Uguanda Simpson With Picture That Atlanta (an affiliate of Picture That Houston)

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by Kennesaw State University’s Executive MBA program, the accelerated degree program for working professionals looking to advance their career and enhance their leadership skills. And now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, CSU’s executive MBA program. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have Uganda Simpson with Picture that Atlanta welcome.

Uguanda Simpson: Thank you. I’m happy to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well I’m so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about picture That Atlanta. How are you serving folks?

Uguanda Simpson: Yes. So picture that Atlanta is an affiliate of picture that Houston. We are a Houston based company. But we expanded our services to the Atlanta area. I’m a an original Georgian. And um, by way of retirement, I am a Houstonian now. I’m a transplant to Houston, Texas. So we’ve expanded our services to the to the Atlanta area where we service the public sector to include the local government.

Lee Kantor: And what is it exactly you do?

Uguanda Simpson: Yes. So we are a premier event planning and entertainment company. We provide entertainment and event planning solutions. Our services range from everything from full service, a la carte day of coordination for the event planning side and for the entertainment side, we provide an array of services that includes photography, and it’s a special photography because it’s a facial recognition photography. Our clients love that. We also provide photobooth, DJ services, decor and party rentals and videography services. I’m sorry.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? Have you always been involved in the event planning business?

Uguanda Simpson: So my backstory is this back in 2013, we were planning a surprise. Well, not a surprise, but a sweet 16 masquerade party for our daughter. And my daughter actually wanted a photo booth for her party, and we could not find one within 270 miles of where we were located at the time. We’re a military family, and when I told my husband, he said he was going to see what he could do and when he went out searching, he comes back the next day and he says, I found one. And I’m like, where did you find it? He said, I bought it and I’m like, oh no, what are we going to do with that? Like, we have no clue what we’re doing with the photo booth. So that’s kind of how our business got started planning our daughter’s sweet 16 party. But I’ve been in the planning business for many, many years. When I was in the military, I was on the, uh, dining out committee, dining in committee, where we did protocol and event planning to put together events for the soldiers.

Lee Kantor: So you’ve kind of dabbled in it, and then it became your profession.

Uguanda Simpson: It did. So when I was in the military, I was in the cybersecurity world. And I although I enjoyed doing that, I knew when I started this with my daughter that, uh, it was something that I truly, truly wanted to do. And to be honest, my husband kind of planted the seed in my head. He was like, you know, when you retire, this will be something that you can do and you don’t have to worry about anything else because this is something you love. And I said, well, I love cybersecurity as well, but I truly, truly love bringing someone’s vision to life. So that’s what we did. After I retired, I started, I went full head on full speed to my event planning business.

Lee Kantor: So do you mind sharing some advice about how when you make a transition like that. Like what? So you kind of had a feel for how to, you know, build an event out based on a person’s desires. Um, but did you know how to kind of get clients and do kind of the business side of this, or was that something you were just figuring out as you went?

Uguanda Simpson: No. So prior to me retiring from the military, what I did was, um, I did a lot of self-learning. I, um, downloaded a lot of ebooks and went through those. And then I actually, uh, when I was going through my transition, I ran into a gentleman at the, uh, the post exchange, and he asked me about, you know, what I did in the military? And I said, you know, I mentioned to him what I did, and I said, well, I’m actually getting ready to retire. I’m preparing for retirement now. And he asked me what were my plans afterwards, and I told him about them. And then he said, well, you know, I went to, uh, Syracuse University and they have a program for veterans that, you know, are transitioning from the military. And when he explained it to me, it was very similar to the program that the military has for you when you’re preparing for transition. And, um, I learned more about it. Uh, reached out to Syracuse University and I enrolled in the Ivmf program, which is, uh, individual. I think it’s individual veterans, military families or something like that. And, um, I got enrolled and when I retired, I was out maybe about six months, and then Covid hit and I had to postpone my travel to attend the courses that they had. But once we got back on track, I went to the training, learned more about how to start and run a business, and after that I decided to go ahead and get certified in the business that I’m in because I felt that people would it would give me more credibility to the clients that I know what I’m doing and that they would trust me. And once I did the first event and saw it and, you know, others saw what I could do, it actually gained me more clients. And from there, you know, it was a.

Lee Kantor: It was kind of word of mouth from that point, like people were referring. Oh, that was a great party. You know, every I guess every guest at one of your events is kind of a prospect, right? Like you’re showing them what their next event could be like.

Uguanda Simpson: Absolutely. Um, so it’s primarily word of mouth, but we also like to get reviews from our clients. So we we do reviews and testimonials, and we post those out there on our website so that people can see what our work and what we’re doing. We also, you know, when people request information from us, we like to send along with our proposal photographs of events that we’ve done in the past to give them an idea and inspiration for their event and what we can do for them. And, you know, a lot of times when people are searching for, um, well, when they’re planning an event, I should say they don’t know where to start and they’ll start searching for all of these services. And what we did was decided to bring all of these services into one place. So not only do we do the event planning, but we actually have all of our own, um, supplies and decor and everything. So we don’t have to outsource those things. But we are very capable of managing vendors and coordinating with vendors, and we do that for the things that we do not provide, the services we don’t provide. We do, um, coordinate with other vendors to source those for events that we’re doing now.

Lee Kantor: Can you share a little bit about maybe there’s people out there listening that think, oh, I can do this. Like, you know, I planned my kids party, like, you know, this is just a few more people. I can do this. Can you explain why? Maybe they can’t or maybe some of the things that they’re not considering. And, you know, which is the benefit of hiring a professional who’s been there and done that.

Uguanda Simpson: Oh great question. Absolutely. And I can’t tell you how many times I work with someone and they will call me and give me their vision of what they want. I’ve actually even had clients that will put together presentations to send to me for what they want. And when I schedule my consultations with them, and I start going through the process of asking questions, and I find that a lot of people really don’t know what they want, even if they put together a presentation and they don’t think about the whole aspect of what goes into planning an event, they don’t think about the setup time. They don’t think about the breakdown time. They don’t think about what other services that they need to offer to their their guests at an event. Um, and I kind of, during our consultation process, you know, helped them to understand the, the planning process that goes with it is not just about, oh, I just need to find a venue. Um, and it allows them the opportunity to enjoy their event rather than, you know, having to go around and make sure every aspect and detail is in place and going smooth, running smoothly. So we make it an easy process for them. And, um, will we do the setup? We do the breakdown. I have an awesome team that I work with. Um, we go out, we can do the, uh, find the vendors, the venues we like. I said, we provide the entertainment, we provide the decorations, everything from, uh, envisioning it to conceptualization. And when we are done with this event, you know, once we complete the setup and my client sees this, they’re like, oh, my gosh, there’s no way I could have done all of this. And they’re very, very happy with the overall presentation afterwards when they, uh, see what it is that their vision is in culmination to what it is that we offer to them and bringing it to life for them.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there a story you can share? Don’t name the the name of the people or the organization, but maybe share that how they came to you with an idea and you were able to kind of, uh, make it bigger and better than they even imagined at first.

Uguanda Simpson: Yeah. So, um, I’ll bring I’ll give you two stories. So one was back in 2023. There was a company. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with them. Uh, niece, which is the National Council of Engineers and Surveyors. Um, they came to us. They were from South Carolina or either North Carolina, I don’t remember. They came through us, uh, by way of the Houston Hospitality Group. Um, they were referred to us. And when they were referred to us, they were referred only to get entertainment from us. However, once I consulted with the client on the, uh, from the niece organization and found out that they actually needed other services and they were not from this area, and they asked, I actually told them what services we offer and how we could help them. You know, especially if you’re coming from out of state. And once we did that, we got on a we scheduled a consultation. I put together a nice presentation for them, and I got their vision of what they wanted, and I showed them what we could do. Just, you know, through the presentation and some of our past events. And they they agreed to it. And from there it was it was a, it was a huge thing because they had, um, people coming from all around the country to Houston, Texas, and which is where the event was based. Um, they they had people come from all around the country and they wanted a they didn’t really know what they want. They wanted, um, a Texas theme. And, you know, I said, wow, okay, a Texas theme. That could be anything. But I was like, you know, Texas is we’re cowboy country, you know, and we take a lot of pride here in Houston.

Uguanda Simpson: So I said, well, you know what? What about a rodeo theme? You know, something that, you know, it culminates the colors of the spirit of Texas and the our state flag. And then we bring like, a country feel to it. And when they saw the room turn out, they were amazed at the transformation. They really loved it. Everyone. Even the guests. And another one was our last, um, our last big event that we put together, which was for the Houston Regional Veterans Chamber of Commerce. We did their business awards. This was the first inaugural business awards, and I’ve been on the planning committee with the Houston Veterans Chamber, um, for almost three years now. And I have planned a different event for them, which was our expo back in 2023. But last year when we did the the Veterans Business Awards in November. They we it was about five months of planning and I gave them just like I did with anyone else during the consultation. You know, my vision of what I thought it could be, you know, once they gave me what they wanted to see and I incorporated what they wanted and some other things, and once they saw the transformation, it was amazing. And there were people there that really, really loved a lot of business professionals that really loved the room transformation. And they wanted to work with me. So I gained clients from that. And that’s a lot of what it is outside of just people coming to my website. They’ll come to an event, they’ll ask, who did this? Like, we want to work with this person and it’s been wonderful.

Lee Kantor: So, um, who again is that ideal customer for you. You mentioned some government associations. Government and associations. Is there kind of a profile or is it like an event too small for you? It sounds like there’s no event too big for you, but is there a sweet spot for your business?

Uguanda Simpson: So absolutely, there’s no business, no event that’s too big or too small. We service social events. We service the corporate events, uh, government events. We also did federal events. So we our ideal client is to work with corporate America. However, we also work with social events as well. We’ve done weddings. We’ve done parties. So we don’t turn away clients. Um, we try to get what it is that they need, and not every client that comes to us are looking for event planning. A lot of clients will come to us just looking for entertainment services, and we provide those services that they they offer. And, you know, a lot of times when they come with what it is that they want, we will offer other things that we help. We think that will help enhance the event even more and keep their guests entertained throughout the event.

Lee Kantor: So you mentioned a couple of things that I’d like you to just give a little more detail on. One is when you’re saying entertainment services. Like what? What does that mean? Like a band or a musician or something along those lines?

Uguanda Simpson: Yes. We’ve had clients that have come to us that have wanted live bands. As a matter of fact, last March we did a corporate event. It was a 75th anniversary for a oil company, I believe, and, um, they wanted a live band and we were able to source that. Now we ourselves do not have a live band, but through our coordination piece, that’s where the coordination piece comes in. We have bands that we actually work with and that we can reach out to based on the type of music they may want to hear. We have different bands that we work with, and we’ve had clients that may only want event photography services. So an example of that. Last year we had an event for a sorority that had a week long event and they only wanted, well, they wanted photography services for the to cover the entire event and they wanted also photobooth services. So we were a photobooth and decorations. I forgot to mention that we also were able to provide three provide three different types of services to them, and they were highly pleased on that. We covered a week long event that started with a golf tournament, um, a proclamation from the mayor. And then we we went to various places around Houston as well as Galveston, and we did. We covered their entire event. So we also offer a DJ services. I’ve had people who or clients that will come to me and want. D.j. and um, and photobooth services. We’ve offered video videography services. That last event that I was mentioning, that was a week long. We offered photography and videography services for coverage for that event.

Lee Kantor: Now, you also mentioned early on some unique way of doing photography that people really like.

Uguanda Simpson: Oh yes, I love that question. So we offer what we call Spotme th, which is Spotme. Uh, picture that Houston. But it is a special face facial recognition software. It’s very innovative. Um, what it does is it maps the features in your face. So when we go out and take a picture or we’re doing photography services for an event, um, we’ll have some clients that, uh, will want their photos immediately. You know, if a lot of times when a person hires a photographer, they have to wait for a while for them to get the photos, because as a photographer, I’ve explained to clients, it’s not about just point and click. We want to make sure that we deliver the best, absolute, best product that we can to them and that they’re very satisfied with what we do. So with the facial recognition after it does the mapping, we actually can send those photos directly to that person by having them enter their phone number. We have a our software that connects with our phone. And we actually just have them enter their phone number in, and it’s almost like working with the roaming photo booth. They actually get those photos right then and there.

Lee Kantor: Wow. That’s a great service.

Uguanda Simpson: Yeah. And we can turn that feature on and off because we’ve also had clients who just specifically wanted event photography, but they didn’t want the they didn’t want the guests to have immediate access to the photos, so we turned that feature off for those those type of clients.

Lee Kantor: Right. And then they if they want to share the photos, they then can hand them out to their guests.

Uguanda Simpson: Absolutely.

Lee Kantor: Right.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Uguanda Simpson: Yes, our website is w WW dot picture that houston.com. And they can connect with us on all social media platforms. Under picture that Houston we are on Facebook Instagram TikTok I x and we’re on LinkedIn and YouTube as well. They can also reach out to us at our telephone number (281) 819-0274. And we’re also getting ready to implement A18 hundred number for our Atlanta clients. And um.

Uguanda Simpson: Yeah.

Lee Kantor: So picture that Dot com. That’s where you started in Houston. But you’re you have is it active right now where you have boots on the ground here in Atlanta?

Uguanda Simpson: Yes. It is active right now. We actually have done any uh, we’ve done two events in the Atlanta area, and we are still actively, uh, soliciting clients. We’re working with the local government on on event services for them. So we are very much active. All of our sites are social media. They can go there. They can see reviews, testimonials, they can see work we’ve done in the past and they can see some of our upcoming events.

Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Uguanda Simpson: Thank you so much for having me.

Uguanda Simpson: All right.

Lee Kantor: This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.