We recently connected with Maclaine West and have shared our conversation below.

Maclaine, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Supper is the most important part of the day in my family. We disconnect from the world, and come together to share an amazing meal, conversation and one another’s company. My dad has been a huge influence on the Soul Supper brand as he introduced the idea of “supper” versus “dinner” to our family. Supper is a shared moment; whether it is with 10 of your closest friends or strangers, Soul Supper was founded on the idea that supper is not just the food but the conversation and people you experience it with.

As humans, we all have a story and at our core we crave a sense of belonging while feeling connected to others. After not feeling connected to a community, I started hosting weekly “family suppers” where I would cook a family style meal for my friends and peers. After a few months of hosting “family supper”, I had found my purpose of bringing people together. My supper table had become a foundation for connection for my own growing community as it cultivated a sense of belonging for myself and others. As a marketer at my “9-5” job, I jump at any chance to brand something whether it be a party or a weekend away, I am always one to have a theme and make merch for any occasion. One of my friends asked why I had not branded any of the suppers I was hosting. After that conversation, I locked myself in a room, started writing on sticky notes and building what I wanted my brand to become and ended up with a full brand strategy. Soul Supper’s first supper was November of 2021 and since then, I have hosted 10 suppers across 5+ states. The brand has blossomed into curating experiences for brands and communities to change the way we connect with one another.

Soul Supper looks to host suppers with 15-20 diverse guests who come together to share a curated meal, transformative discussion and intimate moments within a community. These experiences are structured to make a connection with one another rooted in the curated topics and questions as a catalyst for this growth. Within the last year, we hosted ten suppers in five cities with over 100+ attendees yet our community is ever growing. As we grow we would love to start opening our suppers up to our larger community and look to be present in new markets both in the US but also internationally.

Maclaine, 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?

Born in California, Raised by the World. California has taught me to see the good in people, New York taught me how to stay true, and the world taught me how to be human.

I am a creative by nature. An athlete by grit. A cook by trial and error. A student by saying yes to more. A friend by authenticity. A human by experience. And a Founder of Soul Supper, a human connection brand. My identity for the last ten years has been my career in the sports industry and if someone told my 16-year-old self that I would be leading the Branded Content team at the NBA, I would have screamed. Yet through balancing the two, I have learned that working in sports is my passion and Soul Supper is my purpose. ‘Passion’ being what you do for yourself and ‘Purpose’ being what you do for others. Learning how to juggle a full time job while running Soul Supper has been one of the most humbling experiences yet I would choose this path that I am on, every single time.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

My identity for the last ten years has been my career in the sports industry and if someone told my 16-year-old self that I would be leading the Branded Content team at the NBA, I would have screamed. However, there has been moments in my career where I have asked myself, ‘is this my passion?’, ‘do I make fans/people feel good with the work that I am doing?’ and ‘am I happy in this role?’ Those questions led to starting Soul Supper which has been my side hustle now for two years. Do I think there will be a point in my career where I pivot and focus on Soul Supper full time? I would love nothing more but I do love doing both right now.

Yet through balancing the two, I have learned that working in sports is my passion and Soul Supper is my purpose. ‘Passion’ being what you do for yourself and ‘Purpose’ being what you do for others. Learning how to juggle a full time job while running Soul Supper has been one of the most humbling experiences yet I would choose this path that I am on, every single time.

My piece of advice for those who are thinking about starting a side hustle would be having your own personal brand and passion project outside of my career has been one of the most rewarding experiences and I couldn’t recommend it more. Some people have asked me how I balance the two and my answer is organization and setting aside however many hours you can to focus on your brand. Once I feel like Soul Supper starts to take up more time then I will need to re-evaluate my priorities but for right now, setting aside five to ten hours a week to work on Soul Supper has worked.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

Within the last year, we hosted ten suppers in five cities with over 100+ attendees yet our community is ever growing. The Soul Supper experience is structured to make a connection with one another rooted in the curated topics and questions as a catalyst for this growth. I think the beauty of the brand and our suppers is that our community stays connected with one another; we have group chats created to continue the conversation and connection after the supper is over and guests are added into a private channel to connect with the larger Soul Supper community. We have seen our Soul Supper community show up for one another in more ways than we could have ever imagined. Our community supports one another’s big wins, shows up to events and panels, works with each other on professional projects and engages with one another to go on walks, coffee dates or other events. My one goal when starting Soul Supper was to create a community and watching how our brand has been the catalyst for creating this larger community, has been amazing. I am so grateful for this ever-growing community, they have made me say wow in so many ways and we would not be where we are currently without their willingness and support.

Contact Info:

• Website: soulsupperseries.com
• Instagram: @soulsupperseries
• Linkedin: @soulsupper

Image Credits
Michel Ojo Ada, Jordan Margolin, Onaje Scott and Madison Taylor.