We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Laura Reitsma a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Laura, appreciate you joining us today. Too often the media represents innovation as something magical that only high-flying tech billionaires and upstarts engage in – but the truth is almost every business owner has to regularly innovate in small and big ways in order for their businesses to survive and thrive. Can you share a story that highlights something innovative you’ve done over the course of your career?

The most innovative event was an original concept by our team. We produced a Halloween party for a hotel in Chicago and the theme was the seven deadly sins. Each of the sins were portrayed by actors. For instance, greed was a magician, sloth was hanging out in a hammock, and you could take photo booth pictures with her, gluttony was a contortionist on a buffet table feeding guests, wrath was an opera singer, and performed an aria, pride was the MC of the event, lust was several burlesque dancers who performed original choreography for guests, and envy was a drag queen . Each sin had their own space in the venue, and we created incredible decor, and lighting to create their environment.

The most innovative wedding we produced was for two grooms. Their vision was “Parisian school dropout”, and they were getting married at an old school house in River North Chicago. The majority of the event was taking place in the school gymnasium. Instead of a wedding party, they had head boys and head girls. There were 100 guests and each of the guests were separated into a chapter lead by one of the head boys or girls. Every guest was part of the processional. The way we were able to manage this logistically but also entertain the guests at the same time was hiring an actor to play the headmaster of the school. When guests arrived at the venue, the headmaster greeted them, told them to grab a mini flag of their chapter, and to go enjoy some champagne. Meanwhile, our team lined up the head boys and girls. Each one of them had a custom flag with the logo of their chapter. . When all the guests arrived, the headmaster made a moving speech and called each chapter to come together and process down the aisle. As they came together with their head boy or girl leading the way they cheered, shaking their flags, took a group photo, and then made their way down a funky tinsel tunnel, and arrived in the gymnasium, which had a ceremony in the round with a custom dance floor in the middle and custom chandeliers above. The ceremony featured video production. Our team seamlessly played the videos in between the live moments of the ceremony. After the ceremony, guests enjoyed cocktails, in a store in the basement of the school that had artifacts and antiques. As guests made their way back into the gymnasium, they were surprised by a live ABBA cover band and had a little mini dance set before they enjoyed their meals. Guests were blown away and said it was the most unique wedding they’ve ever been to.

Laura, 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?

I am Laura Reitsma owner and founder of Fierce Productions. I started this company 7 years ago when I was totally frustrated and disenchanted with the acting industry. Instead of being an actor, I wanted to be a producer. I wanted to be creative but I also wanted to be my own boss. I still wanted to work with performers, but I wanted to pay them well and honor their talents. I have an extensive background in executive assistance, project management and sales as well as being creative, so event planning seamed like the industry to join!

Fierce Productions is an event planning production company in Chicago, Illinois. We produce events that dare to be different. We don’t follow trends. We follow the individuals and the businesses we serve. We plan weddings, gala, fundraisers, conferences, holiday parties, birthday parties, and beyond. All of our events are innovative by nature, because we focus on the stories of the couples who are getting married, and the brands and missions of the businesses that we collaborate with. And no two individuals are the same. We encourage our clients to think out of the box.

We are visionaries. We can plan an event in our head the moment we see the vision. Our speciality is making the impossible possible. We love a niche idea. We design the event, conceptualize, strategize, bring in entertainment and decor as well as manage logistics and coordinate every details. We also help non-profits with fundraising strategy and businesses with graphic design and marketing.

We have produced innovative weddings and events. No two of our events look alike. Our weddings are colorful, we once designed a wedding with orange table clothes!

We are dedicated to being inclusive in an industry that is very binary. We have gender neutral language across the board. Many of our couples are multi cultural and/ or queer. I am very proud to say that we have influenced many other vendors and venues in our industry to take a look at their language in their contracts, to feature more variety of people on their websites. We have an ally pledge on our website we ask all of our preferred vendors to sign.

We are a Cuban American female owned business. We partner with small businesses that are woman owned, LGBTQ, and BIPOC.

We are all artists. I come from a theater background. We are committed to giving performers a platform to create and paying them well for their talent.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Staying totally committed to being different even when people doubted me. People thought I was nuts for calling my business Fierce. I’ve had people tell me that my ideas are weird or “too much.” But sticking to my mission has attracted the kind of people I want to work with and they are bold people looking to innovative and create their own traditions.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I am a new mother and small business owner. When my baby was 3 months I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I’m currently in treatment to beat this thing. Although im going through this process as well as the highs and lows of post partum depression and anxiety, and so much more, my business has still produced flawless events. While I was going through this diagnosis, I was still working events. My clients had no idea. I was able to put my troubles aside, take care of my baby, lead my team, and execute my clients events without them having to worry about me. The week I was diagnosed I had to lead this incredibly huge production of a wedding and it was flawless. The clients and guests were blown away.

Contact Info:

• Website: Fierce-productions.com
• Instagram: @fiercepros
• Facebook: @fiercepros

Image Credits
Photos by Allie Appel Megan Saul Tuan B Anna Zajac Alisha Tova Allison Williams