We were lucky to catch up with Cristan Underwood recently and have shared our conversation below.

Cristan , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?

While I would love to take credit for the idea, I cannot. I actually used a photo booth service in a large Metropolitan area ,Las Vegas, for my best friend’s baby shower, and thought we needed something like this in our community. The idea of a photo booth is usually reserved for weddings and typically cost a relatively high amount so I started researching what an ipad photo booth is and costs. What I found is that the ipad option made it quite affordable which meant I could offer this service to the community at a more reasonable price. In addition to the affordability factor, I was drawn to the portability of the machine. Our business comes to set up the ipad photo booth , show the customer how to use it then leave. We come back to pick it up after the rental time. This gives the customer some privacy when they’re goofing around in the photo booth. I thought with the above factors we would be able to offer photo booth services for birthday parties, baby showers, and other smaller events, in addition to weddings. Capture Culture was born!

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

My name is Cristan Underwood and I’m the After School Program Coordinator for my local school district. My student’s participate in the Junior Achievement program which focuses on entrepreneurial skills and thinking. When I attended my best friend’s baby shower and used a similar photo booth, I thought back to those classes. I knew we didn’t have anything like that in our rural town so our business could fill an unmet need. Having grown up in poverty, things like a photo booth at my birthday party was so far outside of my family’s reach that it wasn’t even on the radar. I took those poor childhood experiences and wanted to make sure that our business wasn’t so far out of reach for the kids in our community, those like me and my business partners, so we priced our rates relatively low so we can serve more families. Photo booths bring fun and joy to any event. We also customize the photo template layout as well as the homepage so everyone attending the event will have a keepsake custom to the event. We’re a women/mom owned business so at the heart of our company is capturing memories that families and friends will remember for a lifetime. Our photo booth is also completely digital so it’s environmentally sound. Being digital allows for instant sharing of the photos, videos, and boomerangs that can be uploaded to various social media platforms or downloaded directly to your device. What sets Capture Culture apart is our servants hearts. We want to bring the fun and joy of a photo booth to as many families as possible that we intentionally set rates low and are willing to work with our customers to make payment plans or whatever we need to do to help them secure the booth for their events.

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

I am an educator and have been pursuing my teaching license for years. I had dabbled in student teaching several times but in 2021, on the heels of the COVID pandemic, I started long term subbing and student teaching in kindergarten. This is where I had to pivot in my career. I understood over that teaching experience that teaching in the classroom was not what I wanted to do anymore. It was heartbreaking since that had been the only career path I had ever gone down. I made a choice that although I wasn’t going to be a classroom teacher, I am still an educator and sought another way to work with children that helps them learn and grow. That is how I ended up with my current career and I’ve never been happier.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Capture Culture is founded by me, my twin sister, and one of our best friends. I met our friend when she came to work with me to cover for me when I went on maternity leave. She has a bright soul and is an incredible woman, mother, and friend. We all coach cheer for our respective local youth organizations. What inspired me to actually move forward with the business was the encouragement from our friend who wants a photo booth at her wedding this October. I told her a name of another photo booth vendor that had just opened up and at the same time said I wish I’d opened up the business sooner. She said to just go for it, she would help. I had already had the conversation with my twin sister six months prior, right after the baby shower, and she was eager to get started too. I believe within a week I had the equipment ordered and was looking into state and local business license requirements Ave Capture Culture LLC was born.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captureculture_photobooth?igsh=MWlidjQ5ZXYzNzV4bw==
• Facebook: https:// https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558695952596&mibextid=ZbWKwL
• Other: [email protected]