Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Danielle Watkins. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Danielle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

A thought I have continued to keep in my mind here recently is: “If today was your last day on Earth, what would you be doing?”. Now this question can seem a bit morbid, but I don’t like to think of the literal thought of me leaving Earth. This question more so aids in the shaping of my mind, it builds a mindset that we must make the most of everyday that is given to us. This mindset forces me to be strategic about how I am spending my time and ensuring that I am using my time here on Earth to be impactful. With that said, this leads me to talk about my legacy. When I do one day leave this Earth, what do I want people to remember me as?

I want those who I am have come in contact with, being in a small or big way, to remember the woman who brought joy to their day. I want people to remember that I did everything with passion and with the purpose to better the community. My legacy will be centered community, youth, and unity.

I have been a teacher, worked in events, worked with families in private sector, and have done community organizing/outreach. In each of these roles the purpose is to focus on humankind, to focus on what each individual I am surrounded by can bring to the table. I believe so deeply that we are created to depend on each other, we are created to connect, and created to love each other! Living each day with this belief is what drives my decisions and will hopefully lead to me leaving a legacy of love.

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

Board + Bond was born as a result of the pandemic, which is a similar story to many small business that have sprouted up in the past 2 years. I would venture to say that this is one of positive effects of the pandemic; people had more time to discover their passion and also got more creative with how to make or earn money. So Board + Bond is one of those stories!

Board + Bond first started as charcuterie business, where my best friend and I had an opening here in Houston, Tx and Ft. Wayne, IN. In just our first year we saw so much success and we were able to scale at the pace we set out to accomplish. In Houston I was gaining new clients at a steady rate and getting hired to work events on a weekly basis. I would attribute this success to my passion behind what I was doing. I never simply crafted a charcuterie board, dropped it off, and then would never speak to the client again. I did just the opposite. I genuinely loved being asked to craft these spreads and made it a point to develop a trusting relationship with each client. I would help serve their guest, set up, clean up, or cover any duty my client may need. In best case scenarios I was able to strike up conversation about unity and acceptance of others. I offer a service that goes far beyond having food at the event. I offer a pair of helping hands, a personality that strives to make everyone feel welcomed and valued, and a safe space to show up as their genuinely self.

The mission of Board + Bond is to bring people from all walks of life to the same table and celebrate the uniqueness in each of those people. We simply use food as our starting point, with the end goal being “togetherness”. So about a year after offering catering and hosting services, I was able to dig a little deeper in to the impact I could have in the event industry. I started to slowly dabble in event coordinating and this is where I found my real happiness.

Now Board + Bond offers event coordinating services with a specialized focus on being the “day-of event coordinator”. I have been a part of multiple events as the coordinator, where I get to take on the all the responsibility ensure the vision for the day comes to fruition. I love supporting in vendor in their craft, creating spreadsheets and logistics to ensure a smoothly ran event, and being a calming and reassuring presence for the event host and their guest,

I have found that my passion for people and helping to create a welcoming atmosphere has allowed me find my joy in event coordinating. Here I am able to exercise the gift of hospitality and strength the mission of Board + Bond.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Okay this might sound like a small feat to some, but honestly this was a big challenge for Board + Bond. For reasons we can laugh about now, our business Instagram page was permanently deactivated. This is a small shout out to Instagram for being a legitimate space to grow a small business and community. We use our Instagram page to share photos of our work, to connect with other event vendors, and event host. We share our mission through our stories and work to create a community of people who believe that unity can be found in diversity.

The resilience came into play when we decided to take a break from Instagram and just focus on our other forms of marketing. We realized how heavily we relied on our Instagram platform for brand awareness. I would be lying to say that the momentum of our business wasn’t negatively impacted, because it was. We just kept each other lifted and took it day by day depending on how we felt. Although we took a break from the IG platform, this doesn’t mean that we quit business development.

I continued to keep the strong relationships I have made in the event industry and continued to work at event around the city. After a few months I restarted our IG page, where it still serves the same purpose but I rely on it a little less for business development. I learned just how monumental genuine relationships are; they can be a support system when things seem to be slowing down.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

I love this question because this is my favorite part of what I do. I love that event coordinating is a people oriented industry. Each person I work with I genuinely enjoy spending time getting to know them. I enjoy learning their background and also sharing things about myself. This is what makes all of the work worth it, because now I have I made a person happy that I have spent time getting to know.

I foster these relationships by being myself with everyone. I believe in allowing connections to happen naturally. I have a personality to connects with many people and this is great when sparking up new client relationships. The important part is staying connected to your clients, this is when prioritizing community is important. I talk with my clients often and even call a lot of my clients friends. I love that also connect my clients with each other and encourage us all to become a support system for each other.

Board + Bond brand loyalty remains strong because it stays true to mission of unity. We you stay true to core values, then the rest takes care of itself. And I like to think our mission is something we all need a little more of ;)

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boardandbond.llc/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-watkins-033a87202/

Image Credits
Photographer: C. Perkins IG: @shotbyperk