What happens when creative passion meets entrepreneurial spirit? Kristen Donofrio's journey from corporate marketing professional to celebrated balloon artist reveals the unexpected paths our careers can take when we follow our curiosity.
The founder of Mamafrio Celebrations transformed a frustrating experience assembling an Amazon balloon arch for her daughter's birthday during COVID into a thriving business creating spectacular balloon installations for events throughout Bergen County and beyond. Her work transcends traditional balloon arrangements – crafting everything from wedding dresses made entirely of balloons to massive 30-by-30-foot ceiling installations requiring forklifts and days of meticulous work.
"I just create it, I figure it out," Kristen explains of her approach to challenging projects, describing the adrenaline of problem-solving under pressure when things go wrong minutes before clients arrive. This resourcefulness, combined with her background in advertising and marketing, has allowed her to build a business primarily through word-of-mouth and social media. Her Instagram portfolio showcases her range – from intimate birthday bouquets to the 96-foot balloon walls she created for Saint Joseph's Hospital's fashion fundraiser.
The conversation reveals the behind-the-scenes reality of entrepreneurship: boundary-setting challenges, late nights working after the children go to bed, and the crucial importance of a strong support system. "Find your people who uplift you," Kristen advises those considering starting a business, crediting her success to her supportive family network.
Want to transform your next celebration with Kristen's balloon magic? Visit her Instagram @mamafriocelebrations or fill out her inquiry form to start bringing your celebration vision to life. Each creation is custom-designed to match your event theme, venue specifications, and personal style – transforming ordinary milestones into extraordinary memories.
Mamafrio Celebrations
Kristen Donofrio
(201) 962-5585
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Doug Drohan.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of
the Good Neighbor Podcastbrought to you by the Bergen
Neighbors Media Group.
Today we're joined by KristenD'Onofrio.
Kristen is the owner of MamaFrio Celebrations.
Kristen, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Hey Doug, how are you ?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'm doing well, thank you.
So Mama Frio is your maidenname, mama Frio.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
No, no, it's actually funny.
So my maiden name is Kopsio,kristen Kopsio, and when I first
got together with Mike DonnaFrio, all of my friends would
kind of joke to me and they likecame up with this nickname,
like, ah, mama Afrio, I mean wehave two kids.
So I was always like Mama Afrio.
(00:52):
And it's just something thatstuck and it was different and
it has absolutely nothing to dowith the party planning or
balloons, but I don't know, itwas different, so I went with it
, and plus, I couldn't think ofanything that really had to do
with balloons that wasn'talready taken.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Right right, All right.
So let's talk about Mama FrioCelebrations.
What kind of company is it?
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yeah, so I consider myself a balloons and event
stylist.
Essentially, you can come to mewith your baby showers, your
birthdays, any sort of milestone, and I can help bring your
vision to life.
Right now, we are in the thickof college bed parties and
(01:40):
communions and going intograduation season, so what you
would do is you would give me acall and we would talk about
your you know vision, yourInstagram vision of what you
want your party to look like,and I you know I bring it to
life.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Nice, nice.
So what are some of the youknow types of celebrations?
I mean, you mentioned a coupleof things, but I mean
traditionally I think ofballoons for birthday parties,
for kids.
That's what I would normallythink of balloons.
But you know, if you go onInstagram at Mama Frio
celebrations one word you'll seethis really cool American flag.
(02:20):
That's really cool.
And then you see like a weddingdress made of balloons.
Somebody actually wear that youcould.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
You could actually put it on um.
I don't know how comfortable itwas, like how far you could
walk right but uh, it's.
Yeah, that was.
That was definitely a labor oflove.
That took me quite some time tofigure out how to do.
I've've seen it online and, youknow, after about six months of
kind of thinking about it,trying it, going back, uh,
(02:51):
figuring out the recipe, I wasable to do it and it's just,
it's really cool.
It's something cool to display.
It's different.
It's your non-traditionaldecoration.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Bridal shower.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
So where?
Where did you grow up?
You're from New Jersey oryou're from New York?
I'm from Mawa.
Oh, you're from Mawa.
Okay, I'm right here.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yeah, grew up in Mawa , graduated Mawa high school,
moved around, went to college inDenver and came back lived all
over Lincoln Park, morristownand then, essentially after we
got pregnant, we decided, youknow, we wanted to be closer to
home and Ramsey was just it, andwe are very happy here.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Right, right and I you know you were lucky enough
to be chosen to be on the coverof Ramsey.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Neighbors magazine.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I, you know full disclosure for anybody who
doesn't know I publish amagazine in Wyckoff called
Wyckoff Living which isaffiliated with Ramsey Neighbors
.
Swin and Lauren and I will worktogether on different things.
Love for it, yes.
Yeah, but your cover isactually I guess they did that
in a studio, because that's verycool.
A lot of our shots are doneoutdoors or at somebody's home.
(04:00):
They are.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Yes, I wanted to display some of the work that I
do, and it was a winter season.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
It was the winter season, we were like, let's do
it indoors, yeah.
Yeah, so I, you know, I didn'tknow that Mawa was like the
birthplace of of balloon.
You know design.
I guess everybody in Mahwahknows how to do balloon.
No, I'm kidding.
So how did you get into likethis business?
Like what was it that like?
(04:34):
When you were younger, did youwork for a party planner?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
No, no, actually.
So I have a degree inadvertising and marketing and
I've always been a creativeperson.
I come my my mother's aphotographer.
I come from a family ofcreative, creative people and I
essentially had worked indifferent industries.
(04:59):
I worked for an ad agency rightout of college.
It was okay, it was super busyand fast-paced, and that's fine.
I'm fine with busy andfast-paced, but it just didn't
mesh with me very well.
So, after going on a coupledifferent journeys, I had lost
my job over.
(05:20):
Covid had my babies, covid hadmy babies and while I was doing
my daughter's third birthdayparty, I was like, ah, let me
get this balloon arch off Amazon, I'm going to put it together.
That took me about like sixhours to do because I was like
(05:40):
what is this whole world?
Eventually, after that, Istarted.
Eventually, after that Istarted.
I said I'm just so intounderstanding how this works
because I've seen beautifulsetups before.
After that I, you know, I'vetaken classes.
I've put, you know, a lot ofstudy into it.
I do take monthly courses.
I follow a lot of inspirationalartists who, yeah, give me some
(06:05):
tips and tricks and since thenI just kind of like sky's the
limit for me.
I just want to keep creatingthe most intricate designs and
the the largest setups that Ican so who's your um?
Speaker 2 (06:16):
like a typical client for you, I guess it's not a
typical, because you can do youknow 90, 85th parties.
You can do graduations,christenings, weddings, you can
do everything.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
So everyone who's my client, um, but I would say my
target market specifically, Imean, listen, it's everybody,
but I would say kind of the 40to maybe 50, 30 to maybe 50, 60
range.
I guess you could say Women whohave children, who have kids
(06:50):
that are celebrating milestones,who have kids who are getting
married and who are celebratingtheir own milestones.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Right, which you know , any stage of life.
There's a lot of us.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Of course, my mother's turning 90.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
My mother turns 90 at the end of the month.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Great, let's talk.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah Well she was in Florida.
I'm going to go there.
I was supposed to surprise her,okay.
And my sister, sister Eileen.
I'm staying with her and thenone day she's like her son has
two.
My sister's a grandmother, okay, that was mine oh nice, yeah.
So her, um, she's talking to mymother and she says, oh, tj is
(07:33):
coming with, you know, hisfamily, I don't know where I'm
going to fit Doug and my mom'slike Doug, doug's coming, so,
but you know, now I don't haveto rent a car, now my parents
can pick me up at the airport.
So it's a hard job, but, yeah.
So, 90, first birthday.
What is the biggest balloonproject you've ever done?
Because when I think ofballoons, I think of maybe an
(07:55):
archway, maybe one little setup.
But what are some of the?
If you can think of one off thetop of your head, yeah, sure.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
I actually I can think of a couple.
Last year around this time Idid the Ridgewood High School
project graduation Okay and Idid a 30 by 30 foot ceiling and
where I was actually on aforklift going up to the top of
(08:24):
the gymnasium and I was hangingwires and creating um kind of my
own ceiling out of nothing,right.
So, that took a lot of time.
It was about a two day over thecourse of two days, like some
pretty long days.
I had some help, which waswonderful.
That was a huge one.
I just most recently did um theisraeli flag, which was a 9 by
(08:49):
12 foot flag for the jewishcommunity center in rockland.
Uh, they said they just had arecent uh, israel day
celebration nice what else haveI done?
Oh, I did the rockley um forsaint joseph's hospital.
They just had their uh annualfundraiser fashion that's over
(09:09):
by me.
I wasn't, yeah, okay yeah, so umwe, they created two balloon
walls on either side of therunway, which were um about 96
feet of balloons.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
So where do you like, uh, do you have a warehouse
that you work out of, like wheredo you?
Speaker 3 (09:29):
I would love a warehouse.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
No, um, actually we are we are lucky enough to be
able to do this out of my home.
So, wow, yeah, so you go, yougo there and blow the balloons
up there, though, and then Ialready know I inflate at home.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
I inflate at home and I do have some help.
You know, every so often I'llget a high school girl that
comes over and she helps meinflate, which is thank God for
her, because it would be a lotwith two kids, but I inflate at
home.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
It must be tough on your lungs, though, to blow into
that many balloons though.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Oh my gosh.
No, we use machines.
Get serious.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
So what?
But I mean, you're doing thesebig, you know big events.
How do you transport theballoons if they're already
inflated?
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah, so I rent trucks, I rent you a house Okay.
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
That's kind of that's kind of.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
That's the way to go right now.
It just makes the most sensefor me instead of at this point.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
So you have an advertising and marketing
background.
What have you used from yourbackground to help your business
be successful?
What is helping you?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Yeah, you know, honestly, organic marketing,
organic and and advertising,where I just kind of word of
mouth, um, I don't sell.
I mean I know this to the um,to the magazine world, I don't
sell ad, I don't really buy adsyeah, yeah I don't do that, I I
(10:56):
just create, I show my work, andmy work sells itself right.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yes, you left the marketing and advertising world
so you're not, you're notbeholden to it.
No, I get it, but I meanthere's.
You know there's one thing likeyou you go to college, you're
working for somebody else.
There's that experience.
But then there's like, okay,I'm going to start my own
business.
Now I've got to get clients,I've got to obviously deliver, I
(11:20):
have to collect, I have tocharge.
Am I trying to grow my business?
Obviously, your marketing ismostly social media and word of
mouth.
But I talk to a lot of businessowners and I always ask them
what has the experience beenlike?
Or the journey been like like?
(11:41):
One word a lot of people use isroller coaster.
You know they.
You've got your ups and downs.
You've got your period whereyou feel like you've got it all
figured out and then all of asudden, you couldn't hit the
side of a barn door with abaseball.
You know it's hard what?
Speaker 3 (11:50):
what is it?
Speaker 2 (11:51):
what has it been like for you?
And yeah, and you're jugglingtwo kids and your husband's got
his own.
Uh, you know fitness business,yeah, plug yeah yeah, fitness
and mawa fitness.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
That's right best.
Um, yeah, it has been verydifficult.
And listen you, you don'tnecessarily always know it all,
and that's the first thing thatyou have to admit to yourself
and you need to ask for help andlook for help as soon as you
know that you need it.
And, for example, you know Ihave this advertising and
(12:25):
marketing background, but Idon't have a degree in finance,
right.
So when it comes to managing mymoney and how the money flows
and stuff like that, you know Igo right to my account and I go
to somebody who is experiencedin it, right?
So if I need to know how to doa specific balloon install that
I've never done, I'm going to goto the person who's experienced
in that.
(12:46):
I'm going to learn from them,and that's kind of just how I
have worked and how I got towhere I am now.
I don't pretend that I know itall and I will never admit that,
but I I just I get help where Ineed it.
I look at people who are betterthan me and and I follow them.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah, that's great advice.
I think I forget the name ofthe book Somebody mentioned it
because I listened to a lot ofpodcasts that are that helped me
as an entrepreneur to figure itout or at least know that I'm
not alone, that you know thestruggles I go through, that a
lot of people, whether they'reselling advertising or making
balloons or creating a apassenger airline company, is
(13:32):
similar struggles and similarthings we all go through, maybe
a different scale, but it's it'sgood to know that you're not
alone and that there's peopleout there that can, you can kind
of learn from it's always goodto model after success,
absolutely and who you surroundyourself with.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
You always surround, exactly, you surround yourself
with the people that youessentially want to be.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Have you surprised yourself?
Did you think that you had anentrepreneurial spirit in you?
Speaker 3 (13:57):
No, I listen, I've always been kind of this.
I always knew that I could dowhatever I put my mind to.
I just always I've proved thatto myself in many different ways
Did I think that this was thepath that I'm like oh my God, I
(14:18):
don't know how to do this.
I don't know how to do this,and then like something's
breaking, or I'm on a set andlike my um, my batteries die or
whatever that I needed, and Idon't have something that I need
and I'm like in a full blownsweat because the client's about
to walk in in 30 minutes.
And then, some way or another,I just create it, I figure it
(14:39):
out, I take a minute.
I don't hyperventilate, I justsay, okay, take a minute.
How do you work under pressure?
And you just create it and youmake it happen.
So yeah, I've said that tomyself many times, many times,
and I'm like how did I do that?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah, I mean, if you talk to a lot of people or if
you watch shows like Shark Tank,you know there's a certain
grind.
You have to just grind it outand plow through it.
But the thing that the qualityI find from a lot of people like
(15:19):
you that are successful is thatyou're resourceful but you've
got grit, you know, and grit'shard to define, but I think if
you looked it up it's likeperseverance and dedication or
something like that, and it'snot always easy, but if you love
what you're doing, you know,then that hopefully will help
you drive through those and plowthrough those days where it's a
little bit more challenging.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
You don't give up.
I mean, there's been, you know,weeks that you know I don't
even sleep because I'm working,I've got deadlines, but you get
through it.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
So and how many projects can you take on a week?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Oh, that's a loaded question, because I have a hard
time saying no.
The past two weeks haveactually been pretty difficult
for me.
I just came out of probably thebusiest season that I've had to
date since opening my businessand we're just getting into
graduation season and firstcommunion and stuff.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I know I'm saying that now.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Last week I did probably 250 feet of balloons,
not last week.
Last two weeks Between theRockley, the JCC I had, you know
throw in communions andsprinkles and I do these
(16:29):
birthday bouquets which arepretty awesome.
Yeah, yeah, wow.
I have a hard time saying no,and that's one of the things
that I've been working on now isI need to have boundaries and I
need to burn myself out.
It's like you have a sign onyour that says open 24, seven
and that is one of the mostchallenging things about being a
business owner First offworking for someone else and
then opening your own businessis that there is no checkout
(16:51):
time.
When you own a business, right,yeah, you work for someone.
You're like, hey, clock hits530, oh, I'll work.
An hour later, 630, you'restill home, you're watching your
shows.
You're checked out.
Right, business is like okay, Igot to pick up my kids.
Try to be a mom for two orthree hours, put them to go
right back to work, and everyminute that you have if you're
(17:12):
not working on your baby, youfeel guilty and that is one of
my struggles for certain.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
No, I get it.
I was on the phone withsomebody this morning.
She's like I'm really busyduring the week.
Do you meet on weekends?
I'm like, yeah, I could doweekends, you know, cause you
know I have to go where my Ialways say go where your
customers go and people areworking, you know, 10 hours a
day.
It's tough for me during theweek.
So I'm like I'll you know, ifmy son doesn't have a baseball
game, I'll, I'll be there.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Well, we've rescheduled about four times, so
yeah that's true.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
That's true.
It's good to see you here.
So what I mean?
I know you already talked abouta little bit of advice, but
before we talk about how peoplereach you, I guess you know if
you your job or you, you know,you're just stuck inside these
four walls.
You have this idea, but I don'tknow if it's going to work.
(18:15):
I'm a little afraid of takingthat step.
And you know, will I have thesupport from my spouse?
I don't know, I'm afraid.
What advice would you give them?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Support is everything .
Yeah, find your people.
Find your people who, whobelieve in you.
Okay, so I have.
I am so blessed.
My husband, my in-laws, myparents, my family, like my
(18:48):
group, my crew, has been nothingbut supportive.
They have been there for mewhen I needed an extra hand.
We just we show up for eachother and we believe in each
other, and I got to be honestwith you.
I would not be here today if itwasn't for them.
So, find your people who upliftyou.
Find the positivity right.
Don't be a phone line it's like, oh, you can't do it, turn
(19:10):
around and walk away.
Find somebody else.
Find you, find the positivityright.
Don't be a phone line that'slike, oh, you can't do it, turn
around and walk away.
Find somebody else.
Find somebody who says, yeah,you can do it and just truly
believe that in yourself and itwill happen.
I definitely believe in that.
You have to surround yourselfwith the positive, for sure,
yeah, that's great.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
So what's the best way for people to reach you?
And if they're going to callyou and say, hey, what does it
cost?
I know it's a loaded question.
I know.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
The best thing that I would say and the first thing
that I say is you need to fillout my inquiry form.
My inquiry form is going to putyou right on my calendar.
It's going to.
You don't need to commit toanything.
It just gives me your name,your information, the date of
your party kind of just likeyour vision and then we're going
(19:59):
to get on a call for about 15minutes.
I'm going to get a better ideawhere it is.
You know, what kind of deliverydo I need?
How big of a job is this, sothat I know what I can or cannot
take on?
And then, from there, I puttogether a mood board for you.
I show you kind of the colorsthat I'm going to use, I'll show
you the backdrops that I thinkwould look good, and then
(20:22):
there's a proposal, a contractyou can sign, and then we go
from there.
I mean, I take Apple Pay, Itake credit cards, cash,
everything.
I'm, you know, a legitimatebusiness and um bitcoin I get
pretty seamless.
Uh, it's, it's great it's easy.
I mean calling up and beinglike hey, here's a picture of
this, how much is it?
Well, there's a lot of thingsthat come into it.
Well, where?
Speaker 2 (20:42):
are you.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
What time is this?
You know all these things, canI?
You know what kind of truck amI going to need to rent you?
You know, so it's.
It's hard for me to give astatic number on a specific job,
but I do have a pricing sheetand I will give you I'll gladly
give you a range.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Yeah, so how do?
How do people reach you?
What's the best way to find you?
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Instagram is definitely the best.
I you know.
You can also call me.
I put my cell phone out therefor everyone to see, but I would
say Instagram is definitelykind of my number one, or
inquiries.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
It says book your event here.
So it's pretty self-explanatoryand you get a great idea from
the Instagram photos of thetypes of things I always say
it's important to visualize thepossibilities or the inspiration
(21:40):
.
I do something called homeinspiration in my magazines,
which you'll never be a part of,so you never, never, say never,
but I always want to inspirepeople through images and I
think that's what your Instagramand your social media does, and
(22:01):
that's great.
So, kristen, thank you so muchfor for being a guest.
It's great to see you.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Yeah, so let's have.
Chuck is just going to saygoodbye and you and I will be
right back, alright?
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnpbergencom.
That's gnpbergencom, or call201-298-8325.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Doug Drohan.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of
the Good Neighbor Podcastbrought to you by the Bergen
Neighbors Media Group.
Today we're joined by KristenD'Onofrio.
Kristen is the owner of MamaFrio Celebrations.
Kristen, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Hey Doug, how are you ?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'm doing well, thank you.
So Mama Frio is your maidenname, mama Frio.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
No, no, it's actually funny.
So my maiden name is Kopsio,kristen Kopsio, and when I first
got together with Mike DonnaFrio, all of my friends would
kind of joke to me and they likecame up with this nickname,
like, ah, mama Afrio, I mean wehave two kids.
So I was always like Mama Afrio.
(00:52):
And it's just something thatstuck and it was different and
it has absolutely nothing to dowith the party planning or
balloons, but I don't know, itwas different, so I went with it
, and plus, I couldn't think ofanything that really had to do
with balloons that wasn'talready taken.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Right right, All right.
So let's talk about Mama FrioCelebrations.
What kind of company is it?
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yeah, so I consider myself a balloons and event
stylist.
Essentially, you can come to mewith your baby showers, your
birthdays, any sort of milestone, and I can help bring your
vision to life.
Right now, we are in the thickof college bed parties and
(01:40):
communions and going intograduation season, so what you
would do is you would give me acall and we would talk about
your you know vision, yourInstagram vision of what you
want your party to look like,and I you know I bring it to
life.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Nice, nice.
So what are some of the youknow types of celebrations?
I mean, you mentioned a coupleof things, but I mean
traditionally I think ofballoons for birthday parties,
for kids.
That's what I would normallythink of balloons.
But you know, if you go onInstagram at Mama Frio
celebrations one word you'll seethis really cool American flag.
(02:20):
That's really cool.
And then you see like a weddingdress made of balloons.
Somebody actually wear that youcould.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
You could actually put it on um.
I don't know how comfortable itwas, like how far you could
walk right but uh, it's.
Yeah, that was.
That was definitely a labor oflove.
That took me quite some time tofigure out how to do.
I've've seen it online and, youknow, after about six months of
kind of thinking about it,trying it, going back, uh,
(02:51):
figuring out the recipe, I wasable to do it and it's just,
it's really cool.
It's something cool to display.
It's different.
It's your non-traditionaldecoration.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Bridal shower.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
So where?
Where did you grow up?
You're from New Jersey oryou're from New York?
I'm from Mawa.
Oh, you're from Mawa.
Okay, I'm right here.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yeah, grew up in Mawa , graduated Mawa high school,
moved around, went to college inDenver and came back lived all
over Lincoln Park, morristownand then, essentially after we
got pregnant, we decided, youknow, we wanted to be closer to
home and Ramsey was just it, andwe are very happy here.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Right, right and I you know you were lucky enough
to be chosen to be on the coverof Ramsey.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Neighbors magazine.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I, you know full disclosure for anybody who
doesn't know I publish amagazine in Wyckoff called
Wyckoff Living which isaffiliated with Ramsey Neighbors
.
Swin and Lauren and I will worktogether on different things.
Love for it, yes.
Yeah, but your cover isactually I guess they did that
in a studio, because that's verycool.
A lot of our shots are doneoutdoors or at somebody's home.
(04:00):
They are.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Yes, I wanted to display some of the work that I
do, and it was a winter season.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
It was the winter season, we were like, let's do
it indoors, yeah.
Yeah, so I, you know, I didn'tknow that Mawa was like the
birthplace of of balloon.
You know design.
I guess everybody in Mahwahknows how to do balloon.
No, I'm kidding.
So how did you get into likethis business?
Like what was it that like?
(04:34):
When you were younger, did youwork for a party planner?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
No, no, actually.
So I have a degree inadvertising and marketing and
I've always been a creativeperson.
I come my my mother's aphotographer.
I come from a family ofcreative, creative people and I
essentially had worked indifferent industries.
(04:59):
I worked for an ad agency rightout of college.
It was okay, it was super busyand fast-paced, and that's fine.
I'm fine with busy andfast-paced, but it just didn't
mesh with me very well.
So, after going on a coupledifferent journeys, I had lost
my job over.
(05:20):
Covid had my babies, covid hadmy babies and while I was doing
my daughter's third birthdayparty, I was like, ah, let me
get this balloon arch off Amazon, I'm going to put it together.
That took me about like sixhours to do because I was like
(05:40):
what is this whole world?
Eventually, after that, Istarted.
Eventually, after that Istarted.
I said I'm just so intounderstanding how this works
because I've seen beautifulsetups before.
After that I, you know, I'vetaken classes.
I've put, you know, a lot ofstudy into it.
I do take monthly courses.
I follow a lot of inspirationalartists who, yeah, give me some
(06:05):
tips and tricks and since thenI just kind of like sky's the
limit for me.
I just want to keep creatingthe most intricate designs and
the the largest setups that Ican so who's your um?
Speaker 2 (06:16):
like a typical client for you, I guess it's not a
typical, because you can do youknow 90, 85th parties.
You can do graduations,christenings, weddings, you can
do everything.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
So everyone who's my client, um, but I would say my
target market specifically, Imean, listen, it's everybody,
but I would say kind of the 40to maybe 50, 30 to maybe 50, 60
range.
I guess you could say Women whohave children, who have kids
(06:50):
that are celebrating milestones,who have kids who are getting
married and who are celebratingtheir own milestones.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Right, which you know , any stage of life.
There's a lot of us.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Of course, my mother's turning 90.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
My mother turns 90 at the end of the month.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Great, let's talk.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah Well she was in Florida.
I'm going to go there.
I was supposed to surprise her,okay.
And my sister, sister Eileen.
I'm staying with her and thenone day she's like her son has
two.
My sister's a grandmother, okay, that was mine oh nice, yeah.
So her, um, she's talking to mymother and she says, oh, tj is
(07:33):
coming with, you know, hisfamily, I don't know where I'm
going to fit Doug and my mom'slike Doug, doug's coming, so,
but you know, now I don't haveto rent a car, now my parents
can pick me up at the airport.
So it's a hard job, but, yeah.
So, 90, first birthday.
What is the biggest balloonproject you've ever done?
Because when I think ofballoons, I think of maybe an
(07:55):
archway, maybe one little setup.
But what are some of the?
If you can think of one off thetop of your head, yeah, sure.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
I actually I can think of a couple.
Last year around this time Idid the Ridgewood High School
project graduation Okay and Idid a 30 by 30 foot ceiling and
where I was actually on aforklift going up to the top of
(08:24):
the gymnasium and I was hangingwires and creating um kind of my
own ceiling out of nothing,right.
So, that took a lot of time.
It was about a two day over thecourse of two days, like some
pretty long days.
I had some help, which waswonderful.
That was a huge one.
I just most recently did um theisraeli flag, which was a 9 by
(08:49):
12 foot flag for the jewishcommunity center in rockland.
Uh, they said they just had arecent uh, israel day
celebration nice what else haveI done?
Oh, I did the rockley um forsaint joseph's hospital.
They just had their uh annualfundraiser fashion that's over
(09:09):
by me.
I wasn't, yeah, okay yeah, so umwe, they created two balloon
walls on either side of therunway, which were um about 96
feet of balloons.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
So where do you like, uh, do you have a warehouse
that you work out of, like wheredo you?
Speaker 3 (09:29):
I would love a warehouse.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
No, um, actually we are we are lucky enough to be
able to do this out of my home.
So, wow, yeah, so you go, yougo there and blow the balloons
up there, though, and then Ialready know I inflate at home.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
I inflate at home and I do have some help.
You know, every so often I'llget a high school girl that
comes over and she helps meinflate, which is thank God for
her, because it would be a lotwith two kids, but I inflate at
home.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
It must be tough on your lungs, though, to blow into
that many balloons though.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Oh my gosh.
No, we use machines.
Get serious.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
So what?
But I mean, you're doing thesebig, you know big events.
How do you transport theballoons if they're already
inflated?
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah, so I rent trucks, I rent you a house Okay.
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
That's kind of that's kind of.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
That's the way to go right now.
It just makes the most sensefor me instead of at this point.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
So you have an advertising and marketing
background.
What have you used from yourbackground to help your business
be successful?
What is helping you?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Yeah, you know, honestly, organic marketing,
organic and and advertising,where I just kind of word of
mouth, um, I don't sell.
I mean I know this to the um,to the magazine world, I don't
sell ad, I don't really buy adsyeah, yeah I don't do that, I I
(10:56):
just create, I show my work, andmy work sells itself right.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yes, you left the marketing and advertising world
so you're not, you're notbeholden to it.
No, I get it, but I meanthere's.
You know there's one thing likeyou you go to college, you're
working for somebody else.
There's that experience.
But then there's like, okay,I'm going to start my own
business.
Now I've got to get clients,I've got to obviously deliver, I
(11:20):
have to collect, I have tocharge.
Am I trying to grow my business?
Obviously, your marketing ismostly social media and word of
mouth.
But I talk to a lot of businessowners and I always ask them
what has the experience beenlike?
Or the journey been like like?
(11:41):
One word a lot of people use isroller coaster.
You know they.
You've got your ups and downs.
You've got your period whereyou feel like you've got it all
figured out and then all of asudden, you couldn't hit the
side of a barn door with abaseball.
You know it's hard what?
Speaker 3 (11:50):
what is it?
Speaker 2 (11:51):
what has it been like for you?
And yeah, and you're jugglingtwo kids and your husband's got
his own.
Uh, you know fitness business,yeah, plug yeah yeah, fitness
and mawa fitness.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
That's right best.
Um, yeah, it has been verydifficult.
And listen you, you don'tnecessarily always know it all,
and that's the first thing thatyou have to admit to yourself
and you need to ask for help andlook for help as soon as you
know that you need it.
And, for example, you know Ihave this advertising and
(12:25):
marketing background, but Idon't have a degree in finance,
right.
So when it comes to managing mymoney and how the money flows
and stuff like that, you know Igo right to my account and I go
to somebody who is experiencedin it, right?
So if I need to know how to doa specific balloon install that
I've never done, I'm going to goto the person who's experienced
in that.
(12:46):
I'm going to learn from them,and that's kind of just how I
have worked and how I got towhere I am now.
I don't pretend that I know itall and I will never admit that,
but I I just I get help where Ineed it.
I look at people who are betterthan me and and I follow them.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah, that's great advice.
I think I forget the name ofthe book Somebody mentioned it
because I listened to a lot ofpodcasts that are that helped me
as an entrepreneur to figure itout or at least know that I'm
not alone, that you know thestruggles I go through, that a
lot of people, whether they'reselling advertising or making
balloons or creating a apassenger airline company, is
(13:32):
similar struggles and similarthings we all go through, maybe
a different scale, but it's it'sgood to know that you're not
alone and that there's peopleout there that can, you can kind
of learn from it's always goodto model after success,
absolutely and who you surroundyourself with.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
You always surround, exactly, you surround yourself
with the people that youessentially want to be.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Have you surprised yourself?
Did you think that you had anentrepreneurial spirit in you?
Speaker 3 (13:57):
No, I listen, I've always been kind of this.
I always knew that I could dowhatever I put my mind to.
I just always I've proved thatto myself in many different ways
Did I think that this was thepath that I'm like oh my God, I
(14:18):
don't know how to do this.
I don't know how to do this,and then like something's
breaking, or I'm on a set andlike my um, my batteries die or
whatever that I needed, and Idon't have something that I need
and I'm like in a full blownsweat because the client's about
to walk in in 30 minutes.
And then, some way or another,I just create it, I figure it
(14:39):
out, I take a minute.
I don't hyperventilate, I justsay, okay, take a minute.
How do you work under pressure?
And you just create it and youmake it happen.
So yeah, I've said that tomyself many times, many times,
and I'm like how did I do that?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah, I mean, if you talk to a lot of people or if
you watch shows like Shark Tank,you know there's a certain
grind.
You have to just grind it outand plow through it.
But the thing that the qualityI find from a lot of people like
(15:19):
you that are successful is thatyou're resourceful but you've
got grit, you know, and grit'shard to define, but I think if
you looked it up it's likeperseverance and dedication or
something like that, and it'snot always easy, but if you love
what you're doing, you know,then that hopefully will help
you drive through those and plowthrough those days where it's a
little bit more challenging.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
You don't give up.
I mean, there's been, you know,weeks that you know I don't
even sleep because I'm working,I've got deadlines, but you get
through it.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
So and how many projects can you take on a week?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Oh, that's a loaded question, because I have a hard
time saying no.
The past two weeks haveactually been pretty difficult
for me.
I just came out of probably thebusiest season that I've had to
date since opening my businessand we're just getting into
graduation season and firstcommunion and stuff.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I know I'm saying that now.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Last week I did probably 250 feet of balloons,
not last week.
Last two weeks Between theRockley, the JCC I had, you know
throw in communions andsprinkles and I do these
(16:29):
birthday bouquets which arepretty awesome.
Yeah, yeah, wow.
I have a hard time saying no,and that's one of the things
that I've been working on now isI need to have boundaries and I
need to burn myself out.
It's like you have a sign onyour that says open 24, seven
and that is one of the mostchallenging things about being a
business owner First offworking for someone else and
then opening your own businessis that there is no checkout
(16:51):
time.
When you own a business, right,yeah, you work for someone.
You're like, hey, clock hits530, oh, I'll work.
An hour later, 630, you'restill home, you're watching your
shows.
You're checked out.
Right, business is like okay, Igot to pick up my kids.
Try to be a mom for two orthree hours, put them to go
right back to work, and everyminute that you have if you're
(17:12):
not working on your baby, youfeel guilty and that is one of
my struggles for certain.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
No, I get it.
I was on the phone withsomebody this morning.
She's like I'm really busyduring the week.
Do you meet on weekends?
I'm like, yeah, I could doweekends, you know, cause you
know I have to go where my Ialways say go where your
customers go and people areworking, you know, 10 hours a
day.
It's tough for me during theweek.
So I'm like I'll you know, ifmy son doesn't have a baseball
game, I'll, I'll be there.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Well, we've rescheduled about four times, so
yeah that's true.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
That's true.
It's good to see you here.
So what I mean?
I know you already talked abouta little bit of advice, but
before we talk about how peoplereach you, I guess you know if
you your job or you, you know,you're just stuck inside these
four walls.
You have this idea, but I don'tknow if it's going to work.
(18:15):
I'm a little afraid of takingthat step.
And you know, will I have thesupport from my spouse?
I don't know, I'm afraid.
What advice would you give them?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Support is everything .
Yeah, find your people.
Find your people who, whobelieve in you.
Okay, so I have.
I am so blessed.
My husband, my in-laws, myparents, my family, like my
(18:48):
group, my crew, has been nothingbut supportive.
They have been there for mewhen I needed an extra hand.
We just we show up for eachother and we believe in each
other, and I got to be honestwith you.
I would not be here today if itwasn't for them.
So, find your people who upliftyou.
Find the positivity right.
Don't be a phone line it's like, oh, you can't do it, turn
(19:10):
around and walk away.
Find somebody else.
Find you, find the positivityright.
Don't be a phone line that'slike, oh, you can't do it, turn
around and walk away.
Find somebody else.
Find somebody who says, yeah,you can do it and just truly
believe that in yourself and itwill happen.
I definitely believe in that.
You have to surround yourselfwith the positive, for sure,
yeah, that's great.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
So what's the best way for people to reach you?
And if they're going to callyou and say, hey, what does it
cost?
I know it's a loaded question.
I know.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
The best thing that I would say and the first thing
that I say is you need to fillout my inquiry form.
My inquiry form is going to putyou right on my calendar.
It's going to.
You don't need to commit toanything.
It just gives me your name,your information, the date of
your party kind of just likeyour vision and then we're going
(19:59):
to get on a call for about 15minutes.
I'm going to get a better ideawhere it is.
You know, what kind of deliverydo I need?
How big of a job is this, sothat I know what I can or cannot
take on?
And then, from there, I puttogether a mood board for you.
I show you kind of the colorsthat I'm going to use, I'll show
you the backdrops that I thinkwould look good, and then
(20:22):
there's a proposal, a contractyou can sign, and then we go
from there.
I mean, I take Apple Pay, Itake credit cards, cash,
everything.
I'm, you know, a legitimatebusiness and um bitcoin I get
pretty seamless.
Uh, it's, it's great it's easy.
I mean calling up and beinglike hey, here's a picture of
this, how much is it?
Well, there's a lot of thingsthat come into it.
Well, where?
Speaker 2 (20:42):
are you.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
What time is this?
You know all these things, canI?
You know what kind of truck amI going to need to rent you?
You know, so it's.
It's hard for me to give astatic number on a specific job,
but I do have a pricing sheetand I will give you I'll gladly
give you a range.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Yeah, so how do?
How do people reach you?
What's the best way to find you?
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Instagram is definitely the best.
I you know.
You can also call me.
I put my cell phone out therefor everyone to see, but I would
say Instagram is definitelykind of my number one, or
inquiries.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
It says book your event here.
So it's pretty self-explanatoryand you get a great idea from
the Instagram photos of thetypes of things I always say
it's important to visualize thepossibilities or the inspiration
(21:40):
.
I do something called homeinspiration in my magazines,
which you'll never be a part of,so you never, never, say never,
but I always want to inspirepeople through images and I
think that's what your Instagramand your social media does, and
(22:01):
that's great.
So, kristen, thank you so muchfor for being a guest.
It's great to see you.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Yeah, so let's have.
Chuck is just going to saygoodbye and you and I will be
right back, alright?
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnpbergencom.
That's gnpbergencom, or call201-298-8325.
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