We recently connected with Jasmine Ruff and have shared our conversation below.

Jasmine, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?

I previously had a side job of doing event decorating; I would often say that I wanted my own event space. Often we would rent out the library or rec centers but a lot of their interiors would clash with the decor or we needed to do more decor to cover and execute a design.

One day someone was selling their event space business and I jumped on it with both feet. After all of the paperwork I was the proud owner of Blush The Event Loft and I didn’t know what in the world I was doing. The previous owner helped me as much as possible despite being across country and having a million other things to do. I eventually adjusted and put my own spin on things and it grew from there. I have since realigned my event planning and my event space into one company servicing both Ohio and Texas.

Jasmine, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a full-time entrepreneur. I own an event planning business formerly Jazzy & Elegant Events but now realigned, not rebranded to Blush Events. I service Ohio and Texas as well as other locations I am contracted to. I own an event venue in Cincinnati, Ohio, Blush The Event Loft. I specialize in social events such as baby showers, birthday parties, weddings and etc. In addition I have some experience in concerts, workshops, and corporate events. Lastly, I have ab Travel Agent component where I book Travel and host Travel groups.

I remember for my 12th birthday my cousin told me to plan a party for me and my cousin who was turning 1. I picked out the cake made the plans and picked out decorations and it went from there. I didn’t think I was a party planner at that time. It didn’t surface until after college. I served as the event coordinator on a program in college and planned several events and activities and I helped plan a few baby showers which lead to someone asking me how much I charge. I realized I was doing a lot of planning and decorating for free when I could actually make money from it. I got some guidance from Britney at Detailed Days Event Design and I started planning parties on the weekends. It was great to do something fun and creative after working as a caseworker all week. With my job being so stressful it was like my escape on the weekends. I’ve decorated events in Miami, Atlanta, DC and etc. so I was also able to travel with it and it was pretty freeing.

I purchased my first event space business in 2018, where I pretty much focused on baby showers and bridal showers, with a few birthdays and weddings sprinkled in. I offered a space with the option to bring your own decor, food and etc or pick a package that included those services.

Outside of working with clients and experiencing the joy of them celebrating milestone moments I also enjoyed working with other vendors. I’ve met caterers and other vendors who were just starting out and have grown in pretty big ways. It has given me a chance to collaborate with some pretty dope individuals. I am grateful that I’ve been able to experience this opportunity and meet so many people as I’m typically introverted and to myself. This business has pushed me to grow as an individual and step out of my comfort zone. I still have to give myself pep talks before I speak to a group or attend a networking event but I have managed to work through that. Annually, I host Vision Board Brunches and Business Builder Workshops where I am forced to come out of my introverted shell and assist others in building their businesses and creating their dream life.

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

In addition to Decorating, I offer event space rental, balloons, custom decor/favors, I host ticketed events/workshops (as an introvert this isn’t my favorite), I also offer business coaching and assist with helping others to build their business, open an event space or start an event planning business. I offer travel services and destination event planning. Lastly, I created a vision board planner that I use to plan my life and manifest the life of my dreams I currently sell it as a digital download and a lot of girls have been buying it and making really cute binders/workbooks out of it. There are multiple ways to make money in this industry, I believe I haven’t touched all of them but I know there isn’t a limit on what I can do and I’m excited to see what else is in store for me.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

One summer I had an assistant and she was great but while I was traveling she forgot to turn off the air conditioning after an event and it froze the unit out which caused so much of a hassle as far as getting it to operate properly for events. Every time I thought it was fixed it wasn’t. The HVAC guy from the building was convinced it just wasn’t working good enough for what I needed despite the fact it worked before. I was pretty annoyed as I felt as if he wasn’t hearing me out or making an effort to rectify my issue. I sought another HVAC guy who came out a few times before we decided I needed a better system. I literally had to fork over $5,000 on the spot just to get the unit. Luckily, the landlord stepped in and took care of it and the HVAC guy refunded me. I didn’t really have time to wait on the landlord so I just sprung into action. I’m glad it worked out to where I was refunded but I would have been okay with paying for everything in full as long as I didn’t have to worry about the unit giving out during my events. That was soooo embarrassing and it was costing me money by losing bookings and refunding or crediting clients. I took care of that a few years back so now I just keep it maintained by changing the filters and keeping it cleaned. So if anyone says the air is an issue I know that’s not the case. I’ve learned to keep money on hand to rectify any problems that may occur but also to be proactive in keeping up with routine maintenance checking to make sure everything is off. When it is supposed to be and on when it is supposed to be on.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.blushcincy.com
• Instagram: @blush.cincy
• Facebook: Blush The Event Loft
• Youtube: Koldestlife
• Yelp: Blush The Event Loft
• Other: I am currently building my presence in Dallas my Dallas instagram is @blush.dtx

Image Credits
All photos are from my personal camera roll