We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Storey Pryor. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Storey below.

Hi Storey, thanks for joining us today. Getting that first client is always an exciting milestone. Can you talk to us about how you got your first customer who wasn’t a friend, family, or acquaintance?

I’ve always gone in unconventional routes to land clients – as I know what it feels like to be “sold”. I always want my “sales” efforts to come from meaning and purpose,

I had found a client I wanted because I came across a YouTube video of their last event, which was their annual sales conference. As an event planner, and being a devil in detail – in watching this video, I saw a company with high-energy, excitement and passion to have an incredible experience. I studied up (basically stalked) this client for 6 months sending emails, making phone calls and sending sales kits. It wasn’t working. Crickets. I knew in order to get their attention, and for it to make an impact – I’d have to stand out. I sent the entire Executive tea large life-size boxes and filled them with balloons, streamers, confetti, party hats and noise makers – and upon opening the box, a note popped out that read “Let me help you celebrate, Celebration” – which was the name of their event. Within 24-hours I got a call from their VP of Events asking me to come present my event capabilities to their office. After that presentation, I was awarded the production of their conference (with a lead time of only 4 months). It was such an out of body experience, I remember being so excited and scared at the same time cause I had NO clue what I was getting myself into – brand new client, brand new event – and I’m now suddenly in charge of executing their annual sales conference – all great things come with great risk! Forever grateful for that experience as it helped me grow out of my comfort zone and build the confidence I needed to pursue other clients with that meaningful approach.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi! My name is Storey Pryor – and pun intented, there is quite a ‘story’ here. In my 39 years, I’ve been able to do some remarkable things with extraordinary teams of people and I feel like the best years are just ahead. I am deeply passionate about business, sales, marketing, branding, event and experience making – I’m most passionate about helping and serving others which I’ve found the most joy in event planning.

I came out of the womb putting on events – from building a neighborhood beauty shop in my treehouse in grade school,

So naturally In college I was the social chair of my sorority – my senior year I had planned a spring break trip to Acapulco for my sorority sisters. Two days before the trip I found out that my name wasn’t on the travel manifest (I was too focused on my friends!) – so I wasn’t going to be able to go. I was completely devastated (especially cause I had spent countless hours on burning mixed CDs (aging myself here) and collating party favor bags!). Fortunately I had some friends invite me to go Arizona to enjoy spring break so I went. Upon my first night, I was pierced – THIS was where I was supposed to begin my career in event planning.

In 6 months, I had moved to Arizona and got right into internships, I worked every facet of event planning which helped me really hone in on what my strengths were, and what I enjoyed. From Super Bowls to Sweet 16 parties – I have touched them all in my 16+ years in the industry.

I like to remember the story of how I started my career, because we so often see setbacks as negatives (which not going on my Senior Year Spring Break was a tragedy!) – that move absolutely dictated the trajectory of my career. Greatest thing that could have happened.

Currently, as an independent contractor for Experiential Marketing (Events, Sales, Marketing) – I have been able to thread my passion for strategy, creative design, attendee experience, sales growth, marketing. leadership, and FUN in a fully integrated system for every product, brand, and company I work with.

I help my clients dissect their sales and marketing goals and objectives in hosting experiential events. The most critical thing that many cilents overlook in experience planning is truly knowing the attendee. Every experience we have in life is to evoke a certain emotion or feeling, and be part of our growth as humans. I take each project as a science – how can I engineer the most impactful experience for everyone. Something that will change their lives for the better – a smile, laugh, encouragement, confidence, learning and discovery, joy, inspiration and motivation – all of these can be embedded into the DNA of an event – and THIS is how every event should be done.

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

I pride myself on quite an aggressive work ethic – I had my first job at 15 years old bagging groceries. I haven’t NOT had a job my entire life, and when I do work I give it my all. In 2018, I was let go of my corporate job that I had spent nearly 8 years with. In those 8 years, I had no boundaries when it came to a work life balance. I would work 12-16 hour days, weekends, nights, holidays – can’t recall taking any vacations. Sometimes leaving the office for lunch felt like a vacation! So when I suddenly got the news that my position had been removed from the company – I was completely beside myself. I didn’t know who I was because so much of my identity was my job – I sacrificed an engagement, having children and my health was deteriorating because of how invested I was into my job.

At the time, I was broken beyond comprehension but now I look back on this experience and it was the greatest blessing. Sometimes we don’t change unless we are forced to, and this was a life wake-up call and pivot that I didn’t know I needed. Since then I’ve reprioritized my life (which is a daily practice of balance) – but I’ve done an incredible amount of inner work to find my truest joy and happiness (which is also a lifelong process). I’ve been able to use my skillsets in a myriad of ways and work for myself that has given me the freedom to travel, experience new life/cultures around the world, learn new skills, and continue to meet fascinating people that have sparked new muse and inspiration into my career.

I never thought I’d be someone that was ‘let go’ from a job – I always worked my greatest so that I’d have that security of never being disposable to a company. However, it happened – I’m beyond grateful I had this experience to develop myself with more strength and grit for what I’m building ahead.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

A great deal of my job has everything to do with the team I have assembled. There is absolutey no way I could achieve any of what I have, without a strong and dedicated team by my side. As someone that has a very hard time asking for help and being able to delegate hasn’t been easy – but it’s something I’ve learned to love – especially when you’ve got an “A” team assembled.

Strong clear communication is something that you have to master – and being in the creative space – sometimes articulating a vision isn’t easy to do. I’m a very visual learner, so in almost everyone of my projects I put together a vision board, style book and/or assembling a plethora of pictures, words, feelings and examples to show the team the end in mind. When you can foster a collaborative work space – free of judgement, open-minded, flexbile and agile – and empower the team to come up with greater/better ideas – that is when true magic and harmony can happen with a team.

When you can make everyone feel like they are equally contributing to the outcomes of an event or campaign – you’ll have the most invested and happy employees – and the greatest event experience for all the attendees.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.storeypryor.com
• Instagram: @storeypryor
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/storeypryor
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/storeypryor/