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

Ashley, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

After struggling for days I decided to seek the help of my facebook friends to assist with coming up with a name. Within an hour one of my high school classmates who is extremely creative sent me “A Bold Affair”. Just saying it out loud felt amazing, and I knew that was a direct reflection of me. Especially since my name is incorporated in it.

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 am a Process Improvement Project Manager during the day, so I’m a “fixer,” and it excites me to solve problems. My Project Management career has played a major role in my journey to becoming an entrepreneur. The key skills in Project Management are the same skills I use when planning events, which has helped make event planning a breeze! Many of the problems I solve are contract related or just making sure my client makes the best financial decisions, so being knowledgeable in these areas sets me apart from others.

I started off planning baby showers, get to togethers and work events for people I knew. In 2015, I was part of the planning team for an annual event called Safety Day. This event hosted over a thousand employees and a hundred vendors. This was my first big event and while everyone was stressed, I enjoyed every moment of planning it. Although, I talked about becoming an event planner fear of failing prevented me from doing it.

I’m so proud of the events we’ve taken on over the last four years. We’ve planned and designed Weddings, baby Showers, Celebration’s, Expo’s and Corporate Events. No event is too small or too big for us! A Bold Affair offers Full and Partial Event/Wedding Planning, Event Management and Decor services. We’re here for you, our goal is to make your vision or dream come true.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Around year three I decided it was time for me to show how much A Bold Affair had evolved. I not only established my target audience, but I was building a brand. I started purchasing more inventory, and I also purchased a van to transport everything in. I went from stressing myself out trying to do everything myself to being able to hire staff. Watching my business bloom was the best feeling in the world.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

My social media presence was not the best because I just did not know what to post. I found that being myself and personable was all I needed. Unfortunately, no one would book me because I was new, so I started volunteering my services. The same people I worked for free became long time clients and helped me get where I am today. When someone believes in you, everything can change in the blink of an eye.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.aboldaffairevents.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aboldaffair_
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ABoldAffair/