The Collective. In review.
Taking a moment to take it all in…
I cannot believe I am sitting here in September, nearly a month after the first ever Good Space Collective. The day was such a whirlwind and was truly, one of the greatest days of my life. There is something so powerful about watching a room full of women gather, connect, lead with kindness, and create together. I loved hearing the messages of attendees who had impactful moments at The Collective.
Even if it wasn’t life changing for everyone, knowing it sparked women to believe in themselves, make a new connection, and feel reinspired was all that mattered- even if it was only one person.
Wanna know all the behind the scenes? Lemme tell ya, it wasn’t always all good.
The story goes like this….
2018 Yellow Conference
Yellow Conference Dreaming
Back in 2018, four of us dreamers (pictured on the left) set out to Los Angeles for the 2-day Yellow Conference. This event exceeded all of my wildest expectations and I left the event truly on cloud nine. It was during this conference that I began to dream up the concept of The Good Space Co, it wasn’t until nearly a year later that The Good Space was named, formed, and established- but that’s a story for another time.
Anyways, this conference was so impactful to me that it got me thinking- why don’t we have something like this in Cleveland?!
Pause + Inspiration
Fast forward to 2020, The Good Space Co. is now an official business, I am furloughed from my corporate job, and Covid has dramatically changed the world we are living in. During furlough, I had an abundance of time on my hands. I enlisted in a few coaching programs with two of my inspirations- The Shift Creative and Jordan Dooley to keep my mind stimulated (& get me off Netflix).
During these coaching programs, I started to network like crazy! Through a series of introductions, I met Rachel Kerr, founder of The Beauty Boost. Rachel and I instantly hit it off on the phone. We seemed to have a lot in common and I was so inspired by her passionate, charismatic personality, and her ability to grow her business.
During this time, I started to get back to that question “why don’t we have an amazing women’s conference, like I experienced in LA, here in Cleveland?” So, I put together a POWER POINT (yes you read that right) with what was in my mind. What the day would look like, feel like, and the creative energy I wanted in the room. I shared this with Rachel and she said “I’m in”.
Having Rachel on board made everything suddenly feel real. She challenged me to think differently, pushed me, and ultimately made me believe in myself- thank you Rach :)
Finding & falling for Gordon Green
Once upon a time, there was a MAGICAL place called Gordon Green where dreams came true- the end. Yep, that’s pretty much the fairytale of stumbling on Gordon Green in November of 2020 (I still have the DM to prove it).
I was scrolling Instagram one day and this GORGEOUS venue popped up on someone’s story. It stopped me in my tracks and I clicked the location to get the scoop.
After a few messages, I had a phone call with Jacob- one of the owners of Gordon Green and truly one of the most fun, brilliant, and genuine humans in Cleveland.
I shared my vision with him and it felt meant-to-be. He liked the look and feel of our brand (shout out to Amanda) and said he had always wanted the venue to be used for highlighting women in events like this.
We booked for August 22nd of 2021 for the FIRST annual Good Space Collective. YESSSS I hope you are feeling the chills…..
Who you associate your brand with is
EVERYTHING!
I cannot say this enough- the WHO matters. Finding the right speakers, panelists, vendors, sponsors, and volunteers was EVERYTHING for us. What makes a space a Good Space is the people, always.
We had a list of dream speakers for our keynote and at the top of that list for the Revival theme was Kelsey Shepard of Kelsey Elizabeth Cakes.
Now this felt like a long shot…to be honest, we had about 700 followers, we had never hosted an event to this magnitude before, and we didn’t have much incentive for Kelsey to say yes.
Thankfully, some of my mentors like Tammy Lyons and Emily Roggenburk had committed to the event, which was a big help for generating more credibility!
I had a 30 minute zoom call with Kelsey and I was trying not to fan girl too hard and go into a long dissertation about how much I love her macarons. It was another God moment because she said YES!
Having Kelsey as our keynote speaker was a HUGE momentum booster. The pieces were falling together.
This next chapter is called…Phone Calls
There were so. many. phone calls. From booking speakers, vendors, sponsors, décor, audio/visual, food, the list goes on….I probably spent a good 6 months just doing outreach. For every 5 messages I sent, I would receive 1 yes. Not always because I was hearing a no, but a lot of times I just wouldn’t hear back.
During this time, I was blown away by the generosity of Cleveland from speakers, to sponsors, to collaborators, so many businesses came along side the vision for the day to support the women of Cleveland.
If you have a mission to SERVE others, there will be others who want to sever alongside you.
The Good Space Collective was a COLLECTIVE effort.
The final part of this story is the art of dancing in the kitchen
After securing an amazing list of speakers, vendors, sponsors, & collaborators - we were ready to launch tickets. I had a six month marketing plan in place and ready to go. We launched tickets & in 24 hours tickets sold out…. (pause for dramatic effect).
To say I was stunned is an understatement.
I will never forget Ryan and I dancing in my kitchen watching the orders roll in. There is nothing quiet like putting your dream out into the world and seeing other people want to be a part of it. The rest is history….maybe a story for another blog post ;) Much Love,
Morgs
There are not enough words to say THANK YOU
To Jacob of Gordon Green (the beautiful venue) & Rachel of The Beauty Boost who made this day possible - THANK YOU!
To our lunch sponsors: CoreLife Eatery, GO Buddha, and Boaz who provided 150 delicious, health conscious meals for the attendees, vendors, and volunteers of the Good Space Collective, THANK YOU!
To our design collaborators: Blossom Cleveland, Lavender and Lace, Poppin Cleveland, and the Cleveland Flea who provided floral installations, stage décor, and balloon arches that MADE the event- THANK YOU!
To our experience stations including empowerment photography by Rachel Shields, cotton candy spinning by Art of Sucre, and letters to yourself by Rose Gold Studio - THANK YOU!
To our snacks and drink sponsors including bagels from Cocky’s Bagels, Simplicity fresh juice, Kelsey Elizabeth Cakes sweets, Sweet Revolution! bake shop, RISE Brewing Co. coffee and BeeFree granola - THANK YOU!
To the incredible photographer and videographer- who captured the day Gabby Mae Photography and Chaustin Media -THANK YOU!
Finally, to all our vendors, speakers, volunteers, my family/friends, and any other supporters of the event- THANK YOU for making this all possible!
