July 12, 2023 • 43 mins
This week I talk to David and Chanti from the brand new Minneapolis wedding Venue- The Mosaic!
We talk about how to make venues more safe and welcoming to ALL couples and people in a way that includes and celebrates different cultures and identities.e
Please listen to get some super practical take aways on how you can be more inclusive in your own space or business.
Also, The Mosaic is actively seeking investors to invest in their dream of expanding their mission into 30 new venues. If you love what they are doing, please reach out to David at david@mosaicmn.com
Check them out and find all of their socials at https://www.mosaicmn.com/venue
The intro and all instrumentals were written, sung and recorded by @JaynaDavisMusic
Queerly Beloved, I'm so glad you joined!
Please keep the community going by checking me out on instagram @wildlyconnectedphoto and come say hi! I'd love to hear from you! :)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
All right.
Clearly, beloved, welcome backto this week's episode.
This week I have with me theco-owners of an amazing new
venue in Minneapolis.
It's called Mosaic.
I've actually been there.
It's like.
It's so gorgeous.
It's so fun.
Highly recommend, and we'regonna be talking today about how
(00:25):
to make venues safe andinclusive spaces, and I just
felt like these two, they justhave such a great heart behind
what they're doing, so I'mreally excited to hear their
perspective.
So I'm just gonna hand it overto you two right away.
And I'd love if you wouldintroduce yourself, your
pronouns, and anything else youwould like to share.
(00:47):
Um, sure I can jump in.
Um, so I'm Dave O'Neill.
I'm a co-founder of Mosaic.
I currently serve as a C C E Oas well for Mosaic.
Um, I go by he, him, um, andthen I'll give it to you shanty.
Great.
Okay.
I'm am Shanty biller.
I am co-founder c o o of Mosaic.
Pronouns are she hers, and justhappy to be here with you today.
(01:10):
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much.
Um, yeah.
Just to kind of give some peoplea little bit of context, I see
that one of your slogans is adowntown Minneapolis venue that
celebrates culture and creates asense of belonging.
I mean, like right off the bat,that tells me so much of who you
are, and I just appreciate thatso much.
(01:33):
Like you're, Straight awaytrying to communicate that you
are a safe space and you wantpeople to feel like come as you
are.
And I don't think that, notnecessarily every venue can say
that, so yeah.
Could you tell us a little bitmore about your story and your
background and how you came upwith Mosaic?
(01:58):
Yeah, so I'll, I'll start onthat one cuz it kind of comes
out of a story for my wife andI.
My wife Fong is our thirdco-founder.
Um, and so, and she's animmigrant from Vietnam.
And so we got married about 11years ago now.
So, Uh, and when we got married,that was one big challenge we
had is we really needed to havetwo caterers.
That's so that, so food was abig source for us, and so there
was places you could go and getVietnamese food, but it was very
(02:20):
much, they, they weren't like,if you look at premier venues
and like the best aesthetics andkind of how, how we wanted to
represent ourselves that way,um, that wasn't available to us
because of how the cateringworked.
And really what we needed wastwo caterers, and that still is
a foreign concept, um, ofhaving, you know, an American
caterer and a B Vietnamesecaterer or like in the case, we
had a wedding this weekend andthat had an Indian, uh, caterer
(02:43):
and an American caterer thatbasically because it was a
multicultural couple, like mywife and I, And so that was, so
that's where the idea came frombecause when we went through
that, we ended up having to dotwo weddings rather than be able
to just represent ourselves as acouple to both sides of our
family and kind of showcase whowe were.
And that wasn't an option.
And so it, that's where the ideakind of was born out of was how
(03:03):
do we, how do we help?
You know, we're not the onlyones in that situation or that
kind of jump outta the box ofwhat weddings are kind of
designed around with a lot ofthe, kind of the premier spaces
around town.
And so that's, that's thegeneral idea of the original
starting point that we wanted towork from.
Yeah, and I'll kind of add on alittle bit, especially touching
(03:24):
on like the belonging piece.
That was something that when weall came together, the three of
us came together and reallystarted discussing the idea that
was kind of at the forefront ofour minds is.
We've all been in thesesituations where you walk into
certain establishments, certainbuildings, and you just have the
level of discomfort.
Like, I don't know anyone, Idon't, I've never been in this
space.
I don't know that I'm, I belongin this space.
(03:45):
I don't feel comfortable.
It has a lot of history, a lotof negative past, so what we
really wanna do is you walkthrough our doors and it's just
like, it's almost like a warmhug.
Like you get this weird energywhen you come in and mosaic
during an event where it's.
Magnetic almost.
I don't, it's hard to explainlike exactly what the energy is,
but there's like this buzz inthe air and everyone just feels
(04:05):
it.
And you just want to connect andyou wanna get to know each
other, and that's been such animportant part of everything
that we do within this space.
So that's just a major point of,it's kind of our guiding light
in a lot of things.
Yeah.
That's beautiful and it, and itsounds like you two both kind of
have these personal experiencesthat have really helped you
(04:28):
shape what Mosaic is.
Is that correct?
Yes.
Yeah, I think so.
I mean it's, you only need tohave it happen maybe once or
twice where you kind of feel,you know, where you start to
understand, oh there's, and thenonce you see it and you
understand it a little bit, cuzthat's, sometimes this is the
challenge is everything's builtfor you.
And I'm a white guy, so the, alot of stuff that's built for
me, especially in Minnesota,right.
(04:49):
And so that you don't, but onceyou kind of see it for a second
and then your empathy can takeover and say, okay, well, Now
who else is fitting is notfitting into the boxes that are
being built for.
Um, and sometimes it's, youknow, not necessarily somebody
trying to do something wrongsometimes.
Good business practice.
The way you teach business is tobasically get your, your section
(05:10):
of who you wanna market to andtry to market to one group.
Rather than the market toeverybody, because it's really
expensive to do that or it'shard to, you need to identify
your customer base.
The problem we have is thateverybody chooses the same
customer base, and so we end upwith a lot of things that a lot
of people, the same people notfitting in the same box.
Um, and so everything tends tobe built towards one particular
(05:30):
group, which may take 60% of themarket up, but it, there's a 40%
out there that's not beingtouched.
Mm.
Yeah, that's such an interestingpoint too, right?
Is you're essentially sayingthat by being a good person, you
still can have a great businessby marketing to that 40%.
Right?
And I think that sometimespeople just assume like it's
(05:55):
gonna be a bad business model ifyou know you're trying to do
something that's different.
So that's a great point.
Yeah.
And a lot of it too is it's, itis hard work and we could follow
the path of least resistance,but that doesn't accommodate the
larger population.
And so what we do is we take onthat work ourselves and we don't
(06:15):
put that on our clients toexperience all of that labor and
we put that on the back end ofthe operation and take that on
in order to elevate the clientexperience for everyone.
I love that.
I love that so much.
Could, could you actually sharea little bit about.
What that looks like for you onthe backend?
A lot of it has to do with, youknow, vetting vendors.
(06:37):
There's so many venues that yougo to and they have this very
pristine and perfectly pickedpreferred list of caterers and
vendors that they work with, andthey've already done the betting
process.
They only have to do it one timeand they're good to go.
But for us it's kind of, A wildcard of who we're going to get
to work with for each event anda wild card in a good way
(06:57):
because we get to experience somany different vendors from all
walks of life and at alldifferent stages of their
business.
So it's great to see theestablished companies come in
and really know what they'redoing.
And then you have the younghungry, like new business owners
who are just so eager and soexcited to be able to operate in
a space like ours.
So being able to have thoseinteractions and do that betting
process with them has just beena great experience.
(07:19):
And our.
Network of vendors that we workwith is so vast now and we're
able to create these reallygreat partnerships and every
event is kind of mix and matchand the curation of it all has
just been really exciting.
Yeah, so.
I think the on that too, the,um, sometimes when you're
fitting in, you know, again, ifyou fit into the box, everything
(07:40):
is kind of set up for you andyou make, get, to make smaller
decisions, which is good whenyou get to make a decision
between, like, say, threevendors that are all high
quality, that's makes your lifeeasy.
And it, and hosting like majorevent, like a wedding, um, is
super complicated and extremelyoverwhelming.
Right.
Uh, for, for everybody.
And so the one challenge we haveis, so they wanna come and work
(08:01):
with Mosaic and then maybe theywant to work from somebody with,
they wanna highlight people fromtheir own community or whatever
that is.
And so you go find some of thesevendors, well, that, that
network, you don't have somebodycurating things for you.
So it does get a little bitcomplicated.
It's like you can either havethe carry list or you can have
this vast, you can do anybody,but that's really, really
overwhelming sometimes.
(08:21):
Sometimes people already knowwhat they want and some just are
like, we want something.
Here's kind of what we want, butwe don't know what that would
look like.
So our team will take that onand help them kind of narrow
that down so they can, they can.
Still get a high quality vendorthat's vetted, um, but they can
choose maybe from a smallergrouping.
So it's not so overwhelming forevery single vendor, cuz you
need about six or seven vendorsto run any given wedding.
(08:43):
And so if none of those arecurated for you, that can be a
little overwhelming for sure.
Absolutely.
That's huge.
And when you two are talkingabout kind of vetting vendors,
what in particular are youlooking for or like, Are there
certain like red flags that youare kind of like, okay, maybe
(09:03):
not so much in the beginningthere aren't so many red flags.
It's kind of the basic bettingof are you properly insured?
Do you have all the rightlicenses?
Making sure that we can keepeverybody compliant and keep the
whole event integrity aboveboard.
And then you learn through thoseexperiences.
And we've learned a couple timesalready the hard way where it's
like, Just cuz they haveeverything right on paper
(09:26):
doesn't mean in actual executionthat things are gonna go
accordingly.
But that's where our team stepsin and we really make sure that
no ball gets dropped no matterwho the vendor is.
The client shouldn't feelanything happening behind the
scenes.
So we really take it uponourselves to be as hands on or
hands off as we need to be.
But, Yeah, we've, we've learnedsome lessons already and it's
(09:46):
just been a few months.
You, if you ever come to awedding year, you'll know kind
of how the vendors are doing byhow much you see us.
So we, we always have a littlebit of a behind the scenes team
really.
We sit, we sit well in thebackground.
We're not meant to be.
We don't, we don't meant theevent happen.
There's a coordinator that kindof does that part.
There's, there's a caterer,there's bar, that kind of thing.
And so they're really your, yourpeople that you'll see.
(10:08):
But if you see us out there alot and constantly talking on
our walkie-talkies or somethinglike that, it means we're
picking up for some vendor oranother that's not quite up to
snuff.
Mm-hmm.
And so we're just making surethe event, like again, the
client won't feel it at theevent.
Hopefully we provide enoughsafety net.
Um, so if we do get a badvendor, we can at least adjust
for it.
Um, but that's kind of what wedo in the backend on an actual
event day, just to make surethat nobody falls down and
(10:31):
nobody has a bad experiencebased on, you know, a vendor
that, that just oversold or wasa little bit aggressive of what
they thought they could pulloff.
Hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Keeps down your toes.
Yeah.
Amazing.
Well, and I mean, you two are.
Kind of a vendor in your ownright.
(10:52):
I mean, you're a venue.
Um, and so that's honestlyusually one of the first things
that newly engaged folks looksfor is a venue, cuz that, you
know, kind of sets the tone foreverything they need to find
their date, find where they'regetting married.
It's kind of, you know, a reallyimportant piece of the process.
Um, so in terms of.
(11:15):
People who are looking andtrying to find somewhere that
they feel super comfortable.
It's safe to say venues aresuper important in making them
feel really uncomfortable.
Um, what would you say that yourvenue does to ensure that people
feel safe and welcome?
I think the biggest thing thatwe've done is just remove these
(11:36):
barriers that a lot of othervenues have put into place.
And what that does is itimmediately, Calls for less
compromise for a client.
When you walk in and you know,like, oh, I can bring in any
vendor, cuz they're like today'spoint earlier, there are some
clients who know exactly whatthey want, exactly, who they
wanna work with.
(11:56):
And by us saying, yes, I'll yesto everything, basically, as
much as we can say yes toeverything, it creates this good
relationship from the verybeginning.
And we created the space anddesigned the space to make sure
that everyone just feels soincluded in every aspect of the
event.
So, That's been the biggestthing for us, just removing
those barriers and taking awaythe need to compromise.
(12:22):
Um, I think another part, uh,the construction of it was
obviously a big piece of it.
Um, we talked to a lot ofdifferent people and a lot of
people come through and give usa lot of opinions, good, bad,
you know, whatever.
But it gave us a lot of opinionsand ways to think about stuff
that, you know, if we don't havethat experience, sometimes you
can miss things that you justdidn't know.
Um, like for example, like howour bar works.
There's a lot of cultures orreligious or religions that.
(12:45):
That don't want a bar, and theyreally don't wanna see a bar.
And so we built our bar a littledifferently with that kind of in
mind.
And that's really, we came at itfrom very much of a, um, of a
culture, um, kind of point ofview.
And so, but we, we had someother things, um, specifically
kind of more in line with whatwe're talking about today.
Like for example, we have twosuites.
Um, we don't just have one forbridal parties to get ready.
(13:05):
And in both suites we have setsof vanities.
So regardless of what thatcouple might look like, if you
want a vanity for doing hair andmakeup and some of that stuff,
we have two spaces for that.
So both couples wanna do that.
If one part of the couple ornone of them wanna do it, that's
fine.
And we get a lot of, uh, youknow, when I'm doing tours and
things, it's amazing how manypeople times I walk people
through and they, you know, theypeople are very much, this is
(13:26):
the bride suite, this is thegroom suite.
You know, and that's just kindof how they, they're looking at
things.
And I have a, I have a fairamount of people like, well, why
do you have vanities in thissuite?
This is, you know, they want apinball machine or something
more stereotypical to a, to aguy's suite.
Right.
And we didn't do it that way.
We made, we made sure theyweren't Barbie and Ken, we made
sure that they, they.
They gave that ability forpeople to, you know, to to, to
(13:47):
use them for what they'resupposed to be and not
compromise themselves again touse that space or feel out of
place or feel like it's notbuilt for them.
Mm-hmm.
Um, we put some work into theconstruction side.
I think one of the biggestcompromise we had to do was
around the restrooms, how thebathrooms worked.
And that's obviously a big pointfor a lot of people and trying
to figure out how to do thoseeffectively.
And, you know, it, it's.
(14:09):
Adding in, like for example,two, like just straight gender
neutral bathrooms would beideal, right?
So then anybody can use them,that kind of thing.
And nobody has to feeluncomfortable.
Everybody can find a space forthemselves.
The downside of that is, that'sabout a hundred thousand dollars
to put that into our space, theway our space is built.
So it comes down to budget.
Like what can you realisticallydo?
Because it that a hundred grandwas at times a difference
(14:29):
between lots existing or notexisting.
So, um, so it was limiting asfar as what we could do.
So we found some compromise.
We used common sinks out at thecenter.
Um, we have ways we can block itoff to make the, the bathrooms
completely gender neutral.
You can use what you want andthen we'll list on the door
what's in there.
So there's four stalls in one,there's two journals and two
stalls in the other.
And we just list it that way.
And so people can go in andhowever they wanna use, that's
(14:51):
fine.
They know what's on, they knowwhat's inside, so they can just
choose as they, as they, as theywant to.
And that was our compromise, tobe able to do the best we could
with the budget that we, that wehad.
That is honestly so huge.
Like I think you've gotta be oneof the only people who I've ever
met who were like, Hey, we havethis problem that we can't
(15:16):
exactly, you know, do to ahundred percent, but we're gonna
be creative about it.
Like that is amazing.
That says a ton about who youtwo are and how you wanna make
people feel.
Super comfortable and yeah, thegetting ready spaces is huge
too.
Like I, I appreciated that somuch.
(15:38):
You know, cuz my partner and I,we were, we modeled at your
space and, um, we both identifyas women and it's like, yeah.
Like why would one of us have tohang out in a room with like, A
moose head on the wall orsomething and like in a dark
cave, like, no.
So the way you did stuff is 10out of 10.
(16:03):
Nicely done.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah.
Uh, and kind of on that note,you know, you to our very
clearly, like being sointentional about how you run
things, how you built things.
How do you see your role in thewedding world in terms of making
(16:24):
positive change for good in, inthe wedding industry?
I think it's really us callinginto question how, what lens
everyone is looking through.
Cause we always try to lookthrough the lens of belonging
and also the lens of change.
We never wanna be in a positionwhere we've gotten ourselves
stuck in.
(16:45):
The very big box we've created,like yes, there's a more small
whitewash box, but we've alsocreated a bigger box, but it
could still be restricting to usat times.
So we never wanna be in aposition where we are not
flexible, we're notaccommodating, we're not
continuously educatingourselves.
Every client that we interactwith is an opportunity to learn
something new about whether it'sculture, gender, race.
(17:07):
Anything that is important tothat client, we need to make
sure that we're properlyeducated on.
So it's always looking throughthat lens of wanting to learn
more and make sure that we arestaying on the forefront of this
ever-changing industry.
Mm.
We'll say, um, I mean there's,we've seen a venue or two that's
come on after, you know,recently or that's updated their
(17:30):
websites and there's a lot ofour verbiage on some other
websites.
Um, so we're seeing, we'reseeing that very quickly.
And I mean, it's.
That's a good thing, right?
Because, you know, if somebodywants to copy along from a
business standpoint, we alwayslook at it from a competition
standpoint, of course.
Um, and so, and that's fine.
People copying you is a goodthing cuz we can always keep
adjusting and we'll always stayout in front.
(17:51):
So that's fine if they wannafollow along more than five.
But I think what it means islike we've hit a nerve that
people start to understand.
Um, by, you know, just bycalling it out and being, being
very vocal and open and saying,we're not the only ones in the
entire market that's doingexactly what we're doing, but
we're the only ones doing it forthe reasons we're doing it.
And so I think that's, that'sthe part we're starting to call
(18:12):
out.
So sometimes people did haveopen catering, but a lot of
times that was, wasn'tnecessarily because of the
reasons that we did itspecifically, it's just because
they are not venue people.
So they just have a room thatthey wanna rent, so they just
want the rent from it and letsomebody else deal with
everything else.
And it usually came from morethat aspect.
And so there was, so it'sinteresting to watch people kind
of change how they're talkingabout themselves and what, what
(18:34):
they think they're there for.
Um, and so I do think as timegoes on, it'll become more and
more prevalent and more commonas people start to talk about
it.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I mean, the fact that youtwo have.
I think you said six or sevenmonths.
Been open, you're already busyand booking out like that speaks
(18:55):
volumes to what you are doing,and I think that's gonna be
pretty hard for people toignore.
You know, I don't think everyonecan say that they've been open
for that amount of time and havethe same kind of clientele that
you do, so, Yeah.
I just think that's so huge thatit's like catching on and it's,
you're kind of doing it in a waythat's gonna be hard for people
(19:17):
to ignore.
We like to, we like to see that.
Yeah.
One thing that's been kind ofcool is the, uh, the different,
you know, the culture isobviously a huge piece because
of the food and food choices andthings like that.
Um, country of origin, that kindof thing.
And I don't know, we shouldtrack how, what we're up to, but
I mean, we gotta be at 13 or 14countries of origin, um, outside
of the US at this point forcouples that are getting married
(19:39):
here.
Um, we're, we're meeting allsorts of people from very
different places that have, andthe wedding customs are so
unique and so cool.
And so getting this kind of, andyou know, we've started to work
appointments like that ifsomebody comes in.
Um, so we've had a few, like forexample, like, um, there's a
larger Somali community here.
And so we've had a number ofweddings or people that are
booked weddings that are fromthe Somali community, and it's
(20:02):
really interesting.
We got to see, we got to hostour first Somali wedding, so
that was cool to actuallyunderstand it now.
So now when they're coming, whenI have a Somali bride that comes
in and says, I need this, that,or the other, I understand what
she's talking about and why.
Um, And why they might like,why, like how everything runs.
And it does run on a differenttime schedule than what we're
used to.
Um, and we didn't understandwhy, but now we do.
(20:23):
And so now we, now we'readjusting to that.
Um, and so it's, it's reallycool to kind of.
It, it's just a learning of, ofeverything.
As you see more people come inand as, as people come from
different backgrounds than you,it helps us understand it so
much better and we can be very,very quick.
So now as people come in andsay, I need this accommodation,
or, here's what I'm looking for,here's what I'm trying to build,
we have some knowledge aroundthat.
(20:44):
So we can come at it withoutjust kind of like, please
explain yourself to me.
I can actually have someinformation so I can start to
collaborate more than just haveto learn the whole time.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, that is huge too, I thinkbecause I think that there are
so many venue owners or businessowners in general who could like
(21:05):
literally just be like, ah, it'snot really how we do things.
Like that's outside of ourhours, or that's outside of
whatever.
And it's like, yeah.
It just feels like everythingyou're doing is like, We want
you to come as you are.
And that is like a huge way ofleading by example too.
Yeah.
(21:26):
Amazing.
Um, yeah, I'm super curiousbecause obviously you two have,
have shared quite a bit aboutall of the different cultures,
um, and countries that you havegotten to.
Or countries of origin you'vegotten to serve and work with.
I'm curious how you kind of seethat intersection between, um,
(21:48):
cultural diversity and the L G BLGBTQ community with, you know,
just people of differentbackgrounds in general.
Like how do you see thatintersection playing out in your
venue?
I think the biggest thing thatwe're kind of gonna see is as
second and third generations.
Start to host events and getmarried.
(22:10):
Some of their more strictcultural norms will kind of go
by the wayside, and they'reembracing themselves and who
they are at an earlier age.
And I know just from personalexperience, you know, growing up
in the African-Americancommunity and being religious,
it's just you.
You get put in a box early onand.
These things.
These things are bad, certainthings are bad, certain customs
(22:30):
are bad.
So being able to embrace thoseat an early age and say like,
but it's who I am, so either youaccept it or I'm going to move
on and find somewhere where I amaccepted.
So being that place ofacceptance will allow us to kind
of tap into a different marketthat hasn't necessarily come out
to the mainstream yet.
So that's kind of the excitingpart, is to be a safe space for
(22:51):
that.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
I think just, yeah, it feelslike you are setting yourself up
very well for, you know, peoplethat are outside the norm.
And I think that, like you said,that mindset is like, people
(23:12):
notice that.
Like I noticed that.
So that's amazing.
Um, Obviously we would love foreveryone listening here today to
book with you guys.
Everybody go check out Mosaic indowntown Minneapolis.
But for those who are maybe notnearby or you know out outside
(23:38):
of the state, what would youtell couples who are looking at
venues to kind of be on thelookout in terms of it being a
safe space for them to be in?
I think I honestly, I think the,the biggest thing is make sure
that you don't have tocompromise who you are or how
you wanna represent yourself.
Um, if you feel like, well, Ilike this, but I'm gonna have to
(24:00):
make this compromise.
And weddings are all aboutcompromise.
You have to, you have two, you,you're marrying somebody who has
a whole different family fromyou.
Believe me, there is going to bea massive amount of compromise
that happens if you're gonnamake it.
It just a huge amount.
I mean, there's all, there'slots of pressure, internal,
external, everything else.
But when you, when you'regetting to the venue and.
That, that's such a big pieceof, of what you're gonna do and
how you're, how you're able tobuild that wedding.
(24:22):
It's, it's the canvas thatyou're gonna build off of if you
have to make a lot of compromisespecific more around who you
are.
Like sometimes you don't get theaesthetics you want.
Well, yeah, sometimes you haveto work with that.
Um, but if you're compromisingwho you are, if you do have only
one getting ready suite andsomebody's gonna stop, be stuck
in a hotel.
Or somebody stuck with a pinballmachine and doesn't want the
pinball machine room.
(24:43):
You know, those kinds of things.
Like if they're, if they're nota broey bro, they may not like
that room.
And so it may not be thathelpful.
Um, and so if you have to dosome of those things where
you're compromising more, whereit's just truly just not really
built for with you in mind, keeplooking.
Cuz they, there's, there'splaces that are.
Um, and so some so be, I wouldjust say be careful about how
(25:03):
much you compromise yourselfbecause it is your opportunity
to repre represent yourself toyour families, and sometimes
your extended families and theirfriends.
And you know, I know in my case,and I'm sure a lot of people on
your podcast that are, you know,they're, everybody's kind of
existing in, in maybe a spacethat wasn't always welcomed or
may may still have some, youknow, not, people aren't quite
sure how this works or what todo or those kinds of things.
(25:26):
And for my wife and I, we was abig part.
What we really wanted to do, andwe were young and we didn't know
how to do this yet, but wereally wanted to show who we
were as a new couple.
We weren't just, she was, she'sfrom Vietnam and she behaved a
certain way and I'm, I'm a whiteguy from Minnesota and I behave
a certain way.
We became somebody new as acouple.
We really do, because it's kindof emerging of all that, and you
should be able to represent it.
(25:47):
And your wedding's a perfectspot to be able to do that.
And so if you don't get thatopportunity to do that, keep
looking.
Yeah, absolutely.
And in terms of like, you know,Coming to actual, like
practically speaking, um, maybeit's from questions you've
(26:09):
already had couples ask you toor things like that.
Like are there specific thingsthat couples should be asking
about?
Um, something that might notnormally come to mind, but
that's still really important.
Anything like that?
I think, and Dave, you couldprobably draw on this a little
bit more, the.
Extra fees are a huge thing.
(26:30):
It's something we get questionedon a lot, but it's more cuz they
don't believe us when we saythis is the price, everything's
included.
We don't do add-on fees.
And they're like, but what if Iwant to use your kitchen?
What does that cost?
And we're like, nothing.
It's already included.
And like they'll go through thislaundry list of questions and
they're like, what if I wannacome in early for the sweets?
What's the extra cost on that?
We're just like, Nothing, it'sincluded.
(26:51):
It's almost like they don'tbelieve us because it's too good
to be true.
So really understanding upfrontwhat those extra fees can look
like and having the true budgetin mind.
Cuz if they say, oh, aSaturday's 5,000, but by the end
of everything, if you want thelights turned on and you wanna
be able to like have the dancefloor, anything like that, you
end up paying 18,000.
(27:12):
Then where, what does that 5,000really get you?
What does that base numberactually look like?
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I think understanding thenumbers is probably the hardest
part about finding a venue.
Um, venues generally they makemoney and usually about three
different ways.
One is obviously the space fee,um, which can rise and fall
depending on how much moneythey're making on their other
(27:34):
three other two avenues.
So the the next one is the barand then the cater.
And so every, almost every venueis gonna make money on those
three items in some capacity.
Um, we work a little bitdifferently cuz we don't pull
any money off of the other two.
We just use our space fee.
Um, we do get some on the bar,um, depending on how we do the
bar.
So there, there will be thatand.
Um, so there is some, there'ssome revenue there, I guess.
(27:56):
Um, but generally we dischargeupfront for what, what the space
is worth, um, rather than, sowhat you'll see sometimes is
like, yeah, the venues might be$5,000, but then the catering,
by the time you get the finalbill, you're paying a hundred
dollars a person.
Um, versus, you know, and sobasically we could do that for
half with so many of thecaterers that we love and that
are fantastic.
(28:16):
And so they're gonna be at$50 aperson.
And so the numbers start to evenout very quickly that way.
And same thing with the bar.
You know, you might be paying.
For like a hosted bar, sometimesit just adds up and it could be
50 or$55 a person for a hostedbar for the evening.
Well, that's a lot.
Um, but you could usually dothat for 2025, um, that kind of
thing.
And so trying to understand howall those go, what you really
(28:37):
need to do as you're going intothe venues is try to get a final
number for'em on everything.
Um, so you actually know what itis because you're, there is a
base base fee, but thensometimes you have to pay, like
to have staffing there thatyou're gonna need.
So we, what we try to do isanything that is that you're
gonna need, like for example, weknow you're gonna need tables
and chairs and we know you'regonna need a microphone in our
speaker system and we knowyou're gonna use the kitchen and
(29:00):
we know you're gonna use thesuites.
We also know you're gonna wannacome in early and use the suites
cuz starting to use'em at noonis usually too late.
If you're gonna do a full scale,like hair and makeup, the whole
bit, um, you really need tostart there earlier in the day.
There's just no way around that.
And so we know all those things,so we just included it into one
price and discharge it once.
And so that, that's our approachto it.
Um, and you'll find a few thatdo that, but a lot of that is
(29:21):
not that common in the industryright now.
It's a lot of nickel and diving,and so you really wanna get
somebody to give you the final.
Tell me what the final numberis.
Um, if you just go out to venuesand you send them a big blanket,
like, Hey, tell me how, gimme aidea of how much this is gonna
cost.
You're unlikely you're gonna geta final number from most people.
And so if you're comparing sideby side to that, you're probably
(29:43):
gonna miss a venue that you canactually afford thinking it's
too expensive for you.
Got it.
Yeah, no, that's super helpful.
Um, in terms of things like, Iknow there's certain venues who.
You know, I've heard had certainrules about like not allowing
certain kinds of music or thingslike that, um, just because of
(30:06):
their contracts or, you know,potentially harmful beliefs that
they hold.
Um, are there other questionslike that, that couples should
be asking?
Let's see.
That's a good question.
I haven't heard anybody that wasrestricting music.
That's interesting.
Um, I don't disbelieve it, butthat's, I can't believe
(30:29):
somebody's still doing that ofall things.
But, um, yeah, I can't think of,I mean, I don't know.
I think it's, sometimes it's thevibe you get.
I mean, if you get told no a lotlike you, here's the all the
things you can't do, and you'llhear that as you come into a
venue sometimes is here's thelist of everything you can't do.
Instead of a more collaborative,like how, how can we help you
achieve what you're trying toachieve?
(30:50):
Even if it kind of goes against,like, we can't necessarily let
you stay here until three in themorning and we really, you
shouldn't be doing shots whenyou're drinking for eight hours
in a row.
You shouldn't be doing a bunchshots at the bar.
Somebody's gonna go down and gethurt.
But how can we compromise to, tonot just say straight, no, but
what are you trying to achieveand can we find to do that with
you?
And we do that a lot.
And I do that a lot cause Ihandle when people first come in
(31:13):
and then I hand it over toshanty who kicks me in the shin.
Like you, you agreed to what onthis one?
But we do that.
But that's cuz you have to makeit work.
Um, but at the same time it isjust kind of those
conversations.
Like it's not necessarily ablanket note.
So if you go into somewhere thatdoesn't ha doesn't have that
ability to compromise very well,and they're just set up not to
(31:33):
really allow a lot ofcompromise, you may wanna start
questioning things more and moreand say, is this, you know, if I
do have specific things, Iwanna, what?
What if I don't ask the rightquestion?
Um, is this gonna be the rightspace for me?
Because I might come up withsomething later I didn't think
of, and that's a definite nobecause they have very hard,
fast rules.
Yeah, I think the biggest pieceof that is just kind of
(31:54):
understanding the why.
Like they're asking for a reasonand why is it so important?
Why is it so significant?
And especially when it comes tocultural things, there's a lot
that we don't know.
So it's helping us gain a betterunderstanding.
Cuz in the beginning there weretimes where I was like, Dave,
why?
Why?
Why would you do this?
And then he is like, oh, it'scuz of this, this, and this.
And it's like, all right, thatmakes sense.
I'm fine.
(32:15):
But it's that educational piecethat makes such a difference.
That's why we don't say noimmediately.
It's like, well, tell me moreabout why that's important.
Yeah.
I, I honestly love that you saidthat Dave.
It kind of is like a vibe check,um, in terms of the couple, and
sometimes it truly is about thatlike, Do your vibes match with,
(32:38):
you know, what they're talkingabout and saying the offer.
So asking for a price and a vibecheck.
Great.
Love it.
Uh, well thank you for sharingand kind of speaking to the
couples who might be listening.
That's super helpful.
Um, I know we've already kind oftalked a lot about your space
(33:01):
and the awesome ways that youtwo are kind of.
Leading by example and doingsomething new.
Um, I'm curious for, we have alot of, you know, vendors and
potentially other venue ownerswho listen to this.
What would you say to them ifthey're trying to make a more
(33:23):
safe and welcoming space?
I mean, I think it's all aboutcompromise.
Um, you know, when you'rerunning a business, you know,
we're running a business here,we have to make it profitable or
we just won't exist.
Um, and, uh, in our, in our, wewe're planning on growing.
And so it's, in order to dothat, we have to make this a
business model that'll makesense so we can get the
(33:44):
investors we need to continue tomake this happen.
So it needs to be economicallysuccessful.
What we're doing.
That being said, that doesn'tnecessarily mean you have to
service the one community thatis already well established.
Um, you know, going after, goingafter a group that is and
saying, Hey, we're gonna be aservice provider for somebody
for this, for this.
Like a less defined group, um,is more challenging.
(34:06):
However, there is plenty of waysto make that work.
Um, but you do have to be aboutcompromise.
You have to listen reallyclosely.
You gotta be good at puttingpuzzles together.
Um, because at the end of theday, what this is gonna look
like in a year, it's gonna be abunch of puzzle pieces that'll
fit together.
So everybody that we hope,hopefully we can get everybody
included.
But still have a very stablebusiness that we can turn over
(34:27):
to employees that are able torun it.
So it's not quite where you comein and there is everything has
to be a decision that's reallyhard to grow with.
Um, where you have to be able tohire people that have the
ability to make those decisions.
Sometimes, you know, that thatgets complicated.
The stuff that I make decisionson or that Shanti makes
decisions on when you be able toturn that over to employees here
at some point.
And um, so finding a way toactually scale the company gets,
(34:49):
gets complicated at this, but Ithink.
For overall, if, if somebody istrying to open a venue or is
opening a venue and they'relooking at this, you have to be
able to both compromise andlisten.
And if you do those two things,you'll be fine.
You'll be able to, you'll beable to help people one way or
the other if they're not quitefitting in the box that you've
created.
(35:09):
Yeah, and I'd say the one otherpiece is, I mean, we hope that
everyone will kind of take areflective step back and want to
be more accommodating in theseways, but do it in an authentic
way.
Because if you're doing it justfor the sake of capitalizing on
a bigger market and you're notcoming from an authentic place,
then it's gonna resonate andpeople are going to be able to
tell immediately that this isn'ttrue and authentic.
(35:32):
And our story is built onpersonal experience and it's our
story, and that's what we builtour entire brand on.
So it's probably the mostauthentic thing we've ever done
in our careers because it meansso much to us and it's a
reflection of who we are as ateam.
And so, That's just kind ofwhat's woven into every aspect
of this brand and thatauthenticity really matters to
(35:52):
us.
Yes.
Yeah.
Thank you so much for sayingthat, cuz that is so true and
something that I'm constantlythinking about as you know, a
queer person and the people I'minteracting with, it's kind of
like, okay, like are you doingthis?
Just to get a paycheck or areyou doing this because you're
(36:15):
like genuinely really excitedabout it?
Mm-hmm.
Um, so that's huge.
And I think that's, you touchedon something really good.
Like if someone's doing it andit's forced, like maybe they
need to take a step back andlike reevaluate, maybe like do
some education, something likethat, because, Yeah, that's just
(36:40):
not gonna be a good experiencefor who you're serving or you
honestly.
So yeah, I'm glad you broughtthat up.
Um, and honestly, yeah, kind ofon that note, if there are
people who are kind of likedigging their feet or like
hesitant to change or dosomething out of the norm or
(37:00):
serve like a differentclientele, um, do you have any
words of wisdom or advice toshare with those?
I mean, one of the obvious onesis don't let one bad experience
become how you, you know, howyou, how you what affects your
future, right?
Mm-hmm.
So you said, well, I did, I,this one person came in and
asked for this.
(37:22):
Concession from me, and I saidyes to them, and they're from
this particular community andthat didn't work out, so
therefore I never do that again.
And it's, that's not how itworks.
Our very, one of our firstweddings in, um, one of the
cultures here in the Twin Citieswas a bit of a disaster.
We made it work, but we were nota, we did not know what we were
doing going into it, and wedidn't really know how to put
parameters around it.
(37:42):
And it didn't work on eitherside.
They didn't know what we expectfrom them.
We, we were expecting thingsthat we.
Apparently didn't communicatethe right way or that it was
understood.
And so it was a bit of adisaster that we, we managed to
make it through and everybodywas very happy.
That being said, we didn't say,well, we're not gonna do that
anymore.
Um, all we did is just learn afew lessons from that.
And we communicate Earl earlierand better now because we
(38:04):
actually know what we're talkingabout.
So now we know the, the pitfallsthat came from that particular
part, that particular wedding.
And we say, okay, so now, nowhere's how we're gonna adjust
for that going forward.
And so you have to be verycareful.
I mean, you see that a lot whensomebody is to Shanty's Point,
inauthentically making those,they're not really, they're,
they're just saying, well, Justfrom a capitalism point of view,
it makes sense for me to goafter this community.
(38:25):
Um, the moment that it getshard, they all of a sudden
aren't that interested anymore.
And it's very, you know, it'slike one thing goes wrong, never
again.
Right.
Things like that.
And that's where, you know,where that inauthentic in
inauthenticity comes from.
You can spot it that way becauseit's very hard and fast.
We don't do that anymore becauseof this one experience.
It's like, you can always do itagain.
Just be better next time.
Mm-hmm.
(38:49):
Yeah.
I love that.
Do you have anything you'd liketo add, Shante?
No, I think Dave took all mywords.
We talk, we look very smalloffice.
Okay.
So we don't have a lot of jointindividual thoughts anymore.
They're all, no, it's all, we'reweirdly one brain and sometimes
some of the weirdest ways.
(39:09):
So this is one of those goodways though, where like, I think
Dave really hit the nail on thehead.
Awesome.
Yeah, I mean like, I feel likein general when even when you
are serving maybe one kind ofclientele, like maybe most of
your clients are like straightwhite couples, in your mind
(39:33):
you're still kind of like, oh,you know, every couple is, every
couple's love story isdifferent.
And then as soon as it's someonethat looks different than that,
And that's where the digging theheels comes in.
And so, yeah.
I'm glad you brought that uptoo.
Just trying to like carry thatsame mindset over of like every
(39:54):
couple is unique.
So like I.
Yeah, you could have a differentexperience with every couple and
just trying to, as you have beensaying, to compromise, well have
some patience, have someempathy.
Those things go a long ways.
Empathy is the big one thateverybody seems to miss.
Um, and so there's a bit of awar on empathy going on, I
(40:16):
think, in our culture ingeneral.
And so it, I think empathy isone of those things.
I mean, we preach it constantly.
Chanting I have for years, andin this company and other
companies, it is warmed into thefabric of every company we've
ever been in.
Um, just for that reason.
Because you have to understandwhat the person is, where
they're at, what they're doing,and why.
And once you understand the whyof what they're doing, You can
(40:37):
understand why they made thedecisions that they did and
where they are today.
And I think that's one of thethings that everybody misses so
consistently.
Everybody likes to have a littlesympathy is like, oh, they're,
you know, it's this or it'sthat.
But again, as soon as it gets alittle hard, they drop back to
where they're at rather thanunderstand where their other
person's at.
Wow.
Yeah.
That is truly something that allof us can take away, like
(41:01):
learning to cope, like learningto.
Understand where other peopleare coming from.
I, yeah.
If anyone's listening and youdidn't get anything else, get
that.
Try to practice more empathy.
I love it.
Yeah.
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much Dave andChante.
(41:21):
You two are amazing.
Thank you for the work thatyou're doing, the thoughtfulness
you have.
It's so needed and soappreciated, and I'm just so
excited to see where you twotake this like.
Definitely need more, more goodvibes like this.
So thank you so much, and I'llbe sure to leave all of your
(41:42):
information in the show notes sopeople can go check you out.
Perfect.
Thank you so much, Anna.
Yes, and clearly, beloved, thankyou for joining us this week.
Make sure to tune again nextweek.
All right.
Clearly, beloved, welcome backto this week's episode.
This week I have with me theco-owners of an amazing new
venue in Minneapolis.
It's called Mosaic.
I've actually been there.
It's like.
It's so gorgeous.
It's so fun.
Highly recommend, and we'regonna be talking today about how
(00:25):
to make venues safe andinclusive spaces, and I just
felt like these two, they justhave such a great heart behind
what they're doing, so I'mreally excited to hear their
perspective.
So I'm just gonna hand it overto you two right away.
And I'd love if you wouldintroduce yourself, your
pronouns, and anything else youwould like to share.
(00:47):
Um, sure I can jump in.
Um, so I'm Dave O'Neill.
I'm a co-founder of Mosaic.
I currently serve as a C C E Oas well for Mosaic.
Um, I go by he, him, um, andthen I'll give it to you shanty.
Great.
Okay.
I'm am Shanty biller.
I am co-founder c o o of Mosaic.
Pronouns are she hers, and justhappy to be here with you today.
(01:10):
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much.
Um, yeah.
Just to kind of give some peoplea little bit of context, I see
that one of your slogans is adowntown Minneapolis venue that
celebrates culture and creates asense of belonging.
I mean, like right off the bat,that tells me so much of who you
are, and I just appreciate thatso much.
(01:33):
Like you're, Straight awaytrying to communicate that you
are a safe space and you wantpeople to feel like come as you
are.
And I don't think that, notnecessarily every venue can say
that, so yeah.
Could you tell us a little bitmore about your story and your
background and how you came upwith Mosaic?
(01:58):
Yeah, so I'll, I'll start onthat one cuz it kind of comes
out of a story for my wife andI.
My wife Fong is our thirdco-founder.
Um, and so, and she's animmigrant from Vietnam.
And so we got married about 11years ago now.
So, Uh, and when we got married,that was one big challenge we
had is we really needed to havetwo caterers.
That's so that, so food was abig source for us, and so there
was places you could go and getVietnamese food, but it was very
(02:20):
much, they, they weren't like,if you look at premier venues
and like the best aesthetics andkind of how, how we wanted to
represent ourselves that way,um, that wasn't available to us
because of how the cateringworked.
And really what we needed wastwo caterers, and that still is
a foreign concept, um, ofhaving, you know, an American
caterer and a B Vietnamesecaterer or like in the case, we
had a wedding this weekend andthat had an Indian, uh, caterer
(02:43):
and an American caterer thatbasically because it was a
multicultural couple, like mywife and I, And so that was, so
that's where the idea came frombecause when we went through
that, we ended up having to dotwo weddings rather than be able
to just represent ourselves as acouple to both sides of our
family and kind of showcase whowe were.
And that wasn't an option.
And so it, that's where the ideakind of was born out of was how
(03:03):
do we, how do we help?
You know, we're not the onlyones in that situation or that
kind of jump outta the box ofwhat weddings are kind of
designed around with a lot ofthe, kind of the premier spaces
around town.
And so that's, that's thegeneral idea of the original
starting point that we wanted towork from.
Yeah, and I'll kind of add on alittle bit, especially touching
(03:24):
on like the belonging piece.
That was something that when weall came together, the three of
us came together and reallystarted discussing the idea that
was kind of at the forefront ofour minds is.
We've all been in thesesituations where you walk into
certain establishments, certainbuildings, and you just have the
level of discomfort.
Like, I don't know anyone, Idon't, I've never been in this
space.
I don't know that I'm, I belongin this space.
(03:45):
I don't feel comfortable.
It has a lot of history, a lotof negative past, so what we
really wanna do is you walkthrough our doors and it's just
like, it's almost like a warmhug.
Like you get this weird energywhen you come in and mosaic
during an event where it's.
Magnetic almost.
I don't, it's hard to explainlike exactly what the energy is,
but there's like this buzz inthe air and everyone just feels
(04:05):
it.
And you just want to connect andyou wanna get to know each
other, and that's been such animportant part of everything
that we do within this space.
So that's just a major point of,it's kind of our guiding light
in a lot of things.
Yeah.
That's beautiful and it, and itsounds like you two both kind of
have these personal experiencesthat have really helped you
(04:28):
shape what Mosaic is.
Is that correct?
Yes.
Yeah, I think so.
I mean it's, you only need tohave it happen maybe once or
twice where you kind of feel,you know, where you start to
understand, oh there's, and thenonce you see it and you
understand it a little bit, cuzthat's, sometimes this is the
challenge is everything's builtfor you.
And I'm a white guy, so the, alot of stuff that's built for
me, especially in Minnesota,right.
(04:49):
And so that you don't, but onceyou kind of see it for a second
and then your empathy can takeover and say, okay, well, Now
who else is fitting is notfitting into the boxes that are
being built for.
Um, and sometimes it's, youknow, not necessarily somebody
trying to do something wrongsometimes.
Good business practice.
The way you teach business is tobasically get your, your section
(05:10):
of who you wanna market to andtry to market to one group.
Rather than the market toeverybody, because it's really
expensive to do that or it'shard to, you need to identify
your customer base.
The problem we have is thateverybody chooses the same
customer base, and so we end upwith a lot of things that a lot
of people, the same people notfitting in the same box.
Um, and so everything tends tobe built towards one particular
(05:30):
group, which may take 60% of themarket up, but it, there's a 40%
out there that's not beingtouched.
Mm.
Yeah, that's such an interestingpoint too, right?
Is you're essentially sayingthat by being a good person, you
still can have a great businessby marketing to that 40%.
Right?
And I think that sometimespeople just assume like it's
(05:55):
gonna be a bad business model ifyou know you're trying to do
something that's different.
So that's a great point.
Yeah.
And a lot of it too is it's, itis hard work and we could follow
the path of least resistance,but that doesn't accommodate the
larger population.
And so what we do is we take onthat work ourselves and we don't
(06:15):
put that on our clients toexperience all of that labor and
we put that on the back end ofthe operation and take that on
in order to elevate the clientexperience for everyone.
I love that.
I love that so much.
Could, could you actually sharea little bit about.
What that looks like for you onthe backend?
A lot of it has to do with, youknow, vetting vendors.
(06:37):
There's so many venues that yougo to and they have this very
pristine and perfectly pickedpreferred list of caterers and
vendors that they work with, andthey've already done the betting
process.
They only have to do it one timeand they're good to go.
But for us it's kind of, A wildcard of who we're going to get
to work with for each event anda wild card in a good way
(06:57):
because we get to experience somany different vendors from all
walks of life and at alldifferent stages of their
business.
So it's great to see theestablished companies come in
and really know what they'redoing.
And then you have the younghungry, like new business owners
who are just so eager and soexcited to be able to operate in
a space like ours.
So being able to have thoseinteractions and do that betting
process with them has just beena great experience.
(07:19):
And our.
Network of vendors that we workwith is so vast now and we're
able to create these reallygreat partnerships and every
event is kind of mix and matchand the curation of it all has
just been really exciting.
Yeah, so.
I think the on that too, the,um, sometimes when you're
fitting in, you know, again, ifyou fit into the box, everything
(07:40):
is kind of set up for you andyou make, get, to make smaller
decisions, which is good whenyou get to make a decision
between, like, say, threevendors that are all high
quality, that's makes your lifeeasy.
And it, and hosting like majorevent, like a wedding, um, is
super complicated and extremelyoverwhelming.
Right.
Uh, for, for everybody.
And so the one challenge we haveis, so they wanna come and work
(08:01):
with Mosaic and then maybe theywant to work from somebody with,
they wanna highlight people fromtheir own community or whatever
that is.
And so you go find some of thesevendors, well, that, that
network, you don't have somebodycurating things for you.
So it does get a little bitcomplicated.
It's like you can either havethe carry list or you can have
this vast, you can do anybody,but that's really, really
overwhelming sometimes.
(08:21):
Sometimes people already knowwhat they want and some just are
like, we want something.
Here's kind of what we want, butwe don't know what that would
look like.
So our team will take that onand help them kind of narrow
that down so they can, they can.
Still get a high quality vendorthat's vetted, um, but they can
choose maybe from a smallergrouping.
So it's not so overwhelming forevery single vendor, cuz you
need about six or seven vendorsto run any given wedding.
(08:43):
And so if none of those arecurated for you, that can be a
little overwhelming for sure.
Absolutely.
That's huge.
And when you two are talkingabout kind of vetting vendors,
what in particular are youlooking for or like, Are there
certain like red flags that youare kind of like, okay, maybe
(09:03):
not so much in the beginningthere aren't so many red flags.
It's kind of the basic bettingof are you properly insured?
Do you have all the rightlicenses?
Making sure that we can keepeverybody compliant and keep the
whole event integrity aboveboard.
And then you learn through thoseexperiences.
And we've learned a couple timesalready the hard way where it's
like, Just cuz they haveeverything right on paper
(09:26):
doesn't mean in actual executionthat things are gonna go
accordingly.
But that's where our team stepsin and we really make sure that
no ball gets dropped no matterwho the vendor is.
The client shouldn't feelanything happening behind the
scenes.
So we really take it uponourselves to be as hands on or
hands off as we need to be.
But, Yeah, we've, we've learnedsome lessons already and it's
(09:46):
just been a few months.
You, if you ever come to awedding year, you'll know kind
of how the vendors are doing byhow much you see us.
So we, we always have a littlebit of a behind the scenes team
really.
We sit, we sit well in thebackground.
We're not meant to be.
We don't, we don't meant theevent happen.
There's a coordinator that kindof does that part.
There's, there's a caterer,there's bar, that kind of thing.
And so they're really your, yourpeople that you'll see.
(10:08):
But if you see us out there alot and constantly talking on
our walkie-talkies or somethinglike that, it means we're
picking up for some vendor oranother that's not quite up to
snuff.
Mm-hmm.
And so we're just making surethe event, like again, the
client won't feel it at theevent.
Hopefully we provide enoughsafety net.
Um, so if we do get a badvendor, we can at least adjust
for it.
Um, but that's kind of what wedo in the backend on an actual
event day, just to make surethat nobody falls down and
(10:31):
nobody has a bad experiencebased on, you know, a vendor
that, that just oversold or wasa little bit aggressive of what
they thought they could pulloff.
Hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Keeps down your toes.
Yeah.
Amazing.
Well, and I mean, you two are.
Kind of a vendor in your ownright.
(10:52):
I mean, you're a venue.
Um, and so that's honestlyusually one of the first things
that newly engaged folks looksfor is a venue, cuz that, you
know, kind of sets the tone foreverything they need to find
their date, find where they'regetting married.
It's kind of, you know, a reallyimportant piece of the process.
Um, so in terms of.
(11:15):
People who are looking andtrying to find somewhere that
they feel super comfortable.
It's safe to say venues aresuper important in making them
feel really uncomfortable.
Um, what would you say that yourvenue does to ensure that people
feel safe and welcome?
I think the biggest thing thatwe've done is just remove these
(11:36):
barriers that a lot of othervenues have put into place.
And what that does is itimmediately, Calls for less
compromise for a client.
When you walk in and you know,like, oh, I can bring in any
vendor, cuz they're like today'spoint earlier, there are some
clients who know exactly whatthey want, exactly, who they
wanna work with.
(11:56):
And by us saying, yes, I'll yesto everything, basically, as
much as we can say yes toeverything, it creates this good
relationship from the verybeginning.
And we created the space anddesigned the space to make sure
that everyone just feels soincluded in every aspect of the
event.
So, That's been the biggestthing for us, just removing
those barriers and taking awaythe need to compromise.
(12:22):
Um, I think another part, uh,the construction of it was
obviously a big piece of it.
Um, we talked to a lot ofdifferent people and a lot of
people come through and give usa lot of opinions, good, bad,
you know, whatever.
But it gave us a lot of opinionsand ways to think about stuff
that, you know, if we don't havethat experience, sometimes you
can miss things that you justdidn't know.
Um, like for example, like howour bar works.
There's a lot of cultures orreligious or religions that.
(12:45):
That don't want a bar, and theyreally don't wanna see a bar.
And so we built our bar a littledifferently with that kind of in
mind.
And that's really, we came at itfrom very much of a, um, of a
culture, um, kind of point ofview.
And so, but we, we had someother things, um, specifically
kind of more in line with whatwe're talking about today.
Like for example, we have twosuites.
Um, we don't just have one forbridal parties to get ready.
(13:05):
And in both suites we have setsof vanities.
So regardless of what thatcouple might look like, if you
want a vanity for doing hair andmakeup and some of that stuff,
we have two spaces for that.
So both couples wanna do that.
If one part of the couple ornone of them wanna do it, that's
fine.
And we get a lot of, uh, youknow, when I'm doing tours and
things, it's amazing how manypeople times I walk people
through and they, you know, theypeople are very much, this is
(13:26):
the bride suite, this is thegroom suite.
You know, and that's just kindof how they, they're looking at
things.
And I have a, I have a fairamount of people like, well, why
do you have vanities in thissuite?
This is, you know, they want apinball machine or something
more stereotypical to a, to aguy's suite.
Right.
And we didn't do it that way.
We made, we made sure theyweren't Barbie and Ken, we made
sure that they, they.
They gave that ability forpeople to, you know, to to, to
(13:47):
use them for what they'resupposed to be and not
compromise themselves again touse that space or feel out of
place or feel like it's notbuilt for them.
Mm-hmm.
Um, we put some work into theconstruction side.
I think one of the biggestcompromise we had to do was
around the restrooms, how thebathrooms worked.
And that's obviously a big pointfor a lot of people and trying
to figure out how to do thoseeffectively.
And, you know, it, it's.
(14:09):
Adding in, like for example,two, like just straight gender
neutral bathrooms would beideal, right?
So then anybody can use them,that kind of thing.
And nobody has to feeluncomfortable.
Everybody can find a space forthemselves.
The downside of that is, that'sabout a hundred thousand dollars
to put that into our space, theway our space is built.
So it comes down to budget.
Like what can you realisticallydo?
Because it that a hundred grandwas at times a difference
(14:29):
between lots existing or notexisting.
So, um, so it was limiting asfar as what we could do.
So we found some compromise.
We used common sinks out at thecenter.
Um, we have ways we can block itoff to make the, the bathrooms
completely gender neutral.
You can use what you want andthen we'll list on the door
what's in there.
So there's four stalls in one,there's two journals and two
stalls in the other.
And we just list it that way.
And so people can go in andhowever they wanna use, that's
(14:51):
fine.
They know what's on, they knowwhat's inside, so they can just
choose as they, as they, as theywant to.
And that was our compromise, tobe able to do the best we could
with the budget that we, that wehad.
That is honestly so huge.
Like I think you've gotta be oneof the only people who I've ever
met who were like, Hey, we havethis problem that we can't
(15:16):
exactly, you know, do to ahundred percent, but we're gonna
be creative about it.
Like that is amazing.
That says a ton about who youtwo are and how you wanna make
people feel.
Super comfortable and yeah, thegetting ready spaces is huge
too.
Like I, I appreciated that somuch.
(15:38):
You know, cuz my partner and I,we were, we modeled at your
space and, um, we both identifyas women and it's like, yeah.
Like why would one of us have tohang out in a room with like, A
moose head on the wall orsomething and like in a dark
cave, like, no.
So the way you did stuff is 10out of 10.
(16:03):
Nicely done.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah.
Uh, and kind of on that note,you know, you to our very
clearly, like being sointentional about how you run
things, how you built things.
How do you see your role in thewedding world in terms of making
(16:24):
positive change for good in, inthe wedding industry?
I think it's really us callinginto question how, what lens
everyone is looking through.
Cause we always try to lookthrough the lens of belonging
and also the lens of change.
We never wanna be in a positionwhere we've gotten ourselves
stuck in.
(16:45):
The very big box we've created,like yes, there's a more small
whitewash box, but we've alsocreated a bigger box, but it
could still be restricting to usat times.
So we never wanna be in aposition where we are not
flexible, we're notaccommodating, we're not
continuously educatingourselves.
Every client that we interactwith is an opportunity to learn
something new about whether it'sculture, gender, race.
(17:07):
Anything that is important tothat client, we need to make
sure that we're properlyeducated on.
So it's always looking throughthat lens of wanting to learn
more and make sure that we arestaying on the forefront of this
ever-changing industry.
Mm.
We'll say, um, I mean there's,we've seen a venue or two that's
come on after, you know,recently or that's updated their
(17:30):
websites and there's a lot ofour verbiage on some other
websites.
Um, so we're seeing, we'reseeing that very quickly.
And I mean, it's.
That's a good thing, right?
Because, you know, if somebodywants to copy along from a
business standpoint, we alwayslook at it from a competition
standpoint, of course.
Um, and so, and that's fine.
People copying you is a goodthing cuz we can always keep
adjusting and we'll always stayout in front.
(17:51):
So that's fine if they wannafollow along more than five.
But I think what it means islike we've hit a nerve that
people start to understand.
Um, by, you know, just bycalling it out and being, being
very vocal and open and saying,we're not the only ones in the
entire market that's doingexactly what we're doing, but
we're the only ones doing it forthe reasons we're doing it.
And so I think that's, that'sthe part we're starting to call
(18:12):
out.
So sometimes people did haveopen catering, but a lot of
times that was, wasn'tnecessarily because of the
reasons that we did itspecifically, it's just because
they are not venue people.
So they just have a room thatthey wanna rent, so they just
want the rent from it and letsomebody else deal with
everything else.
And it usually came from morethat aspect.
And so there was, so it'sinteresting to watch people kind
of change how they're talkingabout themselves and what, what
(18:34):
they think they're there for.
Um, and so I do think as timegoes on, it'll become more and
more prevalent and more commonas people start to talk about
it.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I mean, the fact that youtwo have.
I think you said six or sevenmonths.
Been open, you're already busyand booking out like that speaks
(18:55):
volumes to what you are doing,and I think that's gonna be
pretty hard for people toignore.
You know, I don't think everyonecan say that they've been open
for that amount of time and havethe same kind of clientele that
you do, so, Yeah.
I just think that's so huge thatit's like catching on and it's,
you're kind of doing it in a waythat's gonna be hard for people
(19:17):
to ignore.
We like to, we like to see that.
Yeah.
One thing that's been kind ofcool is the, uh, the different,
you know, the culture isobviously a huge piece because
of the food and food choices andthings like that.
Um, country of origin, that kindof thing.
And I don't know, we shouldtrack how, what we're up to, but
I mean, we gotta be at 13 or 14countries of origin, um, outside
of the US at this point forcouples that are getting married
(19:39):
here.
Um, we're, we're meeting allsorts of people from very
different places that have, andthe wedding customs are so
unique and so cool.
And so getting this kind of, andyou know, we've started to work
appointments like that ifsomebody comes in.
Um, so we've had a few, like forexample, like, um, there's a
larger Somali community here.
And so we've had a number ofweddings or people that are
booked weddings that are fromthe Somali community, and it's
(20:02):
really interesting.
We got to see, we got to hostour first Somali wedding, so
that was cool to actuallyunderstand it now.
So now when they're coming, whenI have a Somali bride that comes
in and says, I need this, that,or the other, I understand what
she's talking about and why.
Um, And why they might like,why, like how everything runs.
And it does run on a differenttime schedule than what we're
used to.
Um, and we didn't understandwhy, but now we do.
(20:23):
And so now we, now we'readjusting to that.
Um, and so it's, it's reallycool to kind of.
It, it's just a learning of, ofeverything.
As you see more people come inand as, as people come from
different backgrounds than you,it helps us understand it so
much better and we can be very,very quick.
So now as people come in andsay, I need this accommodation,
or, here's what I'm looking for,here's what I'm trying to build,
we have some knowledge aroundthat.
(20:44):
So we can come at it withoutjust kind of like, please
explain yourself to me.
I can actually have someinformation so I can start to
collaborate more than just haveto learn the whole time.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, that is huge too, I thinkbecause I think that there are
so many venue owners or businessowners in general who could like
(21:05):
literally just be like, ah, it'snot really how we do things.
Like that's outside of ourhours, or that's outside of
whatever.
And it's like, yeah.
It just feels like everythingyou're doing is like, We want
you to come as you are.
And that is like a huge way ofleading by example too.
Yeah.
(21:26):
Amazing.
Um, yeah, I'm super curiousbecause obviously you two have,
have shared quite a bit aboutall of the different cultures,
um, and countries that you havegotten to.
Or countries of origin you'vegotten to serve and work with.
I'm curious how you kind of seethat intersection between, um,
(21:48):
cultural diversity and the L G BLGBTQ community with, you know,
just people of differentbackgrounds in general.
Like how do you see thatintersection playing out in your
venue?
I think the biggest thing thatwe're kind of gonna see is as
second and third generations.
Start to host events and getmarried.
(22:10):
Some of their more strictcultural norms will kind of go
by the wayside, and they'reembracing themselves and who
they are at an earlier age.
And I know just from personalexperience, you know, growing up
in the African-Americancommunity and being religious,
it's just you.
You get put in a box early onand.
These things.
These things are bad, certainthings are bad, certain customs
(22:30):
are bad.
So being able to embrace thoseat an early age and say like,
but it's who I am, so either youaccept it or I'm going to move
on and find somewhere where I amaccepted.
So being that place ofacceptance will allow us to kind
of tap into a different marketthat hasn't necessarily come out
to the mainstream yet.
So that's kind of the excitingpart, is to be a safe space for
(22:51):
that.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
I think just, yeah, it feelslike you are setting yourself up
very well for, you know, peoplethat are outside the norm.
And I think that, like you said,that mindset is like, people
(23:12):
notice that.
Like I noticed that.
So that's amazing.
Um, Obviously we would love foreveryone listening here today to
book with you guys.
Everybody go check out Mosaic indowntown Minneapolis.
But for those who are maybe notnearby or you know out outside
(23:38):
of the state, what would youtell couples who are looking at
venues to kind of be on thelookout in terms of it being a
safe space for them to be in?
I think I honestly, I think the,the biggest thing is make sure
that you don't have tocompromise who you are or how
you wanna represent yourself.
Um, if you feel like, well, Ilike this, but I'm gonna have to
(24:00):
make this compromise.
And weddings are all aboutcompromise.
You have to, you have two, you,you're marrying somebody who has
a whole different family fromyou.
Believe me, there is going to bea massive amount of compromise
that happens if you're gonnamake it.
It just a huge amount.
I mean, there's all, there'slots of pressure, internal,
external, everything else.
But when you, when you'regetting to the venue and.
That, that's such a big pieceof, of what you're gonna do and
how you're, how you're able tobuild that wedding.
(24:22):
It's, it's the canvas thatyou're gonna build off of if you
have to make a lot of compromisespecific more around who you
are.
Like sometimes you don't get theaesthetics you want.
Well, yeah, sometimes you haveto work with that.
Um, but if you're compromisingwho you are, if you do have only
one getting ready suite andsomebody's gonna stop, be stuck
in a hotel.
Or somebody stuck with a pinballmachine and doesn't want the
pinball machine room.
(24:43):
You know, those kinds of things.
Like if they're, if they're nota broey bro, they may not like
that room.
And so it may not be thathelpful.
Um, and so if you have to dosome of those things where
you're compromising more, whereit's just truly just not really
built for with you in mind, keeplooking.
Cuz they, there's, there'splaces that are.
Um, and so some so be, I wouldjust say be careful about how
(25:03):
much you compromise yourselfbecause it is your opportunity
to repre represent yourself toyour families, and sometimes
your extended families and theirfriends.
And you know, I know in my case,and I'm sure a lot of people on
your podcast that are, you know,they're, everybody's kind of
existing in, in maybe a spacethat wasn't always welcomed or
may may still have some, youknow, not, people aren't quite
sure how this works or what todo or those kinds of things.
(25:26):
And for my wife and I, we was abig part.
What we really wanted to do, andwe were young and we didn't know
how to do this yet, but wereally wanted to show who we
were as a new couple.
We weren't just, she was, she'sfrom Vietnam and she behaved a
certain way and I'm, I'm a whiteguy from Minnesota and I behave
a certain way.
We became somebody new as acouple.
We really do, because it's kindof emerging of all that, and you
should be able to represent it.
(25:47):
And your wedding's a perfectspot to be able to do that.
And so if you don't get thatopportunity to do that, keep
looking.
Yeah, absolutely.
And in terms of like, you know,Coming to actual, like
practically speaking, um, maybeit's from questions you've
(26:09):
already had couples ask you toor things like that.
Like are there specific thingsthat couples should be asking
about?
Um, something that might notnormally come to mind, but
that's still really important.
Anything like that?
I think, and Dave, you couldprobably draw on this a little
bit more, the.
Extra fees are a huge thing.
(26:30):
It's something we get questionedon a lot, but it's more cuz they
don't believe us when we saythis is the price, everything's
included.
We don't do add-on fees.
And they're like, but what if Iwant to use your kitchen?
What does that cost?
And we're like, nothing.
It's already included.
And like they'll go through thislaundry list of questions and
they're like, what if I wannacome in early for the sweets?
What's the extra cost on that?
We're just like, Nothing, it'sincluded.
(26:51):
It's almost like they don'tbelieve us because it's too good
to be true.
So really understanding upfrontwhat those extra fees can look
like and having the true budgetin mind.
Cuz if they say, oh, aSaturday's 5,000, but by the end
of everything, if you want thelights turned on and you wanna
be able to like have the dancefloor, anything like that, you
end up paying 18,000.
(27:12):
Then where, what does that 5,000really get you?
What does that base numberactually look like?
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I think understanding thenumbers is probably the hardest
part about finding a venue.
Um, venues generally they makemoney and usually about three
different ways.
One is obviously the space fee,um, which can rise and fall
depending on how much moneythey're making on their other
(27:34):
three other two avenues.
So the the next one is the barand then the cater.
And so every, almost every venueis gonna make money on those
three items in some capacity.
Um, we work a little bitdifferently cuz we don't pull
any money off of the other two.
We just use our space fee.
Um, we do get some on the bar,um, depending on how we do the
bar.
So there, there will be thatand.
Um, so there is some, there'ssome revenue there, I guess.
(27:56):
Um, but generally we dischargeupfront for what, what the space
is worth, um, rather than, sowhat you'll see sometimes is
like, yeah, the venues might be$5,000, but then the catering,
by the time you get the finalbill, you're paying a hundred
dollars a person.
Um, versus, you know, and sobasically we could do that for
half with so many of thecaterers that we love and that
are fantastic.
(28:16):
And so they're gonna be at$50 aperson.
And so the numbers start to evenout very quickly that way.
And same thing with the bar.
You know, you might be paying.
For like a hosted bar, sometimesit just adds up and it could be
50 or$55 a person for a hostedbar for the evening.
Well, that's a lot.
Um, but you could usually dothat for 2025, um, that kind of
thing.
And so trying to understand howall those go, what you really
(28:37):
need to do as you're going intothe venues is try to get a final
number for'em on everything.
Um, so you actually know what itis because you're, there is a
base base fee, but thensometimes you have to pay, like
to have staffing there thatyou're gonna need.
So we, what we try to do isanything that is that you're
gonna need, like for example, weknow you're gonna need tables
and chairs and we know you'regonna need a microphone in our
speaker system and we knowyou're gonna use the kitchen and
(29:00):
we know you're gonna use thesuites.
We also know you're gonna wannacome in early and use the suites
cuz starting to use'em at noonis usually too late.
If you're gonna do a full scale,like hair and makeup, the whole
bit, um, you really need tostart there earlier in the day.
There's just no way around that.
And so we know all those things,so we just included it into one
price and discharge it once.
And so that, that's our approachto it.
Um, and you'll find a few thatdo that, but a lot of that is
(29:21):
not that common in the industryright now.
It's a lot of nickel and diving,and so you really wanna get
somebody to give you the final.
Tell me what the final numberis.
Um, if you just go out to venuesand you send them a big blanket,
like, Hey, tell me how, gimme aidea of how much this is gonna
cost.
You're unlikely you're gonna geta final number from most people.
And so if you're comparing sideby side to that, you're probably
(29:43):
gonna miss a venue that you canactually afford thinking it's
too expensive for you.
Got it.
Yeah, no, that's super helpful.
Um, in terms of things like, Iknow there's certain venues who.
You know, I've heard had certainrules about like not allowing
certain kinds of music or thingslike that, um, just because of
(30:06):
their contracts or, you know,potentially harmful beliefs that
they hold.
Um, are there other questionslike that, that couples should
be asking?
Let's see.
That's a good question.
I haven't heard anybody that wasrestricting music.
That's interesting.
Um, I don't disbelieve it, butthat's, I can't believe
(30:29):
somebody's still doing that ofall things.
But, um, yeah, I can't think of,I mean, I don't know.
I think it's, sometimes it's thevibe you get.
I mean, if you get told no a lotlike you, here's the all the
things you can't do, and you'llhear that as you come into a
venue sometimes is here's thelist of everything you can't do.
Instead of a more collaborative,like how, how can we help you
achieve what you're trying toachieve?
(30:50):
Even if it kind of goes against,like, we can't necessarily let
you stay here until three in themorning and we really, you
shouldn't be doing shots whenyou're drinking for eight hours
in a row.
You shouldn't be doing a bunchshots at the bar.
Somebody's gonna go down and gethurt.
But how can we compromise to, tonot just say straight, no, but
what are you trying to achieveand can we find to do that with
you?
And we do that a lot.
And I do that a lot cause Ihandle when people first come in
(31:13):
and then I hand it over toshanty who kicks me in the shin.
Like you, you agreed to what onthis one?
But we do that.
But that's cuz you have to makeit work.
Um, but at the same time it isjust kind of those
conversations.
Like it's not necessarily ablanket note.
So if you go into somewhere thatdoesn't ha doesn't have that
ability to compromise very well,and they're just set up not to
(31:33):
really allow a lot ofcompromise, you may wanna start
questioning things more and moreand say, is this, you know, if I
do have specific things, Iwanna, what?
What if I don't ask the rightquestion?
Um, is this gonna be the rightspace for me?
Because I might come up withsomething later I didn't think
of, and that's a definite nobecause they have very hard,
fast rules.
Yeah, I think the biggest pieceof that is just kind of
(31:54):
understanding the why.
Like they're asking for a reasonand why is it so important?
Why is it so significant?
And especially when it comes tocultural things, there's a lot
that we don't know.
So it's helping us gain a betterunderstanding.
Cuz in the beginning there weretimes where I was like, Dave,
why?
Why?
Why would you do this?
And then he is like, oh, it'scuz of this, this, and this.
And it's like, all right, thatmakes sense.
I'm fine.
(32:15):
But it's that educational piecethat makes such a difference.
That's why we don't say noimmediately.
It's like, well, tell me moreabout why that's important.
Yeah.
I, I honestly love that you saidthat Dave.
It kind of is like a vibe check,um, in terms of the couple, and
sometimes it truly is about thatlike, Do your vibes match with,
(32:38):
you know, what they're talkingabout and saying the offer.
So asking for a price and a vibecheck.
Great.
Love it.
Uh, well thank you for sharingand kind of speaking to the
couples who might be listening.
That's super helpful.
Um, I know we've already kind oftalked a lot about your space
(33:01):
and the awesome ways that youtwo are kind of.
Leading by example and doingsomething new.
Um, I'm curious for, we have alot of, you know, vendors and
potentially other venue ownerswho listen to this.
What would you say to them ifthey're trying to make a more
(33:23):
safe and welcoming space?
I mean, I think it's all aboutcompromise.
Um, you know, when you'rerunning a business, you know,
we're running a business here,we have to make it profitable or
we just won't exist.
Um, and, uh, in our, in our, wewe're planning on growing.
And so it's, in order to dothat, we have to make this a
business model that'll makesense so we can get the
(33:44):
investors we need to continue tomake this happen.
So it needs to be economicallysuccessful.
What we're doing.
That being said, that doesn'tnecessarily mean you have to
service the one community thatis already well established.
Um, you know, going after, goingafter a group that is and
saying, Hey, we're gonna be aservice provider for somebody
for this, for this.
Like a less defined group, um,is more challenging.
(34:06):
However, there is plenty of waysto make that work.
Um, but you do have to be aboutcompromise.
You have to listen reallyclosely.
You gotta be good at puttingpuzzles together.
Um, because at the end of theday, what this is gonna look
like in a year, it's gonna be abunch of puzzle pieces that'll
fit together.
So everybody that we hope,hopefully we can get everybody
included.
But still have a very stablebusiness that we can turn over
(34:27):
to employees that are able torun it.
So it's not quite where you comein and there is everything has
to be a decision that's reallyhard to grow with.
Um, where you have to be able tohire people that have the
ability to make those decisions.
Sometimes, you know, that thatgets complicated.
The stuff that I make decisionson or that Shanti makes
decisions on when you be able toturn that over to employees here
at some point.
And um, so finding a way toactually scale the company gets,
(34:49):
gets complicated at this, but Ithink.
For overall, if, if somebody istrying to open a venue or is
opening a venue and they'relooking at this, you have to be
able to both compromise andlisten.
And if you do those two things,you'll be fine.
You'll be able to, you'll beable to help people one way or
the other if they're not quitefitting in the box that you've
created.
(35:09):
Yeah, and I'd say the one otherpiece is, I mean, we hope that
everyone will kind of take areflective step back and want to
be more accommodating in theseways, but do it in an authentic
way.
Because if you're doing it justfor the sake of capitalizing on
a bigger market and you're notcoming from an authentic place,
then it's gonna resonate andpeople are going to be able to
tell immediately that this isn'ttrue and authentic.
(35:32):
And our story is built onpersonal experience and it's our
story, and that's what we builtour entire brand on.
So it's probably the mostauthentic thing we've ever done
in our careers because it meansso much to us and it's a
reflection of who we are as ateam.
And so, That's just kind ofwhat's woven into every aspect
of this brand and thatauthenticity really matters to
(35:52):
us.
Yes.
Yeah.
Thank you so much for sayingthat, cuz that is so true and
something that I'm constantlythinking about as you know, a
queer person and the people I'minteracting with, it's kind of
like, okay, like are you doingthis?
Just to get a paycheck or areyou doing this because you're
(36:15):
like genuinely really excitedabout it?
Mm-hmm.
Um, so that's huge.
And I think that's, you touchedon something really good.
Like if someone's doing it andit's forced, like maybe they
need to take a step back andlike reevaluate, maybe like do
some education, something likethat, because, Yeah, that's just
(36:40):
not gonna be a good experiencefor who you're serving or you
honestly.
So yeah, I'm glad you broughtthat up.
Um, and honestly, yeah, kind ofon that note, if there are
people who are kind of likedigging their feet or like
hesitant to change or dosomething out of the norm or
(37:00):
serve like a differentclientele, um, do you have any
words of wisdom or advice toshare with those?
I mean, one of the obvious onesis don't let one bad experience
become how you, you know, howyou, how you what affects your
future, right?
Mm-hmm.
So you said, well, I did, I,this one person came in and
asked for this.
(37:22):
Concession from me, and I saidyes to them, and they're from
this particular community andthat didn't work out, so
therefore I never do that again.
And it's, that's not how itworks.
Our very, one of our firstweddings in, um, one of the
cultures here in the Twin Citieswas a bit of a disaster.
We made it work, but we were nota, we did not know what we were
doing going into it, and wedidn't really know how to put
parameters around it.
(37:42):
And it didn't work on eitherside.
They didn't know what we expectfrom them.
We, we were expecting thingsthat we.
Apparently didn't communicatethe right way or that it was
understood.
And so it was a bit of adisaster that we, we managed to
make it through and everybodywas very happy.
That being said, we didn't say,well, we're not gonna do that
anymore.
Um, all we did is just learn afew lessons from that.
And we communicate Earl earlierand better now because we
(38:04):
actually know what we're talkingabout.
So now we know the, the pitfallsthat came from that particular
part, that particular wedding.
And we say, okay, so now, nowhere's how we're gonna adjust
for that going forward.
And so you have to be verycareful.
I mean, you see that a lot whensomebody is to Shanty's Point,
inauthentically making those,they're not really, they're,
they're just saying, well, Justfrom a capitalism point of view,
it makes sense for me to goafter this community.
(38:25):
Um, the moment that it getshard, they all of a sudden
aren't that interested anymore.
And it's very, you know, it'slike one thing goes wrong, never
again.
Right.
Things like that.
And that's where, you know,where that inauthentic in
inauthenticity comes from.
You can spot it that way becauseit's very hard and fast.
We don't do that anymore becauseof this one experience.
It's like, you can always do itagain.
Just be better next time.
Mm-hmm.
(38:49):
Yeah.
I love that.
Do you have anything you'd liketo add, Shante?
No, I think Dave took all mywords.
We talk, we look very smalloffice.
Okay.
So we don't have a lot of jointindividual thoughts anymore.
They're all, no, it's all, we'reweirdly one brain and sometimes
some of the weirdest ways.
(39:09):
So this is one of those goodways though, where like, I think
Dave really hit the nail on thehead.
Awesome.
Yeah, I mean like, I feel likein general when even when you
are serving maybe one kind ofclientele, like maybe most of
your clients are like straightwhite couples, in your mind
(39:33):
you're still kind of like, oh,you know, every couple is, every
couple's love story isdifferent.
And then as soon as it's someonethat looks different than that,
And that's where the digging theheels comes in.
And so, yeah.
I'm glad you brought that uptoo.
Just trying to like carry thatsame mindset over of like every
(39:54):
couple is unique.
So like I.
Yeah, you could have a differentexperience with every couple and
just trying to, as you have beensaying, to compromise, well have
some patience, have someempathy.
Those things go a long ways.
Empathy is the big one thateverybody seems to miss.
Um, and so there's a bit of awar on empathy going on, I
(40:16):
think, in our culture ingeneral.
And so it, I think empathy isone of those things.
I mean, we preach it constantly.
Chanting I have for years, andin this company and other
companies, it is warmed into thefabric of every company we've
ever been in.
Um, just for that reason.
Because you have to understandwhat the person is, where
they're at, what they're doing,and why.
And once you understand the whyof what they're doing, You can
(40:37):
understand why they made thedecisions that they did and
where they are today.
And I think that's one of thethings that everybody misses so
consistently.
Everybody likes to have a littlesympathy is like, oh, they're,
you know, it's this or it'sthat.
But again, as soon as it gets alittle hard, they drop back to
where they're at rather thanunderstand where their other
person's at.
Wow.
Yeah.
That is truly something that allof us can take away, like
(41:01):
learning to cope, like learningto.
Understand where other peopleare coming from.
I, yeah.
If anyone's listening and youdidn't get anything else, get
that.
Try to practice more empathy.
I love it.
Yeah.
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much Dave andChante.
(41:21):
You two are amazing.
Thank you for the work thatyou're doing, the thoughtfulness
you have.
It's so needed and soappreciated, and I'm just so
excited to see where you twotake this like.
Definitely need more, more goodvibes like this.
So thank you so much, and I'llbe sure to leave all of your
(41:42):
information in the show notes sopeople can go check you out.
Perfect.
Thank you so much, Anna.
Yes, and clearly, beloved, thankyou for joining us this week.
Make sure to tune again nextweek.
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