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

Shay , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I recently launched my virtual assistant agency for wedding creatives July 2022 called Moxie Management. An extension of my wedding planning company Moxie and Luxe. When I launched Moxie and Luxe June 2021, my business rapidly grew and after just 5 months, I was already looking to hire help but I quickly found out that it’s way harder than it seems to find the right people. Ideally I wanted to find someone that already had wedding planning experience because I didn’t have the time to fully train someone new. That’s when I thought of the idea to create a virtual and wedding day assistant company to help other wedding creatives grow their businesses by taking over their admin tasks so they can focus on the tasks they truly enjoy.

Once I launched Moxie Management, I thought it would be nice to create a community for wedding vendors to connect and collaborate with each other especially during these crazy times. That was the original idea but it rapidly grew into something way larger. I launched the membership Wedding Insider Society. A membership and community for all wedding vendors worldwide (new and seasoned). A safe space to grow professionally as well as personally. We are constantly selling and looking at each other as competition but not spending enough time on creating genuine relationships. It’s a membership where vendors can find mentorship, internships, retreats just for wedding vendors, talk about different topics on mental health and so much more.

Shay , 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?

I’m a certified wedding and event planner. After planning several of my birthday parties when I was younger, my passion grew for event planning so I decided to take online classes to learn more about planning other peoples’ events. I took online classes in 2011 and started my business April 2012. When I launched my business, I didn’t have a niche. All I knew was I wanted to plan any and all events that came my way.

When I met my first wedding client May 2012 (who I offered my services for free) and coordinated their wedding in September 2012, that’s when I knew wedding planning was for me. I love, love so getting to be in a space where there’s nothing but love, happiness, and laughter, was the most amazing feeling. Of course I cried and I actually cry at every wedding I do but I felt right at home after that first wedding.

After spending a decade planning different types of wedding from budget weddings , themed weddings, to luxury weddings. I decided to focus on non traditional luxury weddings because the non traditional weddings is where couples truly allow themselves to design a wedding day that’s all about them. From black wedding dresses, backstage party styled reception, to a sky diving ceremony entrance.

My love of weddings has definitely grown from helping engaged couples to helping wedding vendors scale their businesses.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

During my journey as an entrepreneur you try to keep up with what’s trending in your industry but also with marketing especially with social media. You hear tips from all the “experts” saying you need to post 3-5 times per day, post valuable content and every day to get more followers. You have to do this and that to get more engagement. It becomes overwhelming and very discouraging trying to keep up with everything and be the person in your business wearing all of the hats.

After dealing with this endless cycle for years, this year I decided to do things my way. Do whatever strategy that I can be consistent with, whether that’s posting once a day or several times per day. and stop trying to keep up with everyone else.

Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?

Yes! With my wedding planning business, I have a travel agency so I’m able to plan my couples’ honeymoons, guest accommodations for their guests, and any travel event my couple would like to do. I also design wedding websites for couples as well.

For my virtual assistant agency, I can also use wedding websites designing and honeymoon planning for the couples’ of other wedding creatives.

All of my businesses work perfectly together.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.moxie.management | www.weddinginsidersociety.com
• Instagram: @moxie.management @weddinginsidersociety
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/moxiemanagement | www.facebook.com/weddinginsidersociety