The Party Queens are a mother-daughter team who will take your vision and make it an exquisite experience.
Shaneia who is the daughter has a MFA in Fashion Journalism and Multimedia Communications and over six years of marketing experience. Prior to My Party Queen, she worked as a wardrobe stylist in California. Then she eventually moved back to Michigan and ran an online lingerie business for about 4 years while working a 9-5 in sales and marketing. After closing the lingerie business, she teamed up with her mom to launch My Party Queen.
Shawin who is the mother is an accredited event designer with over 15 years of entrepreneurial experience. Prior to My Party Queen, she ran a braid business while decorating small events for family and friends. Once My Party Queen was born, she studied event design at IWED.
This mother-daughter duo pays close attention to detail while striving to become an intricate part of your big day by being by your side every step of the way.
What motivated and inspired you to start your own business?
We are a mother (Shawin) – daughter (Shaneia) team and have always been interested in planning and decorating events. I went to school for fashion journalism and worked as a stylist in California for a stint. I’ve also put together events for companies to drive leads and sales. Once I moved back to Michigan I was working in marketing and sales but was missing that creative side.
I had a side business which was an online lingerie and home party business and held an annual fashion event called Ultimate Style Expo for two years. Meanwhile my mom who has always been an entrepreneur running a hair braiding business, was decorating her home, family and friends events. I closed my lingerie company and was ready to move on to something that I was more passionate about. That’s when I said let’s create events for other people and My Party Queen was born.
Tell us about your business.
We are a full service event planning and decorating company. We specialize in weddings, baby showers, birthday parties, and anniversaries as well as corporate and special events.
Are you currently running any promos/contests/giveaways that you would like our readers to know about?
For the holiday we will be running a special for 20% off wedding decor packages.
List awards/certifications/accomplishments.
My mom (Shawin) is an Accredited Event Designer.
Where is your business based?
My Party Queen is based in the Metro Detroit Area.
What were the first few steps you took to get your business up and running?
We offered to decorate for friends and family for free to get nice pictures to begin promoting our business. Also, we didn’t pay ourselves in the beginning; we invested the money back into our business.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness of your business and getting new customers?
The most effective way of advertising has been social media especially Instagram and word of mouth.
What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Our biggest challenges so far have been making sure we have enough people to help setup and breakdown the events. We depend on our team to help us. Since we were a new business, we started out with help from close friends and family.
How did you overcome these challenges?
We’ve actually begun hiring interns, which has helped us out greatly.
How do you keep motivated through difficult times?
What keeps us motivated is our clients. We know that we have to push through difficult times to deliver for them because they are expecting us to bring their vision to life.
How do you distinguish yourself from your competitors?
We are always looking for inspiration and we are not afraid to try anything new.
What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?
Be open to change and keep thinking of ways to reinvent yourself so that you never become too complacent.
What are your favorite business tools/resources and why?
Pinterest is a great resource for inspiration.
What are your goals for the next few months and how are you striving to achieve them?
My goals are to move more into corporate events.
What social media outlets do you use? List them below.
Instagram @mypartyqueen
Twitter @mypartyqueen
Facebook www.facebook.com/mypartyqueen
Website www.mypartyqueen.com
Email mypartyqueen01@gmail.com
Hashtags #mypartyqueen