Girl Crush x Jessica Cheney
GIRL CRUSH x Jessica Cheney
CEO & Founder of We Crush Events
In the very first Girl Crush article of 2021, I interviewed the CEO of We Crush Events, Jessica Cheney. We Crush Events creates unique custom events for employees and clients and has been named one of the fastest growing private businesses’ by INC in 2020! Like so many of us, Jessica and her team had to quickly pivot last year from in-person events to virtual, which allowed her business to not only survive this pandemic but really to thrive, as they planned over 150 virtual events in just the month of December alone!
Jessica and her partner Danielle started We Crush Events 5 years ago out of their apartments in Los Angeles after they were both laid off from their former company. They both loved the work they were doing in the events industry, and continued to search for opportunities that felt aligned with taking their careers to the next level. One day Jessica received a text from a previous client asking her to plan one of her upcoming events. Without hesitation, Jessica knew she could rise to the challenge, even if she didn’t technically work for an event planning company anymore. Jessica and Danielle realized this could be their chance to pick up where they left off and get to do everything their way from start to finish. They thought about what each of them would bring to the table, and what it would actually mean to start a business. They were up for the challenge!
It was exciting to be my own boss, to not have to report to anyone, to get to build something from the ground up.
It’s so impressive when someone can turn such hardship into a positive experience, and Jessica and Danielle did just that. “It took a lot of strategic budgeting and planning, but ultimately what pushed me forward was the excitement of it. It was exciting to be my own boss, to not have to report to anyone, to get to build something from the ground up and do things my way. It was thrilling!” Yet even though they had opened the business, the cash didn’t exactly come flowing in. Each step became a learning experience full of questions and challenges, forcing Jessica and Danielle to ride the wave of uncertainty and anticipation.
As Jessica’s business started to grow, it became necessary to hire more people in order to keep up with demand. While that was exciting it also meant vetting the right talent with the right skill sets would be crucial to their growth. “You want to do your due diligence when you are hiring, but at the end of the day you don’t really know if someone is a fit or not until you’ve seen them perform. It's easy to get caught up in the emotion of wanting to keep someone on because they are kind hearted or because they love their job. But if you’ve given them opportunities and they aren’t delivering, it’s probably best to let them go. Otherwise you are doing a disservice to both the employee and to your business.”
Danielle Thieret and Jessica Cheney at one of their outdoor events in LA.
As a female business owner, Jessica admits that she did feel an element of not being taken seriously at times. “It was difficult to be the strong headed owners and founders that we wanted to be, without feeling like we were bossing people around. When men are in charge it doesn’t feel like they are bossing you around, it just feels like they are doing their job. We inherently have a higher level of respect for them because of the gender norms we have established as a whole and in this industry.” Jessica and Danielle understand that they have the chance to do things differently and show up for their team in a new way. They were able to grow their team from just the two of them to a team of 8 fierce females! As they navigate the events industry they strive to lead with empathy and vulnerability and find that their employees are more connected and stronger for it.
After five years of owning a business, the biggest piece of advice that Jessica has to remind herself of everyday is not to sweat the small stuff. When you are just starting out it can be very intimidating and there is so much to figure out, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and hung up on the details of every little thing. You are going to make mistakes, it’s going to be hard at times. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and don’t get hung up on the bumps in the road.
A quote my dad used to say a lot growing up is, “You’ll never work a day in your life if you love what you do.” It’s so true isn’t it? There will always be parts about a job that we love and that we hate, but when you truly love what you do the bad days don’t seem so bad. “There’s a lot of laughter in our business.” Jessica says, “Danielle is the CFO- Chief Fun Officer! And I’m the CEO- Chief Events Officer! Our company is called We Crush Events so we can’t take ourselves too seriously. We know that at the end of the day we aren’t curing cancer or building rocket ships, so as long as we can be lighthearted about what we are doing it makes it easy to have fun with it. We are planning parties! It really doesn’t get any cooler than that. We try to go into everything with that positive mindset and that is what has carried us through.”
This was a year that no one could have predicted. So many businesses were faced with challenges that they never faced before. Jessica and Danielle had to be agile and think quickly and strategically in order to keep their business alive. Last January and February started out relatively normal for We Crush Events and for most of the world. But once March hit, things looked different. “There was a 90 day period from March to May when it was just crickets and we hadn’t really decided what we were going to do. Then Danielle came to me and said we have to go virtual.” In a lot of ways it was like starting from square one. Jessica, Danielle and their team researched how other companies were making it work and reached out to clients to see what they needed and would be most interested in. “We went back to basics and we were cold calling. We didn’t get fancy. We updated our LinkedIn profiles and started building email lists. We were sending at least 200 cold emails per day and made sure everyone on our team was doing the same. We knew we had to do everything we could to try to get business.”
We were sending at least 200 cold emails per day and made sure everyone on our team was doing the same. We knew we had to do everything we could to try to get business.
Jessica and Danielle also noticed their vendors had pivoted into this new world of virtual events. They saw an opportunity to do the same and made it a priority to work with many of the vendors that they used to partner with for in person events prior to the pandemic. These vendors now offer everything online from magic shows, wine tastings, game show mash ups, paint mixers, mixology classes and cyberspace races! “Each of those experiences that you see on our website is tied to another company or vendor that is going through the same exact hurdle we are, and they figured out how to convert it to virtual and they are making it happen! It is important to us to send business their way and lift other companies in our industry up along with us.”
As a writer who is passionate about all things health and wellness, I am always curious to know what each Girl Crush’s self care routine looks like. As a CEO, Jessica works best when she is grounded in her routine and sticks to it. “Of course this year is different,” she says, “now I get to show up in my kitchen in my sweatpants and work! But the number one thing I do need every single day is a solid breakfast. Primarily eggs. I cannot go to work hungry! And of course, coffee.” Self care can take on many different forms and what works for one person might not work for another. You don’t have to have a wellness routine to succeed but you do need some sort of structure to your day. Figure out what works best for you; if you are a morning person or a night owl, if you love massages or hate them, if you like reading before bed to unwind or if it puts you to sleep, and learn to play to your strengths and set yourself up for success!
The last question that I ask every Girl Crush is one that is near and dear to my heart. What are three things you are grateful for right now? I love to hear each Girl Crush’s perspective on what they are grateful for and I believe that when we focus on gratitude we are choosing to see all that we have rather than focus on all that we lack. The three things Jessica is most grateful for in her life right now are:
Jessica + her husband Luke having fun at an event!
1. Her husband.
2. Puzzles.
3. Her home.
Jessica’s story was important to share because I think so many other companies and founders need to know that they are not alone in what they are going through right now with the pandemic. Jessica and Danielle worked incredibly hard to start We Crush Events and this past year to keep it afloat as they continually pivot their business and dream up new ways of making virtual events possible.
Whatever point you are at in your life, I hope that your takeaway from this article and all Girl Crush articles is to never give up on your dreams. I hope that when you read these stories of women who have struggled to get started or relentlessly climbed their way to the top that you remember they are just like you and me. Their fearless actions prove to us that we too can do hard things. Jessica’s story is one that I hope inspires you to tackle challenges you're facing in your own life. She turned fear into action, built a company out of calamity, and was able to manifest and maintain the life she wanted. It’s truly amazing to see how far she has come in the past 5 years and I cannot wait to see where she takes We Crush Events next!
