We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cassandra “Casey” Murphy a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Cassandra “Casey”, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Getting that first client is always an exciting milestone. Can you talk to us about how you got your first customer who wasn’t a friend, family, or acquaintance?

My first client came to me! It was pretty amazing, I have been bartending for 21 of my 40 years on Earth now, and at the time I was working at an amazing rooftop lounge. I worked there for 9 years and absolutely loved it. Istarted out as a bartender and kind of quickly moved into management and then became the marketing and events manager, so I ran all of our private events. That’s really where I picked up my event curating skills.

I have now been doing events for 11 years. So back to the first client- it was a regular of mine (a regular is bar industry slang for a customer who comes in regularly) and he asked me to bartend an event at his house for his daughter’s engagement party. So of course I said yes! The event was amazing, I was kind of underprepared because I was so used to being behind the bar but I fell in love with doing private events at that moment. I got a couple of bookings from that one booking but really didn’t pursue it until about 6 or 7 years later when the same thing happened. A different regular of mine requested me to work his company’s event. So of course, I said yes and worked that event as well but still didn’t end up starting my own company until January of 2023!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have been on my own since I was 17, I grew up in Buford, GA and went to the University of Georgia for College, and started bartending to pay my bills. I quickly discovered that I loved it. I loved interacting with people and the atmosphere in a college bar was just so much freaking fun, not to mention the money! Cash in hand every night! It was true love for me, the best part about it though, was the people. I had a lot of bad stuff going on at home growing up, so getting to go to work was like putting on a show for the people. I got to just have fun and tried my best to make new friends.

After college I was still bartending but had started working for a private event and wedding DJ. This was where I first got my taste for private events. It was captivating and exhilarating. The energy in the air at private events, especially when celebrating such momentous occasions, is just exhilarating. I wanted to be apart of it. After a couple years of that during the day, I started working as a personal assistant for about 5 years, and still bartending on the weekends. Then I got a huge opportunity to work for Chipper Jones as his personal assistant his last year of baseball, and you guessed it, was still bartending at night. After he retired I got another amazing opportunity to start working with a production company helping run music video sets, and when I wasn’t doing that I was bartending. At this point in bartending I had been promoted to management and was helping some of my friends open and run new places around Atlanta. Also it’s fun to mention that I started modeling in college and continued doing that until I was 37, so with my crazy busy schedule I would still find time to get my makeup done and be fancy every now and then.

While I was working for the production company, I had one of the coolest moments in my life happen. I was chosen to participate in the show Undercover Boss and unbeknownst to me, I ended up winning $50,000! MY life took a really fun turn then. I just really took time to enjoy things and enjoy life in general. I did a lot of traveling and soul searching because at this point in time I was 33 and still bartending wondering what I was going to do for forever. I couldn’t keep bartending. OR could I?!?! This is really when my quest to try to make a living being a mobile bartender.

Then COVID. lol. I got in touch with my artsy side during covid and found myself loving and enjoying pour painting. It was also during this time that I met my now fiance. Our relationship happened so quickly that less than a year into it, we were expecting our first child (after 2 miscarriages :( that’s a different story for a different book lol). So with an upcoming child expectancy, I really put alot of thought and effort into what is now I am also in the Casey Blare Events. It’s a brand new venture that I’m starting as to take on more of an event coordinator role and run and manage more full scale events. I also staff bartenders, servers and clean up crew for events and have been doing that for almost 2 years now.

As for whats to come- I’m a full time Mom to 2 of the most beautiful children ever, Alexander 2 1/2 and Amaya 1. Seeing how fast they grow and go through clothes has prompted myself and one of my Mommy friends to start a non-profit that creates a platform for Mom’s to come and even exchange clothes. And I’m helping one of my old bosses open up and start 2 new restaurants, AND I help and oversee all of the events at Gallery Anderson Smith.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

For me and the industry I’m in, it’s been my love of people and having genuine conversations. I like to say that I’m in the business of building relationships. For me, making people happy and bringing their special day or event or occasion to life is why I do what I do. It’s a true passion and feeling that can be felt by my customers, clients, and everyone around. Word of mouth has easily been my best way of growing clientele, but that’s not the only thing. It’s having that initial genuine conversation and paying attention to the client and what they are requesting. Fulfilling client’s needs while also not sacrificing your worth can be a difficult thing to do, but I’ve learned how to manage it. Quick and constant contact is also a key factor to keeping clientele.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Back in 2014 I was trying to get my real estate license. I was already networking with a lot of athletes and celebrities thanks to my various jobs, so I thought it was a super smart thing to do to just increase my income at the time. Well, little did I know that the State Exam would kick my ass! I passed my school test (the second time I took the class LOL) with no problems, but when it came down to the state exam, it had me in a chokehold. I attempted it 6 times, yes 1-2-3-4-5-6! I knew I wasn’t a great test taker but I had set myself up for success as much as I possibly could! I was beating myself up to no extend and feeling really defeated and one of my best friends that had taken the class with me, pulled me out of my apartment and was like we are going out, you can’t sulk any longer. You would have thought I just went through a bad breakup with the way I was feeling and acting.

So dressed in my pajamas, in a baseball hat and sunglasses we went to the local bars and went bar hopping where I happened to run into one of my old co-workers that I just loved, Lace. Well at this time in her life Lace had been doing stand up comedy and started teaching a stand-up comedy class to females only and it just so happened that her next class started the next week and of course there was only ONE SPOT LEFT. So I snatched it up and thus became my persuit of stand up comedy for about 6 months. I would have kept going but Covid happened at this time in my life.

I signed up to take her class because I had always had a fear of being on stage and speaking in public, but after not passing my real estate exam it was like what else do I have to lose?!? Let’s attempt to conquer this fear! And I did it. And was the second to last comedian to take the stage the night of our show. She made me a co-headliner! People were laughing at my opening lines that were just bullshit lines I stated with to ease myself. I absolutely left that experience believing in myself just a little bit more.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: CaseyBlare

Image Credits

Nunnally Rawson- Rite Media Group (pic of me in the Green Coat)
Chucky Foto- Whiskey Blue photos (any of the pics of me at work)
The magazine publication is Jezebel
The TV Show still of me in Cheetah is from E! Wags- Atlanta walking for my friend Sincerely Wards fashion show
All the other photos are from my cell phone