It was marvelous to me from the get-go. Witnessing all the moving parts simply blew my mind. Catering, rentals, staging, lightning, power distribution, sound engineering, decor, photography, videography, entertainment, (and more) plus all the labor! This industry is job creator. I knew being in this industry would allow me to keep tapping into my creativity and always keep food on my table.
Live Music and photography have always been my passions. So while working in catering, I was photographing actors and musicians while performing my original songs at all the local coffee houses in LA. I had the support of a few fellow photographers who encouraged me to start my own business. In April of 2000, I launched VeroFoto Photography. I immediately acquired photo gigs in the corporate and wedding industries and began to see a massive return on my investment in no time at all.
I come from a family of Sicilian Immigrants. My parents moved to New Jersey with hardly anything. They didn’t speak a lick of English. Within a year, they owned a restaurant. A year after that, they bought a home. I’m grateful to have had them as my first examples of how to hustle and make things happen.
Making things happen is in my blood.
After 11 years, VeroFoto had momentum and was on auto-pilot. This meant I could focus on music again. Michael, my business partner and husband, who happens to be an incredible music educator, music director and drummer, encouraged us to start The Replicas Music (Live Music for Special Events). We began auditioning musicians and putting our team together. By January 2011 we launched!
Over the last 12 years, The Replicas Music’s ensembles have performed for our clientele of some of the largest names in the world such as Google, LinkedIn, AppFolio … as well as NASA.
In 2019 I wrote a book, “Be a Rock Star Live Music Producer – A Live Music Production Guide for Event Planners”. My intent was to help new event creatives understand the logistics of live music production. There’s a quote by ‘The Boss’, Bruce Springsteen at the end of my book. Stephen Colbert interviewed him in 2016 and mentioned that he’s intimidated when talking to great musicians because there’s a magic there that he doesn’t understand. So he asked Bruce, “What is that magic to you?”
Springsteen said, “You’re there to manifest something, before you go in, it’s an empty space, it’s an empty building. So the audience is gonna come and you’re gonna show up and together you’re gonna manifest something that’s very very real, that’s very tangible. But you’re gonna pull it out of thin air. It wasn’t there before you showed up … It didn’t exist. It’s a real Magic.”
His response was so poignant to what we all do as event professionals. We create magic with all the moving parts.
Links:
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth? No. As they say, “If it were easy, everyone would do it”. VeroFoto Photography was easier than starting The Replicas Music, without a doubt. The impetus to write my book about event music production was because of these struggles of having to constantly explain why each rider requirement is a necessity and not a ‘want’, but a ‘must’. Event planners (especially in the wedding world) are so focussed on the pretty aspects of production, which they nail every time. But the other important elements such as power distribution, staging and lighting are just as important as the rest of the production, yet they are very much ignored way too often.
The book has been a success and is now being used in the corporate event world as a training tool for new event planners.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
What sets me apart is my knowledge of the many moving parts and understanding the importance of each. That it requires the entire team to work together for the client and that all egos must be checked at the door. We are in the ’solution finding’ business. Everything does not go according to plan all the time and we have to go with the flow and not get stressed. That’s how I operate.
How do you define success?
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.
thereplicasmusic.com/ - Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/ thereplicasmusic/ - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/TheReplicasMusic/ - Youtube: https://www.youtube.
com/thereplicasmusic - Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/
biz/the-replicas-music-los- angeles - Other: http://veronicapuleo.
com/
Image Credits:
Veronica Puleo Brian Kramer Kim Fox Moses Sparks Brie Childers
