We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tess Cardenas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Tess, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, let’s start with trends – what are some of the largest or more impactful trends you are seeing in the industry?
When it comes to the event production industry, people are looking for a more immersive experience. It doesn’t matter if it’s a grand opening to a restaurant, or a bat mitzvah , people want you to be absorbed in their event. They want you to be a special part in their special event. Most of our clients want to add personal details, and create experiences that will leave a lasting impression. From LED screens, custom buildouts, hanging installations, custom branding, and video mapping…our clients are taking risks and evolving what an event typically would be.
Tess, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I started doing events back in 2015, as a dancer. I would get hired for corporate events, award shows, music videos, and hora locas. I danced professionally for about four years, but after I graduated from Florida International University with my Bachelors degree; I needed to find a job. The dance world had very limited opportunities for me, and the event industry seemed to be opening more doors for me at the time. Literally one week after my graduation, I was hired at an event production company based out of Miami. I worked there for a year, and learned everything from my boss Laura. She and I were a really good team, and we worked well together. After a year, I decided to take my talents else where, and worked as an event planner for a nonprofit Organization called Epilepsy Florida. I was there for almost 2 years during the pandemic. While I was at the nonprofit, I was building our small business W Event Design any free time I could. While also working part time for Miami planners, as an assistant head planner. I had three jobs, and life was crazy-but I was committed to the hustle and trying to learn as much as I could. My husband Willian had already left his job, and was working for our business full time. I was building our client list, along with networking as much as I could. After we started to see our business take a huge growth after pandemic, I finally decided to work for the company full time in 2022. Since then, we have grown to be one of the top event production companies in Miami. We recently did an event for Ducati, a huge motorcycle brand from Italy for Art Basel week. When I got this opportunity, I felt so honored and excited to take on such a huge event. I honestly never thought I would run my own business, but I always tell people it was the best unplanned decision I ever made. I still have to pinch myself now and then, and make sure it’s not a dream I am living in.
How’d you meet your business partner?
My co-founder for W Event Design is my husband, Willian Cardenas. We met back in 2018, we were both working for an event production team at the time. I wasn’t really interested in starting a relationship with someone I worked with, but he was very persistent. Out love story is pretty crazy, because after 6 months of dating we married on December 3rd, 2018. A lot of people thought we were crazy, but I knew the moment I met him we were going to end up together forever. When it came to the business, we originally opened an LLC to work side jobs to pay for our own wedding. Since we eloped, we wanted to have an actual wedding once we had saved up enough money. After we had our wedding the summer of 2019, our little side hustle began to grow as a small business. A lot of people always mention to me, ” Isn’t it difficult to work with your spouse”? My answer to that is, not at all! When the person you love, is also the person who is by your side in your business…they know just as much as you do how important it is to wake up everyday and get to work. The event industry is not an easy one to be in, and if it wasn’t for him being in the same world, I think that would effect our relationship because the other doesn’t understand what it takes. The fact that we do the same thing for a living, helps a lot. We also have a rule…no talking about work at home. So we know the office is only for work, so that at home we can have that escape from the business. It is very important to separate the two from each other. After five years of operating the business together, we have found a good groove.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
In order to do anything in life you need money, that’s the reality we live in. The way I was able to fund my business was by using my own salary of the job was working at the time. The first investment are small things, like filing for the LLC and opening a bank account, Once you start to get the little things all set in stone, you need to invest in product or equipment. My first tax refund as a married couple, I the spent money on up lights. It was the first product we purchased in order to start selling more services for our business. After that, all the revenue that came from the rentals of the up lights was accumulated over time. We did not touch the business bank account for anything. We had a goal of $10,000 , in order to invest in our second product. After one year, we accumulated enough money to have my husband be able to work full time for the business. I also believe you have to make little sacrifices in order to build for the future. At the time we only had one car, so instead of purchasing another one; we bough a van to transport all our items and make deliveries for the business. We also lived with my grandmother for a year, which helped us save on rent or a mortgage. Those financial decision and sacrifices we made, eventually led us to owning our own home, car, and even starting a family later in life. Yes, it wasn’t easy and there was a lot of fear of missing out during the process, but in the end everything worked out.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.weventdesign.org
- Instagram: weventdesign
