like cutest, cutest party for her daughter that that published on 100 Layer Cake Lit.
00:18:35
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that was amazing. And it was, you know, when we first started seeing like how beautiful the space really could be. And I think at that and that shoot was when I was like, I kind of see what you're talking about now. And I was like, no, like I actually see it. So thankfully from there, you know, we've had like floral workshops. Like we've done all the niche things. We've been very, very lucky. And honestly, we've met so many amazing vendors like yourself where we just every time or like almost every day, we're just meeting people who are really creative you know and it's amazing to see the space.
00:19:08
Speaker
get transformed in so many different ways because everyone comes in. And to me, it's like I've gotten used to it now. So I'm just kind of like, yeah, like this is where people put this, this is where people put that. And then, you know, we'll see what they do with the space. And it's like completely different vision. And it's so amazing because you're seeing how creative people can get. Yeah. So I think it's amazing. It's honestly such a creative space. um Yeah. Like I mentioned, we do a lot of workshops. We do a lot of photoshops in there. We've had a lot of really awesome photographers, vendors, stuff like that. And that's kind of where the inspiration for that it takes a village that I was kind of talking to you about earlier, which yeah one of our students, I'm so excited. ah But yeah, so that's kind of where that inspiration came from was we wanted it to be a space where people can meet and there can be community there. um And this one centered around mainly motherhood. So, um you know, we kind of, we noticed that a lot of mothers or young mothers um are kind of craving that village, you know, they're kind of craving that, I think after COVID,
00:20:06
Speaker
people kind of started being in their own like worlds. So that was kind of the ideas that we were like, okay, let's bring like all of our frienders together. Let's like host something and kind of let these, you know, moms pretty much meet each other and kind of feel supported and walk away feeling great after that. So that's the word. You thought of me to be the photographer. So I'm thrilled to be on board with that. Let's get into Hot Topic. Missed me, what is your Hot Topic pick today? And why is it so near and dear to your heart?
00:20:33
Speaker
So one of them, we kind of touched on it a little bit, but I do think that having a cultural background is an edge, not an obstacle. And I know that sometimes it can feel like it's an obstacle, especially when the puzzle pieces don't fit with someone else who might not be from that culture or who might not have that background or a similar background, even if they're completely contradicting and don't fit at all. So I do think it it is your edge um just because I feel like having multiple cultures or having multiple backgrounds, having a lot of experiences allows you to kind of shape shift into what is needed, what the client needs really, you know, so that kind of works for whether it's brands, whether it's influencers, whether it's guests, whether it's just straight up clients. I think having that cultural edge is like such a superpower and is very much overlooked. And I i think that oftentimes
00:21:25
Speaker
people don't really see that as a power, they see it more as like an obstacle. So that's one of my hot topics.
Personal Challenges and Cultural Fusion
00:21:31
Speaker
No, I love it. I um i was just gonna ask you like, just to recap on that hot topic is, is it kind of saying like, say like I'm Chinese and like, um to kind of like, influence or like encourage them to embrace like, our heritage and like have that we shine in a theme of a party or like,
00:21:53
Speaker
social media or PR. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think that you attract people who are also very close, closely knit to their culture as well. I think like oftentimes like we just want to do the next trendy thing, the most like, you know, almost like Americanized like trend, like American trend. But in reality, it's like,
00:22:14
Speaker
we there's things that are trendy and there's things that are near and dear to our hearts. So by having that cultural thing and i'm I'm sure there's connections between your Chinese heritage and my Egyptian heritage where there's things like honor and dignity and things like that that are very very important and strong and it's with me having that knowledge and with you having that knowledge we can actually build things together that are more um deep for our I think clients are kind of over the the superficial you know things. They're looking for things that are deeper, things that speak to them. So I definitely think that that can come from your culture or can come from your background, your experience. Yeah. Was there any like pain that led you to having this
00:22:56
Speaker
hot topic being so near and dear to your heart, like um like struggles of tapping into your power and showing up on social media or TikTok or like bringing yeah your multi i mean your diverse marriage.
00:23:10
Speaker
oh yeah We could talk a little bit about that. Yeah, I feel like that's kind of like the story of my life, to be honest. So we have a lot um of things. Obviously, I'm married to a black man. So that is a very controversial topic, which I'm shocked that it even is.
00:23:25
Speaker
But that is something that, you know, a lot of people online have a lot to say about. I'm very proud of I'm very proud of us. I'm very proud of him. And I'm shocked that it's the 21st century and we're still dealing with this. But yeah, so that's obviously a huge pain point. um Another one would definitely be my experience with the hijab that was that was for 13 years of my life. So and I would say that those were during the most formative years of my life.
00:23:49
Speaker
So um I do think that like that was something that I struggled with was that on a personal note I wanted to be as white as possible if that makes sense. like I wanted to hide you know really anything that showed that I was Arab down even down to the fact that like if my mom prepared me lunch I didn't want to eat anything that was too smelly.
00:24:09
Speaker
because I didn't want to upset the people around me. So like, even things that are personal like that, I feel like have really, you know, I feel like I've been conditioned or people have been conditioned to kind of hide that when in reality, they should just be celebrating it and pushing it forward and kind of using that to just get closer to their clients or to their, even on a personal note, like family and friends as well. Yeah, I love that. I kind of have that the opposite experience. um i grew with Like, um super white. Okay, so you know we don't speak a lick of Chinese. And you know, I got like lunchables for lunch. So I actually, yeah, I yearned to be like in touch with my, my Chinese culture. So I ran for Miss Chinatown um college. And I did, they're like, Oh, do you know, are you Cantonese or Mandarin? I was like, Cantonese are like, say something. I was like, Mi Hama.
00:25:01
Speaker
are um like Like, that's not, that's They're like, not good.
00:25:07
Speaker
so party sir
00:25:11
Speaker
So I'm like, yeah, far removed from it. Um, but yeah, I mean, this whole, I didn't really know, like I knew you as this, um, influencer that ran your own, um, very successful event space, but I didn't really know too much about your new like PR company. So a little bit about like what kind of brought this up and then how you're tying in, um,
00:25:33
Speaker
like like pretty much your hot topic into your company. Absolutely. yeah so um Yeah. So the PR company or agency is actually relatively newer. um It's something that I started right around when I was getting married and then I got married and that was I was busy obviously with that.
00:25:51
Speaker
And then um the property management agency kind of took off. So I kind of left it. You know, I didn't really touch it too much, but I felt like I was doing pretty good work. I felt like I was really enjoying it. So I was like, okay, like I think now is a good time. I'm finishing up my MBA. I'm i'm getting, you know, I'm finalizing everything. And I do want a project that's very mine, you know, like mine only kind of thing.
00:26:12
Speaker
wow yeah so Yeah, so that was kind of where I decided to kind of rest restart it. And I'm treating Eventful as my first client to kind of host that it takes a village event. And so by hosting that, you know hopefully we're bringing obviously brands, like the vendors, and we're connecting them with the clients directly. We're obviously doing a styled shoot earlier in the day. So everyone kind of walks away feeling like they're also getting marketing materials. They're also feeling like you could push it out and just pretty much promote it everywhere everywhere like going from in person to online. So that was kind of the inspo behind that. um But yeah, the touch up PR is kind of something new that I'm doing and hopefully we're looking to be working with like brands and and also connecting them with influencers because when I was doing influencing as like a serious thing, I met so many influencers and I kind of learned what
00:27:06
Speaker
what their language is, like what they're looking for, what speaks to them, what excites them, what gets what isn't really interesting to them. So I do think that we'll be able to provide a lot of value to these brands by, you know, connecting them and being the liaison between the brand and the actual influencers themselves. I know that. I mean, I'm just thinking out loud, but I don't really I know the demand for this is so huge, but I don't know many people are doing it.
00:27:31
Speaker
ah Yeah, so that's great. And then even if things like big agencies are doing it, it just feels so um kind of like such a cold market. Like I feel like you're really going for the people that you know, you trust, you love you've been working with with the past and you have like a true connection with them.
00:27:51
Speaker
Photographers, I am so thrilled to announce my new sponsors Aftershoot, an AI editing company. They do AI editing, unlimited cropping and straightening. I am seriously blown away by the precision and five hours a week I get back in my life. My life is so much better and I literally don't have any more anxiety. It's so crazy.
00:28:16
Speaker
I remember being at barbecues with my laptop because I had to get out of shoot and and that was so stressful, so not fun. And the best part about after shoot compared to their competition is that it's a monthly minimal cost, not cost per image because I am a true overshooter. I could shoot like, I don't know, 3000 photos in an engagement shoot, which is not good. But anyways, using my code in the show notes to get a 30 day trial and 20% off you're going to get in the software and just go crazy
Insights and Advice for Professionals
00:28:46
Speaker
with it. And AfterShoot edits 2.0 just released and they have a lot of new features that you are going to love. AfterShoot, I can't thank you enough for giving me back my time to focus on this podcast. Oh yeah, back to the podcast.
00:29:01
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think that is also a thing that I noticed is that they're very intimidating. Like, they're very, you know, up there with the big brands. And I think the niche brands or the niche communities are often overlooked. Like, for example, the moms in Southern California who are younger who might not have the support that they kind of need right now. And because of obviously all of my interests in this right now, I've i've landed on mom TikTok, even though I'm not a mom. So it's kind of hilarious because I'm really seeing your struggles. And I'm almost like, Oh, I don't know if I want to be a mom. This sounds like quite a bit. Yes, I'm like, I'm kind of scared. Like, I don't know about not sleeping at all. Like, I like my sleep. I value it.
00:29:47
Speaker
So I really don't know. I was like, oh, i'm I'm really not ready for this. But honestly, I think because of that, I think I'm really excited. And like, that just goes to show like, I guess how deep, I want to get into it. like I don't want to just do the surface level like event where you know influencers come, they take pictures and they go. like I do want it to be a community thing where people are coming and connecting. And not only just moms, I feel like just generally, like after COVID, people have been a lot more to themselves. So I think this is a really good way to get people in there. And I want it to always leave with a purpose. like I want each event to always have a deeper purpose as to why we're doing it, not just come and
00:30:27
Speaker
leave kind of thing. Yeah, I mean, post COVID, everything's like a little bit different. I was at church and I was like, introducing myself to someone because they told us to and then she did the whole like, oh, not shaking hands. Yeah, so I'm like, I don't know where people stand. So I'm like, even scared to like, shape you go people's hands anymore. I honestly haven't dealt with that in like, a long time. Like, yeah, so I don't know. believe she was i be Like, it's like fist bump.
00:30:56
Speaker
okay let's just not so yeah but's okay yeah Anyways, I wanted to like really speak to the hearts of wedding pros right now. like um if feel like And a lot of people are slow, but I'm kind of trying to teach people how to make money in different ways, either affiliate marketing or through passive income or through making your own digital products or connecting with brands. So do you have any advice for wedding professionals to connect with their favorite brands and make some side cash? Yeah, definitely. That's a great question. I think I might. I'm going to provide a little bit of a different perspective, right?
00:31:34
Speaker
um From where I am, I think that it's really hard to connect with brands directly. As you know someone in the wedding field, there's a lot of competition. There's a lot of people in SoCal that are kind of doing very similar things. So I do think that by reaching out to these brands and asking them if they have any different needs or just looking at kind of like where the market's going. I know that there's a lot of people on social media right now that are talking about like these are the trends for the next year or kind of this is where we're going with it. So being like ahead of the curve rather than just following the trends is a big one. I've noticed that you know obviously there's like the trending sounds and the trending like ways to do things but I've always noticed that the ones who are doing the different things who are standing out from everyone else
00:32:21
Speaker
are the ones who end up kind of moving forward a little bit quicker so interesting yeah so i feel like just being one step ahead and then also reaching out to the brands directly and being like hey i'm one step ahead by doing x y and z brands really really care about being like ahead of the curve and they want to be the ones setting the trends so by doing that you're aligning yourself with the brands and you're kind of helping them accelerate even more so that's yeah i think it's all like what you're saying is full circle with the hot topic like i see your instagram and you kind of down your niche, like you and Josh, kind of like dance and sometimes it's too like Egyptian music. And now like a cohesive like theme. How did you come up with that? was it Was it hard at first? And then did you just love it and just like kept going with it? Honestly, we started in COVID and we were just bored at home and college was just on, break everything was on break. So we just kind of decided to make content like that. And then it started going viral and we were like,
00:33:18
Speaker
Why is this going viral? And then we started to notice that people were really loving the fact that we were a diverse you know couple. Like we were not in the same culture. And um yeah, so we niche down even more. I'm like a huge, I love Egypt so much. I love Egyptian culture. So that was something that was pretty easy. I just wanted to do the trends. I wanted to do what they were doing kind of thing. And he just wanted to join me. And so people really loved seeing you know someone who wasn't Egyptian doing Egyptian things. Like they wanted to be seen.
00:33:47
Speaker
And so I think obviously like the culture aspect, you're right, it does come full circle. I think it is a big part of like who I am online and offline. ah But yeah, I think that's that's kind of how we started, to be honest. it was just It was just for fun. And then we ended up kind of doing it more and more. And I had like a goal. I was like, I want to hit 100,000 followers. And then, thankfully, yeah. And then we did. And then um I kind of slowed down at that point, to be honest. I think I noticed that.
00:34:14
Speaker
I'm more interested in like I'm less interested in content creation and I'm more interested in um the strategy aspect for brand. ah So that's kind of where that shift happens that I know that content create and that's another thing is that I know that content creation is very trendy right now. Everyone wants to be doing it. It's like very It's like very exciting. The money seems very easy and quick, but I think that there's a lot of room for being on the brand side as well. That's a big thing. know we' got um Yeah, like content creation is awesome and I'm not at all recommending against it, but I do think that there's a lot of room um since especially social media is just gonna get bigger and bigger. I don't know about TikTok right now, but you know but for now, like social media is only gonna get bigger and bigger. So I do think that it's great that people can kind of go
00:35:04
Speaker
and also work with the brands as well like from the intern from internally.
Content Creation and Overcoming Inhibitions
00:35:08
Speaker
Yeah I guess that question I'm kind of curious because I want to know um how do you feel like you would stay on top like one step ahead of the trends. um Is it just kind of finding your own voice and then like, um like you said, like, um whatever sticking like keep going with it? um Is there any like um websites or podcasts that like know about these upcoming trends or anything? Yeah. yeah Yeah, I think one thing that I've heard so many times, but it's honestly so true, is that you have to just trial and error, trial and error. things will Some things will stick, some things won't, but you have to be just shooting your shot kind of thing. yeah And I do think that
00:35:51
Speaker
The biggest hurdle with that isn't the actual content creation. That's not the hard part. It's getting over yourself and the embarrassment of posting on social media and the embarrassment of what will people say? What will be like? What will my community say about me? What will my friends say? What if the video doesn't do well? You know, things like that. So things like that are the real reason why I feel like creativity is kind of stopped.
00:36:13
Speaker
a little bit, like why people aren't as creative as they can be, but the people who just move on from that fear and they actually just pursue, I feel like are the ones who are like ahead of the curve always. And then to your second question about like any websites or any podcasts or anything, um I know that um the name is leaving me, but I can definitely send it to you to tag. um But yeah, I do think that there's an Instagram page that just tells you like, okay, in this specific niche, at least for, you know, eventful when we're looking at like kind of like hosting or even shoots or just aesthetics, like minimalist aesthetics, there are pages where like, these are the trending sounds in your niche. And these are the ones that are coming up within the the next few months. Or these are the trends that people are looking at. um And then also another obvious one, but I think this one's really big is Pinterest.
00:37:05
Speaker
but like niche in Pinterest like getting deep in there and taking time to look at a pin and then look at another pin and connect it to another pin and make a whole mood board on Canva. Those are like my two favorite tools that I use for pretty much everything all the time.
00:37:22
Speaker
And then there's also Pexels, which is a great website. yeah That's really good just for just having content, I think, to put on your board. That's kind of where I think my creativity, at least. Interesting. Yeah, so that's kind of... You have to find out which one that site is in. Yeah, yeah. I'm going to use that. I really need that. It's interesting. like i've been um You know, that there's not too many content creators that catch my eye these days, but um a lot of, two of them really caught my eyes. I don't know their name. I think like Katie Social or something, but they're probably around your age, so Gen Zers, and they talk a lot about friction.
00:37:59
Speaker
So it's um what stands in your way from actually making the content, whether it be like a microphone or like um the tripod setup. So eliminating those friction points, like always having the mic set up or bringing it with you in your backpack or stuff like that. So um and I didn't watch them. It was like they're super vulnerable. And they're just pretty much saying like, I don't know what I'm doing, but follow my journey. Wedding pros.
00:38:25
Speaker
I have a new and exciting opportunity for you to make passive income with digital products and courses and affiliate marketing. The space is booming right now and you have to take a look. Sky is truly the limit in the digital space and you can just stop trading your time for money and scale your business. And life just got a lot easier.
00:38:48
Speaker
Get your weekends back and comment at me at Carissa Wu, the word info, and I'll send you a free sneak peek guide on how to make passive income. And if you're ready to start making money from home while being there for the moments that matter, I can't wait to connect.
00:39:06
Speaker
Yeah, and honestly, those are like my favorite pages. There's a matcha business in like Ireland and she just opened a matcha bar like in the middle of like, I think a mall or something. And she literally went from like, I don't even know what name I want to be. I don't even know where I'm going to get my matcha. I don't know anything. I just know that I like matcha and that's it. And it's so beautiful because when she ended up um opening up her business, um she had like a line out the door.
00:39:33
Speaker
Wow, just so supportive of it. And I think that's so inspiring. I followed her I like told myself if I ever go to Ireland that I'm gonna go see her. Oh, I love with the story. I love that. hu ah Okay, so I guess um I just wanted to tap in a little bit about your love story because I love you so much.
Personal Journey and Final Thoughts
00:39:55
Speaker
Tell me how you met and just a little bit about your marriage and just running these businesses together, property, PR, and event space. Yes, quite a bit. So, yeah. So, Joshua actually met in middle school.
00:40:08
Speaker
um so But we weren't like a love story at that point at all. So we were just in school together. ah I found a diary and I wrote about him that I thought he was funny. No, I said he was like a class clown, but he was funny. So I think I did like him at the time, but I was like a goody two shoes and I.
00:40:26
Speaker
thought that anyone who like tried to ruin my school was like a bad kid. So I like wanted to stay away from him, which is when I took middle school way too serious. um But yeah, so then we went to um high school together. I didn't really talk to him. He was kind of like the sports guy. And I was just very uninvolved, very involved more so with like my Arab friends outside of school. So ah yeah, so that happened. And then senior year of high school, we like sat next to each other for a sports statistics class.
00:40:56
Speaker
And we were paired together for everything. So we became best friends at this point like throughout the year that we made like a pact at the end of the year. And we're like, we're going to see each other once a week in college. And usually those things fall through. But weirdly, we were actually seeing each other on campus once a week. And I started to notice slowly, slowly, slowly that I started to dress up on the days that I would see him. And I think at the same time he was he was feeling the same.
00:41:22
Speaker
Yeah, from there. Yeah, we kind of got together. And then, yeah, I mean, it was a little, it was a little difficult, obviously, because he wasn't Muslim at the time, and he's not Arab. My parents grew up, they taught me when I was growing up, like, it's an Egyptian guy or nothing, like, not even just Arab, just Egyptian, like, very specific. And I'm like, there's not many Egyptians around here. What are you talking about? Actually, by me, I live next to a Muslim church in Torrance. Oh, really? Is it in Torrance? Yeah.
00:41:50
Speaker
I think I've been to that one actually. No way. like So that was kind of like the biggest ah hurdle that we had to go through. And then yeah like years, years, years later, we ended up getting married. And and um yeah, that's kind of the story. It's like Honestly, it's so crazy to be like, we went to middle school together. I wish I could watch that back, knowing that I was going to end up marrying him. Like, I didn't even pay much attention to him. He had different girlfriends. Like, I would be a positive yeah yeah i was like i could watch that back. That'd be amazing. But yeah, I mean, I wish we had like those cameras like everywhere. but if i don't like it Like, we're on a reality TV. chair before can Imagine.
00:42:30
Speaker
Oh my god. So your parents finally came around? Yes, a little bit of convincing, obviously. But ah yeah, they love him now. They're great. I think, honestly, I think they treat him and he treats them like, like, like actual just parents in a so relationship. So I think it's so beautiful. And I'm, I'm so happy that it ended up working out. Obviously, it doesn't always work out in situations like these, just because very big differences and sometimes families are just not open. But thankfully his family is amazing. My family is amazing. And so everything's everything's good right now. Yeah. But obviously there's like a lot of pressure of like kids and I'm like, I want to work on my business and I want to finish my MBA out and everything. So yeah. I have a lot of questions to ask, but I can't. So I have to speak wisely. But I guess again, speak to the hearts of wedding pros, like um speak
00:43:23
Speaker
kind of like sum it up full circle, like how they could incorporate their culture into their um their brands, their messaging, their sales calls, um their whole social media presence, how they talk and then how it could help them. Yeah, I think like the biggest thing is Okay, so I'll like use an example, an analogy, right? So we noticed that a majority of the people that were walking in our doors, the majority of the people who are inquiring were moms. And we heard in very casual conversation, not even like this isn't why they're here, this isn't why they've reached out to us, but we started to hear
00:44:06
Speaker
small little things about like how they wish they had more support and community. That was just something that came up casually in conversation. They also would mention things like there's stroller complaints or just things like that as they're loading out and coming in, right? Things like that started to ding, ding, ding for us. And we're like, oh, OK, so there's a need here. there's a There's a latent need. No one's saying it directly, but there is a need here. So what we're going to do is we're going to solve this need for them. And not only are we their favorite like eventful space, but we're also their favorite in terms of in a personal way. So by personalizing it and noticing in the casual conversation for a wedding pro, if it's going to be something like on a sales call, just kind of having normal conversation, taking five to 10 minutes before you even jump in. And I know it can be uncomfortable because generally people just want to like jump into their stream jump into whatever they have memorized.
00:45:01
Speaker
taking up time and like being really personalized about it and understanding maybe small needs that the guest might or the client might not be saying out loud yeah in casual conversation, and then maybe supporting them in that way as well, or providing that extra service that might out be outside of what you traditional the traditional setup is of like, oh, you need help with this. I can maybe connect you with someone who can do this, or I can maybe add this as an add-on, you know things like that. we also convince them in other ways, outside of just your portfolio and your work, for them to work with you, because now they really like you. Wow, yeah. I would say that's lovely. They feel like more like warmed up to you, I would say. Yes. And if culture is what's needed to do that, then absolutely do that. like you know ah One big thing is like if we have someone who's from an Asian background or an Arab background or just an Eastern background, generally, but we will like mention
00:45:56
Speaker
having elders at the space and like what we can do to help them with that. Like whether you want like a reserved cone or something like that to kind of honor the elders because we know that that's a big part of it. And it's also a big part of in the Arab culture as well. But those are like little things that were like, OK, people generally like this. So let's, you know, use also our knowledge of the culture and learning about that to kind of also assist. So yeah. Oh, I love that. I mean, it's I think our conversation was just like so heartfelt. And it's not like tangible action steps, but it kind of goes a little bit deeper than that. Yeah, absolutely. And I hope that this was, you know, helpful. Obviously, I work in a little bit of a different world, and I'm kind of spread thin throughout multiple different areas. But I think from my experience with the brands, the influencers, the guests themselves, or like the clients directly
00:46:48
Speaker
those are just the things that I've noticed really set people apart from other businesses or other vendors, you know? So I would definitely recommend those things, yeah. I love it. Okay, tell everyone where to find you if they want to throw in events in Fullerton and also the PR aside, like how they could work with you to get more exposure with brands. Yeah, sure. Thank you. So obviously you can find my personal at Yasmina Bushedi.
00:47:14
Speaker
I know it's a little bit hard because it's an Arab Egyptian name, but you got this, I believe in you. um We also, you can find us also at Eventful Space. We misspelled Eventful on purpose, so it's V-N-T-F-U-L-L Space. So yeah, if you have any, you know, workshops, any of those kinds of events, um light, airy, we're very big on like golden lighting, and we're very big on just like natural,
00:47:37
Speaker
sunlight things like that. We're very good for the light stuff. yeah um And then also, um yeah, for we have touchup dot.pr right now on Instagram. So if you're a business or if you're you know even someone in the wedding industry that's looking to touch up your business and either connect more with your actual clientele or just to connect two sides, um depending on obviously your niche, then I'm definitely your girl. We have an amazing team so far.
00:48:03
Speaker
Um, we're looking to be doing amazing things in 2025. Um, and yeah, so that's kind of, that's kind of what we do. And yeah, if you ever need a vacation rental, let me know as well. We have quite a few, so I'm happy to connect you with those states as well. Yeah. You are so impressive in every way. Thank you so much. I'll link all your links and my editor's out of town. So I'm posting this tomorrow. So I have to give a shout out to my sponsors.
00:48:30
Speaker
ah 17 hats automate your business. Use code heck yes to get 50% off the entire year. um They can save you 10 hours. a week of your time. And then shout out to Aftershoot AI editing. I couldn't live without you, photographers. You have to try. Literally edits in like two seconds. So yeah. Oh my gosh. It honestly makes content creation even more feasible. That's amazing. It really does. It really does. Creative time is everything. But thank you for this conversation. Thank you so much for having me on. And I'm so glad that we could actually get this done, you know, ASAP. I'm glad that, you know, we made it happen.
00:49:10
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. See you next time, wedding pros!