We recently connected with Mercedes McElley and have shared our conversation below.
Mercedes, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?
This was a question I started to really ponder in 2021 – the last year working for someone else. I spent 60-70 hours a week at work, experiencing little of my friends or family outside of work. I started to realize that I didn’t have much of a life, and wasn’t building any sort of legacy. I was a good person, but the only thing I did in life, was work. I didn’t have time for fun, or experiences, or vacations, or creating meaningful relationships with other humans. Which is when I realized I needed a big change. I needed an Identity outside of work, because at that moment my entire identity was wrapped up in being really good at my job, and by that, I truly just mean, spending every waking hour there.
I hope now, that what I have built over the last two years re-defining my life, and how I show up in the world will leave me with a legacy of someone who brought folks together, who created connections. I truly want to be the person that creates a space and time for humans to connect with each other. At the end of it all, I believe the only thing that truly matters in this life is those people in your life, the connections you have or don’t have. I believe that bringing people into real life, to share real moments with each other is my purpose and new found passion.
Mercedes, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am an event planner and community organizer. I started “Events with Mercedes” as a sole venture in January 2023. Focusing on Wedding Coordination/Full Planning for couples. With my many years of event/wedding experience I wanted to branch out and finally own something of my own and use all of the experience I have gained over the years. From the moment I announced to the world, I started booking couples. I have done one wedding every month this year, which I am very proud of. I actually had to turn several couples away because of how busy I became. I am most proud of myself for honestly, just finally doing it. I spent years talking about it, and the fear always held my back. It was somewhat a new years resolution where I finally said, I am just going to take the risk – what could go wrong?
In March 0f this year, after a few cocktails during a girls dinner. I (along with two partners) started DateColumbus as well. We are hosting “in real life singles events” in Columbus, OH. Designed for successful, ambitious and creative singles in their 20s, 30s, 40s in Columbus, OH. We wanted folks to stop swiping, and start meeting in real life. And it has been a huge hit. We are hosting one large in person event in person each month at a local bar/venue. Our guest counts are typically 200-300 singles in attendance. It’s been a huge success so far. We have also hosted a few free community events, we have done two hikes, hosted two kickball leagues now, and we are looking to continue to expand our reach and types of events we host. We want to truly get folks back in person, in real life, building those meaningful connections, whether they be romantic or not.
I am passionate about bringing people together. That is what I want people to know about me. Whether it’s 100 strangers, or 100 family members celebrating a wedding, I love humans connecting, it brings me the most joy.
How’d you meet your business partner?
I formed DateColumbus with my business partners over drinks at a girls happy hour. We were having girl talk (rachel and I) mostly discussing how terrible it is on dating apps. How much of a time suck it is, you spend hours swiping or talking with a human, and never even end up meeting with them in person. We came up with the idea, “lets just start hosting singles events in real life” (Rachel and I both come from the events world, it made sense). And then Roula walked over to say hi, she was friends with Rachel. She immediately said she was in, as she just had a not so great first date from a hinge match on the other side of the restaurant.
So, we sat down. Came up with our name, and then next week recruited our first venue. We have almost all of our 2024 events already scheduled now – so we are super excited to continue with DateColumbus. We are fulfilling a huge need for some many of our attendees.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
I have found sourcing new clients in person as the best form. You could also say this is “word of mouth” referrals. For both DateColumbus and Events with Mercedes, almost all of our clients or attendees have came through, me physically going into the world (a lot of networking events) and connecting with humans in a real way. Attending our young professional groups in the area have been great, along with walking up to strangers in bars and asking “are you single” I just started hosting singles event – you should come – heres the info. Its been so much fun getting out of my comfort zone, and truly telling everyone I meet about what I am doing – theres no shame when you’re trying to grow a business!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @DateColumbus
- Facebook: DateColumbus
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mercedesmcelley/
- Other: Events with Mercedes eventswithmercedes.com [email protected] IG @eventswithmercedes IG @mmmcelley
Image Credits
Whitney Brewer Photography Kyle Long Photography AJames Visuals