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

Hi Amber, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Shiri Events was established in October 2020 as an event design and decor company focused mainly on clients celebrating intimate events with 60 guests or less. We thrived in our first 3 years of being in business gaining many relationships with our clients of whom we adore. We could not have been successful without the amazing clients that believed and trusted us with designing some of their most private and intimate celebrations. We provided decorating services for birthday celebrations, wedding, small business grand opening and baby showers to name a few. We however decided to pivot our customer segment and services in May 2023 as we found a need in the funeral services industry to serve families through funeral repast coordination services.

Our pivot in business was not an abrupt one. It was a very thoughtful and well planned one after I experienced what it was like to have 2 very prominent women in my family pass away. In a matter of 1 years’ time, I lost my great grandmother and my grandmother. During my family’s time of grief and mourning, I seen how stressed and overwhelmed my family became while trying to plan and arrange the funeral services, the funeral repast/receptions and do so all while grieving. It was an impossible task but one that was what you call a “necessary evil” to ensure we honored the matriarchs of our family. They deserved to be honored and to the best of our ability during that difficult time, we did just that.

I asked others about their experiences with planning funerals and the repasts/receptions while in mourning and almost every time I received an answer, I heard similar responses like……”I was very stressed and overwhelmed”, “It was very difficult to do”, or “I just couldn’t so someone else in my family had to take over the planning”. Those responses along with my own experiences shown me that there was a huge need for a service that would help to relieve some of the stress and overwhelming feelings that families experience while planning and arranging funeral and funeral repast services while mourning.

After the passing of a loved one all we have left to cherish are their memories. At Shiri Events, we help create an atmosphere that allows families to reconnect with those precious memories that can be felt and seen in every area of our service. Our mission with our Funeral Repast Coordination and set up package is to help families experience less stress during their time of mourning by capturing the essence of their loved one with our empathetic and compassionate care.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name Amber Teacher. I am the CEO and Funeral Repast Director of Shiri Events. I have over a decade of experience planning, coordinating and designing events from funeral repasts to intimate celebrations. I am a wife and mom of 5 beautiful children.

My heart’s desire and firm belief is that my purpose is to be a servant. I take pleasure in serving my clients and families with exceptional customer service, integrity, empathy and compassion. Having experienced what it is like to lose a loved one, I take special care in being that someone my clients and families can count on during their time of mourning.

My business, Shiri Events, is an event planning and coordination company specializing in Funeral Repast Coordination services for families who have lost a loved one. Many people have a repast after a funeral or memorial service. A repast offers mourners a chance to spend time together & remember the person who has passed. For those who have traveled from out
of town, the repast provides a chance for them to reconnect.

Our Done-For-You approach to funeral repasts allows the families we work with to experience less weight, stress and the overwhelming feelings that they normally would feel if planning a funeral repast themselves. Our Funeral Repast Coordination and Set up package includes everything needed for our client’s repast service to honors their loved one and connect with family and friends. We do the work so they can just show up. NO Stress, NO worry, NO work for our clients with this service.

Here’s what’s included:

1.) A Full-Service Commitment
Our Funeral Repast Coordination Package is Full Service meaning we handle every aspect of your funeral repast from
start to finish. All you do is show up.

2.) A Dedicated Repast Coordinator
Assigned to the family representative before, during & until the very end of the funeral repast

3.) Venue Location
Securing of, Décor, Set up & Clean up

4.) A Professionally Catered Menu
Professionally catered three course buffet menu & the coordination of any additional donated food and/or beverages

5.) Buffet Style Serving Staff (if needed)

6.) Any additional repast related tasks that come up

(*A La Carte items, services and tasks are available for additional memorable touches to your funeral repast*)

While Funeral Repasts are a big part of what we do at Shiri Events, they are not the only thing we do. We offer services for Intimate Events, Corporate Events and even Small Businesses. From grand openings to intimate birthday celebrations to baby showers and galas; we can plan, coordinate and design your next event.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Building the reputation that we have has been an amazing journey full of ups and downs, trial and error. One thing I can say to someone trying to build brand reputation is always give EXCELLENT TOP QUALITY CUSTOMER SERVICE. If you do not provide excellence in customer service, you will never gain a reputation as a reputable business. Customer service in my opinion can make or break a business. Think back to an instance when you experienced horrible customer service and an instance of amazing customer service. I bet you can pinpoint the exact thing that made those situations or experiences excellent or not. Always keep that in mind and you will get very far.

Another thing to consider when building your reputation is to ALWAYS BE YOUR TRUE AUTHENTIC SELF. People can always tell when you are being fake or trying to be like someone else. We all were created in our own unique way. We all have different qualities, skills and personalities. Be your authentic self and you’ll thrive by just being you. You community will grow and your reputation with it.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One thing that I thought early in my entrepreneurial journey on was that if I offered a long list of services that I would be able to serve everyone and not miss out on anyone. I quickly learned that doing this makes you a master of nothing, you become tired and burnt out quickly. Once I did the work to find out who my customer segments were and what service I wanted to become excellent at, my business began to do better. I became a master at 1 thing to serve my clients in the best manner possible. Master 1 service or product, grow and then add in additional services or products. Don’t try to do it all at once.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shirievents.com
• Instagram: @shirievents
• Facebook: @Shirieventscolumbus
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@shirievents
• Other: Email: inquiry@shirievents.com Phone: (614) 653-8363