We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Donika Syku. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Donika below.

Donika, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

Looking back, I definitely wish I started my business sooner! I began Westchester Backdrops 3 and a half years ago while working full-time as an accountant. Accounting was a safe major in college and I had chosen it for job security but my true passion growing up was always art and anything that stimulated my creativity. After 8 years in a career I felt was mundane and unfulfilling, I was impacted by mass layoffs from a larger corporation in May 2025. I finally saw this as my sign to go all in on my business and really pursue my passion full-time! Westchester Backdrops is my biggest creative outlet, with most of my projects being photo-op backdrops for milestone birthday parties, baby showers and bridal showers. We create balloon and floral set ups and collaborate with a lot of amazing vendors to incorporate custom backdrops, props, and signage into our designs. Everything I’ve learned over the years has been either self-taught, through trial and error, or from one of my fellow vendors in the industry and it’s been such a wonderful journey refining my skills on a talent I didn’t realize I had in me all along. Looking forward to seeing what going full-time will look like in the years to come!

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?

My name is Donika Syku and I’m the Owner of Westchester Backdrops! I’m a 31 year old mom of one and have always been a creative. As mentioned earlier, I majored in Accounting for job security but really wanted to pursue anything in art, although I didn’t know what that meant just yet. Over the years as an accountant, I helped my closest friends, cousins, and sister in decorating for their milestones. This included a handmade floral “SHE SAID YES” sign for my sisters engagement, handmade floral walls for my sister’s bridal shower and cousin’s wedding, and a few Amazon balloon garlands for other milestone showers and birthdays.

While doing decor for these events, I always had a blast and loved seeing the end results but didn’t think much of it as a career until I met my now husband, Tonin, back in 2020. He’s always seen my talent before I could pick up on it myself and he’s the one that encouraged me to try to pursue a business in event decor/planning. Tonin looked up available Instagram handles and posed the idea of Westchester Backdrops to me and we haven’t looked back since starting that account in January 2022.

Within a week of creating my Instagram account, I had my first real client (non-relative) booking and created an all red rose wall that was 8 feet high and 6 feet wide for a sweet sixteen! I took great pleasure in the problem solving and improvising needed to get the job done in such a quick turnaround (the following week)! I had my first taste of pride and fulfillment that I wasn’t getting with my accounting job.

In the early days of the business, the only experience I’d had with balloons was the Amazon kits I’d assisted with and I was terrified that someone would hire me for balloon work. The first few balloon bookings were frightening to say the least but over time, after watching endless youtube videos and working with so many amazing vendors, I started to master my skills and learn the tricks needed to be a true balloon artist.

In the last 3.5 years, Westchester Backdrops has become a powerhouse in the tri-state area and we’ve been practically fully booked every weekend while I was still working full-time. It wasn’t until I was impacted by mass layoffs in May 2025 that I saw this as my sign to truly execute the business full-time and make this my real career!

Westchester Backdrops provides luxury balloon and floral backdrop set ups for all types of events including birthdays, bridal & baby showers, engagement parties, gender reveals, weddings and more! When clients reach out with a theme and any reference pictures of designs, colors or elements they like, I use my artistic background and create visual mock-ups so they can get a feel for what their set up will look like!

I’ve built numerous connections over the years with many talented florists, wood workers, rental companies, signage printers, venues and fellow balloon artist & event planners so my clients can feel at ease knowing I handle the rest! The options are limitless with Westchester Backdrops; we aim to bring your vision to life and we’ll do whatever it takes to exceed your expectations!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the hardest lessons to come to terms with is that every inquiry is not your dream client and you have to put feelings aside sometimes to operate as a business.

Because I was so used to doing set ups for my family and friends when I first started, I found it very hard to separate business from doing charity work and it took me a while to become profitable because I attracted clients that did not see my value. A bunch of customers in the beginning took advantage of my lack of knowledge with pricing and I would say yes without knowing what I was getting myself into.

I said yes to set ups that were intricate and required a lot of work without taking into consideration how expensive materials were, how much labor & time was required, and delivery proximity. I would use my entire days off from my 9-5 to do all of this physical labor and walk away with $50 if not go into the negatives because I didn’t understand my worth or treat myself as an actual business. I remember being so frustrated in the beginning because I was working for free for strangers I didn’t even know!

Over the years my social media presence, growth in skill set, and my knowledge of the business side of things has helped me improve my profit margins and attract clients that treat my work as the luxury service it is. There are jobs that are DIYs for a reason and if anyone knows that, I know that because I’ve done it before when trying to save money for myself and my family/friends before owning this business. I try my best to accommodate for my clients’ budgets and at times have to part ways with the people that don’t recognize how much work actually goes into putting together that picture perfect set up.

After all, the people that say “I’d never pay xyz for balloons” do not fully understand the cost of quality balloons, paint, real or faux florals, transportation, overhead costs including storage & marketing, and not to mention skill & labor.

Many people don’t realize they’re paying for the convenience of a professional to handle all the hard work for you so you can actually enjoy your event. I say this because I’ve been on both sides and it truly is exhausting doing it all yourself and then trying to enjoy your event after coordinating all the moving pieces.

When one door closes for the wrong client, the right one is not too far away!

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

I’ve gotten so lucky over the years with some of the most amazing clients that have become friends to me! I think a big part of earning their trust and getting them to come back to you time and time again is to just be YOU and be human! In any industry but especially in the balloon/floral decor and event planning industries, there’s so much saturation and people can easily find another option if you’re not what they’re looking for. I can’t count how many people have ghosted me once finding out my prices, or who have found someone else by the time I get back to them and that’s OKAY.

The right clients are drawn to you for YOU and what you have to offer. And what I have to offer is my light and bubbly personality, attention to detail, precision and speed in getting things done, and actual care for the jobs because I’ve been in my clients’ shoes and know how much time, planning and money is spent on these events. I know the last thing you want to worry about on a day where 100 things can go wrong is does my picture taking set up look good?

I’ve had several clients that have repeatedly used me for bridal showers, gender reveals, baby showers, baptisms, first birthday, subsequent birthdays and on and on. Those are the clients you cherish the most because they fully trust you and continue to loop you into their lives when they have free will to find someone else. Making sure to be available for and prioritizing my repeating clients also helps foster that brand loyalty knowing I’ll make time for them no matter what!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.westchesterbackdrops.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/westchesterbackdrops
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/westchesterbackdrops
• Other: TikTok: www.tiktok.com/westchesterbackdrops

Image Credits

Melissa Dajti
Eleni Mazija
Rachel Stasolla