Today we’d like to introduce you to VerAmber Dockins.
Hi VerAmber, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
In 2020 during the pandemic, my full-time job shut down and allowed us to choose whether we wanted to work or stay home with pay. I decided to stay home with pay due to having elders that I was always around and working in retail required me to come in contact with others and I didn’t want to risk getting my family sick and of course, around that time a lot of places were closed anyways so I felt it was the best thing to do. After a while being home affected me mentally because I became bored, had other things going on in my personal life and wasn’t used to not working. I’ve always loved seeing others happy, putting events together and just having a good time so I decided to start looking at DIY projects. At the time I was in the household with grade school kids and due to the pandemic, their promotion ceremony was canceled. I partnered with a friend at the time and family and put together a backyard ceremony for them so they could still have a feel of their promotion ceremony. I mean, after all, even though they went from in-person school to virtual learning, they worked hard because the adjustment was not easy and I felt they needed some type of normalcy. At the time I wasn’t really into balloons I just liked putting the event together as a whole and having my vision come to life.
After the backyard promotion ceremony, it came to me VerAmber this is what you should be doing. June 2021, I decided to get more serious with my craft networking, taking the necessary classes I felt that would help me as well. During that time I wasn’t alone I had a partner however I decided to branch out in March of 2022. To be completely honest, I hit rock bottom because there I was back at the drawing board and felt as if I failed. Starting over was the hardest part for me. I wanted to just call it quits. Just when I thought there wasn’t any light at the tunnel I received a phone call and was asked if I could plan a baby shower. I was still a little hesitant because I didn’t have my name picked out and wasn’t even fully sure if I wanted to give it a try again so soon not having everything together. My family, friends, boyfriend and mentors all gave me words of encouragement and I prayed over it. Within a couple of weeks, I had planned my first full event. April 30th, 2022 was my redemption the oh baby dreams do come true baby shower gave me all the fuel I needed. I started back doing what I loved. Doing events in between and I cut out a lot and focused on what was really important to me and made me happy. If I didn’t have events, I would partner with other event planners and see if they needed help. On July 2, 2022 I launched Galore Events by Vee. The Galore Experience was now here for everyone.
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?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road at all. Some of the struggles I faced along the way was my faith being tested. Starting off I just jumped in not doing the proper research causing me to invest in the wrong things and do things incorrectly which resulted in me losing a-lot of money that came straight out of pocket. Under pricing was something I struggled with as well causing me to over work and feel burned out. In the midst of my journey my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and even after her recovery I was still taking her to appointments twice out of the week while still working a full time retail job without a set schedule that would work for my personal life and my business hours had me going into depression and made my anxiety really bad causing me to lose focus because there was no work life balance but eventually I took a leap of faith knowing I didn’t have the degrees that positions required but still applied and moved up to corporate and everything worked out for the better.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Galore Events by Vee or as I like to say The Galore Experience is an Event Planning business that offers full event planning, ballon decor, rentals and more.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Born and raised in Houston, TX. I grew up on S. MacGregor Way. Me and my sibling are 12 years apart and my mom kept me away from other areas of the third ward and being the baby I was really an introvert growing up. I was raised in a single-parent home but the love from my village taught me how to be kind-hearted, love whole heartily and they introduced me to Christ at a very young age. I enjoyed swimming and praise dancing as a kid. It was around my teenage years in my BCIS class I realized I wanted my own business one day.
Pricing:
- 6 – 9 ft Ballon Garland $200.00 (2 Colors)
- $1,000 Focal Point Setups
- Ballon Wall 8 x 8 $375.00 (2 Colors)
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/galoreeventsbyvee/
