We caught up with the brilliant and insightful I’yana Houston a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

I’yana, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

Oh ABBBsolutely and not unfortunately. Misunderstood to be specific. I feel that many people who are not close to you either truly “get” you or act is if they do and the one’s near to you may not have full desire to understand you.

In my experience, the individual that didn’t understand me or my business was my dad. It started when I moved out of our hometown to honestly get away but once I moved I realized it was for so much more and that was to learn, to elevate and to heal. I moved and found the thing that lit me up inside — making other people smile by creating intentional spaces. When I told my dad that I wanted to be an Event Planner he looked as if I told him I didn’t want money for the rest of my life. He immediately made an assumption based on his own belief systems that what I wanted to do was not lucrative nor smart. He didn’t grasp the concept of what it meant to plan an event for someone or where and/or how you got paid from that. He believed that I set up a few candles or blew up a few balloons and that’s it. He didn’t see the creativity, the idea or the plan.

As time moved along I began to truly invest in myself which directly invested in the business I was wanting to grow. I don’t think my dad was ready to see that I was willing to take major risks — financially and emotionally to do something that I felt deeply. He continuously said “So, where is your ‘real’ job or where else are you working to pay bills”. Now I do have to say I was working somewhere else in the interim because I just started looking for a mentor and didn’t know where else to start but I knew my purpose was to share beautiful energy with others by creating events. I also knew I was not meant to work for someone else.

I enjoy sharing and realize this may be a winded one but I believe it teaches us all so much in this life to be misunderstood. I truly grew in my perspective as well as belief system that we are all different and that that is one of the lovely gifts we’ve been granted with here. To dare to be different in the world that in my opinion was designed that way to begin with is amazing. I believe it took my dad the time it did to see what I was doing as purposeful because it finally reached a point where he saw how happy I was, that it made me money and he actually assisted me on one to see the work put in. I took from the experience that we all have different belief systems based on our own experiences and to keep going no matter what — seriously. Whoever believes in you is great just make sure that you believe in you first because you can get yourself wherever you desire.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Ooo okay — to describe myself in a paragraph I’m not sure I am capable of doing. However, I am so capable of sharing who I feel like I am in this moment.

First things first, I don’t believe business is about business. I believe business is about experience. I am a lover of experiences and throughout my life thus far I have been gifted with so many and I look forward to all of the other ones to come.

I would consider myself an experience curator or event planner in textbook terms. My business is all about providing a service and that service is shared experiences even if it’s a solo experience. I primarily plan social events, weddings, networking events + anniversaries but I have been dabbling into corporate events. I really don’t discriminate. I will say that many of my clients and guests of the events I plan share with me that the event felt elegant and welcoming.

I really look to provide a certain energy when you walk through the space. I am a believer in energy and I believe that everything we do we have the ability to move with intention and I enjoy moving with intention when I plan my events because I believe it will align with you the best.

So many events feel very much like to do lists and as a planner I have thousands of to do lists. However, I am changing the dynamic of typical / traditional check this off the list energy and bringing more of an aligned to the client energy because every event will be + feel different all the way around.

It’s all about the feeling to me. How does my client feel walking through that door, how do they feel when they touch the linens on the table, how does the food and drink menu feel in the space, how does the music align with the energy in the room. What am I intentionally attempting to bring into the space that feels amazing??

Anywho, I am most proud of myself for still going. I know it is said over and over to just keep going, and ooo that’s so good because every person’s experience is so different. I do however get how some people just stop or give up. It’s not a negative thing to me to stop, but I am without a shadow of a doubt, proud of myself for continuing through confusion, through doubts, through fears + through old belief systems. I just keep going.

The one thing I want every person whether they’re a client or not a client to know is that we are in this together and throughout your event, it will be intentionally created to not only what suits you but what suits the you that you’re looking to become.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Be creative yourself. Whatever that looks like to you. I believe that we are all creatives in our own way. I mean we are all the same yet VERY different. I believe embracing that difference is how to support us all. We know that stepping outside of that zone of comfort to solely do what you enjoy can be a challenge but opening or attempting to open yourself up to new parts of yourself will remind us all that we are one. That is how we grow and how we can be there for each other.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I think believing that you can do it is the first step.

I listen(ed) to many motivational speakers like Jim Rohn, Abraham Hicks and Michael Singer who were all a lot less about management and business and more about self-love and understanding. They taught me that everything starts with you. There is no business without you (literally and figuratively). Once I learned myself, I was able to retain a lot more information about the business world and getting clients because I understood myself first — business is all about people. It’s all about service to those people. Once you understand who you are and understand the importance of knowing and loving yourself, it can be easier for you to make connections and build relationships, which is where business grows.

Two books that changed my perspective on of a lot of things — “Act like a success Think like a success” by Steve Harvey and “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz.

Being challenged to shift your mindset is one of the greater challenges I’ve experienced in my life, however one of the most enlightening and enjoyable. Both of these books gave me great inspiration to follow through with those challenging shifts.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.eventcollective.co
• Instagram: HTTPS://www.instagram.com/lady.iyana?igsh=MTRidGxoc2ZmbWpkYg%3D%3D&utm_-source=qr
• Other: [email protected]

Image Credits

Jenne’s Vision