We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Regina Weatherspoon-Bell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Regina below.

Alright, Regina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

The story behind my mission is simple-I simply wanted to be able to provide great marketing and event production service and resources to an underserved small business and non-profit community.

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

Over my career which has been diverse and varied, the one thing I’ve realized is that everything I have done has prepared me to be successful in this moment and space.

I started my career in the music industry at a PR firm and it led me to becoming Vice President of an entertainment management company, After getting married in the early 90’s life changed and I diversified my business by broadening and including actors, independent music, art, film and theater projects. This diversification led to me starting my own business, Gi & Associates in 2005. Over the years my business morphed into a unique marketing boutique agency and event production company.

Currently my clientele consists of primarily small businesses, non-profit organizations, community and faith based organizations. Typically these businesses need strategic marketing plans and campaigns but most often their budgets don’t prioritize a line item for these type of services. My company offers affordable options to meet their needs.

Ultimately my goal is to meet their needs, help fill the gaps to promote the uniqueness of their businesses and for them like me to always been seen as the solution.

Due to the uniqueness of my skill set and network, I have been able to be an asset to my community by connecting people and organizations to who they need to know. My network includes a wide range of business, non-profit, community/faith based orgs, government, school, healthcare, law-enforcement and community leaders. Because of my network, I’ve been able to help individuals, groups and organizations in a very intentional and purposeful way.

What I think this not only says about my business/brand is that we are far more powerful & effective together!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

At the start of Gi & Associates, my intention was to provide small businesses with administrative plans to help them be organized. Quickly, I realized what most small businesses in my area were looking for was marketing, how to bring awareness to their businesses, how to grow their business and brand.

With the realization of what businesses were really looking for, I made a decision to re-create my mission and began providing strategic marketing plans, developing short & long term campaigns, etc. My initial goal was to have 3 clients secured within six months. The “pivot” allowed me to acquire 6 clients inside of three months and one of those being a major business. That was 2005, today in 2022 I still maintain a relationship with the major business.

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

For me it starts and ends with INTEGRITY. The ability to do what you represent is huge. Effective and honest communication is huge. Accountability is huge. These are core values by which I established and run my business and my life.

These attributes lead to trust and respect which is a two-way street. My clients have confidence in my skill level and abilities therefore they trust me to deliver truth and projects on time and on budget. Likewise, I trust clients to be honest, forthright and pay their bills.

I am also fair! I remember a time when a local auto dealer who had been extremely supportive of a clients annual event fell upon challenging times during the 2009 downturn. My client’s event was still thriving but the dealership was not able to participate as in previous years, I helped my client to make the decision to keep the dealership attached as a sponsor with the understanding that when things returned to financial fluidity, they would again support. The dealership was sincerely touched by the decision and remained a sponsor and strong supporter for years.