Community Highlights: Meet Iris Hosea and Patty Flores of Festively

Today we’d like to introduce you to Iris Hosea and Patty Flores.

Hi Iris and Patty, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Festively is a marketplace where busy moms and savvy businesses can search for and buy from local minority-owned bakers, florists, balloon stylists, and more for their special celebrations and milestones. If you’ve ever planned a party, you know it can be a lot of work. With Festively, customers can search for what they need, discover creative entrepreneurs right in their own community, and easily book and buy from them online.

Festively is founded by two women of color who felt and knew they wanted more out of life. We are co-founders who met at work but spent our lunches and a lot of time chatting about our dreams of being an entrepreneur. Yes, we had successful careers in corporate America making six figures, but we knew there was something missing. For many years we planned corporate events and family parties. We struggled with finding the right vendors to match our theme and vision. We’d look on social media and find them out of state or out of our area and they were charging hefty delivery fees. We wanted someone local, someone, with quality products and services. We created Festively to solve a problem we knew others were experiencing.

We are motivated to build a legacy for our families and at the same time have a business that excites us to wake up early and work late at night. We also wanted to build a community that helped other women business owners. We call this a second career and it is a fulfilling one.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Our overall journey has faced its share of challenges, primarily with starting a new business and launching a custom site. We are self-funded and building the site from scratch, with custom features and that takes time to get it right.

We have been working with our developers for more than a year and everyone was impacted by COVID-19. Now that we have launched, we are focused on sales and ensuring an ROI for our members. We believe everything happens for a reason. We are so excited to bring Festively to those who are planning celebrations both big and small. We are the new go-to place to find all your party essentials to rent and buy from local businesses right here in Southern California.

We’ve been impressed with Festively, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We’ve been in the event industry planning corporate events for many years. Festively was created out of frustration searching for the essentials needed for personal and professional celebrations. We’ve found an abundance of event professionals right in our communities owned by women of color and we are focused on creating a place and community where they can thrive.

Over a hundred small businesses use Festively’s custom platform to take orders, automate communications, and meet the digital-first needs that consumers demand. Festively also contributes to the growth of these small businesses by providing a supportive community that offers ongoing education and information sessions, networking opportunities, and access to new clients such as business associations, corporations, and conscious moms who want to support minority & women-owned businesses. Our online platform, Festively.com, is a great addition to add to an event business marketing strategy.

In addition to being a website that provides small gift and celebration businesses with an online presence, we are offering our customers something special for the holidays. We are launching our Holiday Gift Guide featuring custom gift boxes from Festively vendors, they will be perfect for you to gift all the special someone in your life.

Learn more about them on Festively.com.

How do you define success?
We are moms with a dream. For the past few years, we’ve been working nights and weekends to bring our dream business to life. During that time, we’ve been able to cultivate a wonderful community of event entrepreneurs with whom we share ideas, resources, and struggles. We’ve listened to their challenges and our online platform, Festively, can help solve their needs.

But we won’t stop there. Our mission is to help 100,000 minority women in the US build thriving businesses from their passion for creating and serving through events, celebrations, and more. We are passionate about helping women of color find economic stability to support themselves, and their families and build confidence to overcome challenges. As we gain traction, we envision hosting classes at domestic violence shelters to inspire women to pursue business ownership and gain financial security, and confidence to pursue their dreams.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.festively.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sofestively
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sofestively
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/sofestively