We recently connected with Danza Huey and have shared our conversation below.

Danza, appreciate you joining us today. What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business

I have never spoken publicly in a large forum about my party card brand Party Card Mash Up. Being a vendor and talking to customers – check. Joining a zoom with less than 30 people sitting safely at home talking through a camera – check. But talking on a stage in front of people in a large forum setting – terrified lol. I am an ENFJ-A extrovert that loves being around people but speaking on stage gives me pause. But I have learned on this entrepreneurial journey that it will make you face your fears and dive in headfirst to build your brand, especially when it makes you uncomfortable. Black Tech Week, a national week in Cincinnati where the focus is all things Black and tech, put out an announcement for speakers. I immediately said no but I remembered that “you miss all of the shots you don’t take” so I decided to apply to be a speaker. The kicker is, this is a tech week and Party Card Mash Up is a playing card game, the furthest thing from tech! I had a chance to “warm up” by going back to my beloved hometown of Baton Rouge and participating as a speaker at Baton Rouge Entrepreneurship Week 2023 (BREW) in May 2023. After two months of waiting, I got the best email ever, I was selected to be a speaker at Black Tech Week 2023! I was elated. The story does not end here. A week before heading to Black Tech Week, I randomly receive an email from Inc. Magazine, let me repeat, the Inc. Magazine to be featured in their latest video series Spark of Innovation. The series focuses on business owners having their “aha” moment which sparked their latest venture. I had never been recorded for anything like this ever and even emailed them back to make sure it was really Inc. Magazine! The day comes during Black Tech Week to meet the awesome Inc. Magazine video team and actually get on camera and talk about how and why I created Party Card Mash Up. I thought about my mom and dad, no longer with us, and that brought me so much ease before the recording. One take and I was all done! I could not believe it. And then two months later in September 2023, the video dropped on Inc. Magazine and I was posted on Inc. Magazine social media as well. The moral of the story, take that shot because you never know where the journey will take you. For me, it landed me in Inc. Magazine!

Check me my Inc. Magazine feature here: https://www.inc.com/video/how-the-founder-of-party-card-mash-up-danza-huey-built-his-business-in-just-six-weeks.html

Danza, 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?

Party Card Mash Up is a new party for old card games! We are bringing classic card games like Old Maid and Slap to the 21st century for the 21 and up crowd. Our games are a blast for spirit lovers, sober curious, and non-drinkers alike. The focus of our games are the game play, with sipping on the side.

WANT TO SUPPORT? BACK OUR KICKSTARTER! Our next game, Party Card Mash Up – Parade, is a Mardi Gras themed game that is a new take on the classic card Slap aka Egyptian Rat Screw. Slap your way to victory with this fun re-imagination of Slap with fun Parade party cards to get every sipping, taking all the cards, and slapping back in to continue to fun! Our goal is to reach 1,000 backers as we have a lot planned for 2024. Thanks in advance for your support!

CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT OUR KICKSTARTER: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/danzahuey/party-card-mash-up-parade-the-slap-drinking-game

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I was lucky to be chosen to be a part of Cohort 2 of Target Forward Founders, a new Target Accelerators program, when Party Card Mash Up was only 3 months old. From this top-tier, highly impactful program, which brought in 30 brands to learn the ins and outs of mass retail, I was able to enter the market with confidence, geared up to take on the monster that is called social media. I focused on LinkedIn initially which is not everyone’s first choice but it has worked to show my brand and my business as a legitimate player in the market.

“LinkedIn has the ability to boost posts, which is a powerful tool! Boosting LinkedIn Posts has helped bring more page views to parent company, page followers, and engagement with – and has helped bring in orders, too. LinkedIn Ads is a fantastic tool as well to bring exposure to the brand but keep in mind your brand and the end goal for your paid ads, whether that’s brand awareness, website visits, website conversions, etc.

Boosting on LinkedIn is a simple way to increase your reach through paid ads and another way to create a paid campaign without having to learn how to us Campaign Manager on the platform.”

Read more at https://accelerators.target.com/learning-center/getting-connected-tips-and-tools-for-growing-your-social-media-audience/

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

I got started with the manufacturer I have know by asking around. The idea for Party Card Mash Up came as I was sitting in the Orlando airport connecting back to Atlanta – it was a lightening strike moment of an idea. I “slid in the DMs” of Kulture Karaoke which had just posted that their game would be in Target stores Fall 2021. I figured “hey, I will just reach out and ask where they got their games manufactured”. Bold right? Well, it worked! By the time I landed, I was given resources and the best manufacturer around for card games that produces games that are mass retail ready – boardgamesmaker.com! After one test copy, I was sold! The quality was great, packaging was striking, and colors are shown just as they are on screen – trust me, I hear is not always the case. I learned that aligning with a strong primary manufacturer and having a backup manufacturer or two is key to retail success. Also, ask for discounts any and everywhere you can to cut costs and increase your profit margin. Lastly, stay close to emerging manufacturers in your space as there is movement worldwide on new and emerging manufacturers with quicker turnaround times and possibly even better end results.

Don’t be afraid to reach out to brands or even those people and/or brands you think are “too big” to answer back. You will be surprised – we are all humans trying to figure things out and are happy to help others on their entrepreneurial journey. So ask away!

Contact Info:

• Website: partycardmashup.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/partycardmashup
• Facebook: facebook.com/partycardmashup
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/mashupgames
• Twitter: twitter.com/partycardmashup

Image Credits
Image Rights for Primary Image: Mhandy Gerard Photography Image Rights for Black Tech Week Images: Black Tech Week Image of Inc. Magazine Page: Inc. Magazine