We recently connected with Crystal Williams-palmer and have shared our conversation below.

Crystal, appreciate you joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

Names are very important in my family. Each of my siblings names have significant meaning and we all have names that start with C so when I was looking at the name I immediatley thought “Crash” for the name; which would go with the breaking part of the business. Catharsis came a bit later when I was thinking more of the after with the thoughts of after the breaking happens. Catharsis is really that exhale moment when you are in the session and taking a moment or when leaving the room. The Rage Factory part is a nod to the band C&C Music Factory from the 90’s, but I thought more of the aspect of Rage rather than Music.

Crystal, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Crystal Williams Palmer– It started with a porcelain bell in a paper bag for me. I knew vandalism wasn’t in my blood very early on, but the cautious yet crazy action of breaking a small porcelain bell in a paper bag with a hammer during a night of big emotions with a friend started a healthy outlet of relief in my personal life. Over the years I have cautiously destroyed many things when these feelings crept up (mugs, plates etc) in the tamest way possible, because again vandalism and jail time have never been something I have wanted. During Covid-19 lock downs more cathartic actions occurred, I am a pillow screaming queen. As people started to venture out into the world I saw more people looking into relief of these feelings of being frustrated, enraged, mad, sad etc. From there I worked to establish Frederick Maryland’s Rage Room. I moved to Frederick in 2011 and have loved the city since. I wanted to have a space and a business that allowed people to express their feelings in the safest and most entertaining way possible.

Crash and Catharsis Rage Factory is one of the few rage rooms open 7 days a week (with the exception of once a month our Dummy Bob has “Bob’s Day off”) and we welcome walk ins (but pre-bookings do take priority). We know that Rage isn’t always scheduled and we work to ensure that we can help those looking for relief. We also lean into the absurd with having events where our Dummy Bob dresses up, but also events where people can lean into the absurd

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

You can’t be 100% perfect with a Rage Room. There is not 100% spotless rage room. That would be insanity. Prior to owning a Rage Room I was the person whose office and desk was clean and orderly. I have perfectly placed things in my office and I would notice if stuff was moved. I knew keeping the rage room free of debri was important but after my first weekend I knew that getting the rooms spotless wasn’t going to happen and to be ok with that was hard. The rooms and our Bob dummy’s get deep cleans and wipe downs once a week so I don’t go insane with all the dust in the rooms from the glass.
Sometimes we can’t always control the mess and that is ok, as long as it doesn’t impede work sweep it to the side and move on to the next awesome customer.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

The Energy Bus is Life changing. The aspect of whatever energy you have drives your day has moved forward with me for over a decade. I have also learned (some days better than others) to give myself grace. Someone has to!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ccragefactory.com
• Instagram: @ccragefactory
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CCRageFactory

Image Credits

Photos by Ak’s GraFix & Photo