We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Abria Anderson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Abria , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I’ve always had a love and passion for event planning and hosting, but I didn’t always know that people made careers out of it. After graduating college I got my start in the industry working with a wedding and event venue about 8 years ago. From there, I worked various jobs, all event related, and ultimately started doing events on my own as a side hustle beginning in 2019. Fast forward to 2022, I was laid off from the company I was working for, and I took that as my sign. I then began doing event planning full time with my business, Grade A Events, and have been on this crazy journey ever since!

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?

I’m Abria Anderson, Houston native, and owner & lead planner of Grade A Events! We’re an event planning, design and management company based in Houston, TX. We offer wedding planning services as well as planning for social and corporate events.

I’m most proud of the growth the company has seen while always maintaining the highest level of integrity, creativity, and grace. We offer our clients the opportunity to truly enjoy their events while we handle all of the planning, problem solving, and logistics.

When I’m not working, I enjoy exploring all Houston has to offer, traveling, crafting with my circuit, and hanging out with family, friends, and my dog-ter Coco Chanel!

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

One thing I think is so important in any industry is to have integrity and always treat each client/gig with the same level of importance and professionalism as the next. Word of mouth has gotten me the majority of my clients and has taken me so far. It’s essentially free marketing and all you have to do is do what you do and do it well. Your work and satisfied clients will always speak for you!

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

I think the biggest piece of advice I can give anyone is that your side hustle or business can and will go as far as you want it to go. I transitioned from Grade A Events being a side hustle to a full time business once I was laid off from my full time job however, I first had to actually believe that I could build a sustainable business. Secondly, consistency is key. I had to start to be consistent with social media, growing my audience, and also not being afraid to try new ways to reach potential clients. As you get more satisfied clients, you’ll naturally get more referrals, have more work to post on your platforms, etc. Always remember, every single business or product you know started off as an idea that someone happened to believe would work…and it did!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gradeaevents.com
• Instagram: @gradeaevents
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gradeaeventshtx

Image Credits
Studio Peel