We recently connected with Melvin Powell and have shared our conversation below.

Melvin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry

One of the things I’m noticing is the development of software to be more focused on social engagement. The model in tech now is to get people on an app and keep them on there for as long as possible. Companies are trying to gain more control over our data and monetize our digital behaviors. Long-term my goal is to give power back to the creatives and customers when it comes to monetizing IP and data.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

When our co-founders first met at Temple University, they were able to use events as a way to create a new scene within a divided campus and give back to the North Philadelphia community. As they’ve developed through their professional careers, planning and producing events across a wide spectrum of industries ranging in size and scale, they’ve learned that entrepreneurs tend to take on too much when planning events. These type A personalties are self-starters, often managing numerous roles in their professional and personal lives. We know this because we are practitioners of this lifestyle as well. The Sync Production Group is the 3rd iteration of businesses our founders have had over the 15+ years of friendship. We wanted to create a system that would allow for their business to thrive within an independent ecosystem.

Sync Production Group is a special event project management service dedicated to delivering flawless planning and production support for corporate and live entertainment events. We service a variety of event types including conferences, trade shows, employee meetings, retreats, fundraisers, product launches, and music festivals. Over the past 3 years, Sync Production Group has been an agile partnership run by our co-founders and generated ~$200k in gross revenue during that period. We work directly with clients to synchronize the planning and production elements throughout the entire event lifecycle, acting as an extension of their team. We recognize the importance for clients to maximize in-person events to generate leads, foster connections and showcase their brand. Our services help clients save time, money, energy and can focus on larger objectives while we handle the details.

In 2023 we expanded our services beyond our corporate production services by creating an e-commerce platform, Black Soul Summer. Entrepreneurs who engage in a strategic partnership with Black Soul Summer join an ecosystem that provides organizers with the necessary resources to produce unique event experiences. We provide our coalition of partners access to a custom ticketing platform, educational resources, opportunities with our music festival series and event planning & production services. By leveraging our corporate experience we intend to disrupt the industry in order to gain market share.

By embracing cooperative economics, event organizers no longer have to survive independently and are able to leverage the power of a collective for their individual entities while simultaneously investing in an infrastructure that gives back to their community.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Our founders, Melvin Powell and Saleem Sabree, first met at Temple University in 2009. During this time they were able to use events as a way to create a new scene within a divided campus and give back to the North Philadelphia community. Upon graduation they began their professional careers, planning and producing events across a wide spectrum of industries and venues. They reconnected in 2015 during a Temple Homecoming reunion and launched their first business, 91REPUBLIC. In 2017, they created the All Love Block Party as a celebration of Philadelphia and to showcase the network of artists they had built. The duo continued working on the All Love Block Party, growing it to over 1,500 attendees in 2019.

When the 2020 global pandemic hit, Melvin and Saleem launched the Sync Production Group. With Philadelphia shut down for large gatherings and events due to COVID-19 restrictions, the two began to do consulting and project management services for corporate clients throughout the country. They helped produce corporate events in Texas & New Mexico and were able to re-launch the All Love Block Party in 2021.

In 2022, they launched Black Soul Summer as a music festival series that featured the All Love Block Party and 3 additional festivals. Following the success of the series they decided to pivot and turn Black Soul Summer into an e-commerce platform to support black and brown event organizers and creatives.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

Through Black Soul Summer we wanted to take the first steps in developing our own ecommerce platform. Black and brown creators are often the ones driving the culture but rarely in positions of ownership. We want to reverse this trend by creating an ecosystem that supports and empowers these creatives. We help manage their transactions and build them custom landing pages to sell digital products.

With over 20+ years of professional experience we’ve seen a variety of competitors. The live event industry has a few legacy competitors have segmented services in order to claim market share and control opportunities within the live event industry. We’ve identified a need that is being underserved in the live event industry, personal service & attention. By targeting event organizers, business owners and creatives we are able to tap into new customer bases with minimal customer acquisition costs. Our organic growth over the past 18 months with under $5,000 in total marketing spend makes us confident we’ve shown proof of concept and can scale a service to a niche market.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @blacksoulsummer

Image Credits

@just_gwright