Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lucy Crivelli. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Lucy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business?
The craziest thing that happened to my husband/business partner and me when we were first starting our business is definitely one of the wildest things I have ever experienced. I haven’t talked about it publicly on paper.
It was 2017, our first year officially getting hired as freelancers to shoot at Complexcon ’17. The year prior was the first year it was ever held and we attended while working for other brands. We promised each other we would take that leap and be back to cover the event for a brand the following year. We did it, we had landed the project and we were ready to take over with our content. We worked our asses off, taking on multiple projects to upgrade our gear and building up our skills to prepare for what we thought would be the most memorable time in our careers. The day we flew into Los Angeles, 2 days before the event we had a shoot planned. A friend assisted us with the shoot and at the end of the day drove with us to Little Tokyo in DTLA to support our favorite Boba food truck that had just opened up their first boba SHOP location.
We circled the block once to look for parking and found a parking spot in a very hidden location under a tree and with no lighting. I was immediately hesitant to want to park there but for the sake of keeping the peace, I let it go and we parked there knowing all of our gear & luggage were still in the car. At this point, we were all tired and just needed a break from the long day we had. We enjoyed catching up with the boba shop owners and walked around in Little Tokyo only to come back and find the car broken in and all of our gear gone. Years of work, SD cards full of memories, projects, and thousands of dollars worth of tools to create what we love.
The other events that followed that night were filled with fear and disappointment.
The feeling of defeat and that gut-wrenching knot just wouldn’t go away.
This is probably the lowest we had ever felt and it was difficult to shake. When we called our parents to tell them what had happened, they gave us all the support we needed, and reminded us that it was our creativity that made our content so great. They were right, our resiliency is what got us this far. We would only fail if we gave up. So we decided to keep moving forward! The next day we connected with the brand that we were supposed to cover Complexcon for and they were okay with us covering the event on our phones. Now was is the best content we’ve ever shot, IDK but it was definitely memorable!
After we returned, friends and family donated money to go towards paying off the stolen gear that was still under credit. We worked tirelessly the following 6 months to finish paying the rest off. We flipped sneakers, sold items on eBay, and took on odd jobs to get out of the negative and begin replacing the gear we lost.
In just over 6 months we bounced back, thanks to the community, hard work, sweat, and lots and lots of tears.
It’s an experience we don’t wish on anyone, if you ever have the misfortune of going through something like this, just know it is possible to come back stronger from it.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
I am a Mexican Dreamer in the land of opportunity. My love for photography, sneakers, and fashion led me to discover a new career path for myself. Eventually, I began getting heavily involved in the Cannabis and Tech industries. The lines between Sneakers, Cannabis, and Tech began to blur for me and I realized that there was an opportunity for me to represent minorities, specifically Mexicanas in these industries. Since then I have made it my goal to build a safe space for women and men of underprivileged communities to thrive in creative roles like Directors, Producers, Photographers, Videographers, and down to the PAs because representation matters at every level. Tomorrow Isn’t Promised is my Creative Agency, co-founded by my husband Geza Frey and I. We focus on bringing ideas to life and encouraging others to follow their dreams!
Some of the services we offer as an agency are; consulting on marketing + cultural strategy, Web 3 consulting, Content Production, Content Creation, Branding, Event Production, Influencer Marketing, and Brands & Partnerships. We pride ourselves on our non-traditional approach to Marketing and Content.
My most recent accomplishment was our TIP GENESIS Event in August.
It was a beautiful day to bring our family, friends, and partners together. For the first time ever at an event, we bridged Sneakers, Cannabis, and Tech through Art and Community. Nothing compares to the feeling of seeing your dreams come to life. The years of work and dedication we’ve given to building something that is ours have been so worth it.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
Growing up my career goals and accomplishments didn’t involve anything creative. I grew up in Culver City California, the Film Capital of the World. Yet I didn’t see myself in creative spaces, I couldn’t be inspired, I couldn’t relate.
It wasn’t until I met my business partner and now husband in college. We quickly became friends! After learning about his men’s fashion blog I was so inspired by his creativity and asked him to let me help where I knew he would need me most, organizing!
I began assisting him on shoots, handling brand deals, and planning events with him. This gave us our start working together with Sneaker and Fashion brands early on before “influencing” and “trend forecasting” were a thing. We learned the life of freelancing and how to build budgets, sets, marketing campaigns, and so much more! We pushed each other to level up in our careers year after year, and learn new skills while building what we didn’t know would one day be a business.
We’ve always played off of our strengths and have each other’s backs when our business gets rocky. We are both always willing to help pick up after each other, and we show each other grace knowing it’s just the two of us keeping this going. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner in business and in life.
How did you build your audience on social media?
There is no real story behind us building our audience and following other than we kept it consistent. Consistency is key and when you add intention to the mix it is even more rewarding. That doesn’t mean shit posting every day. Find what consistency means to you, and find what you want to post about. Whether that is educational, or creative, it can be anything you want it to be. Whatever makes you feel proud of your contributions to the world, post about it. Numbers and Algorithms suck and are designed to keep you in a box, pushing you into a world of appropriated trends, dances, and honestly corny shit. What I do say is try something different, be different, talk about your passions, get creative and create your own lane. Whoever believes in you and in your authenticity will rock with you always.
Contact Info:
- Website: tomorrowisntpromised.us
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lucycrivelli
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucycrivelli
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lucycrivelli
Image Credits
Geza Frey Jose Crivelli