May 8, 2017

Meet Lauren Benitez of Monkey Booth Pics

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Benitez.

Lauren, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in the vibrant and historic city of San Antonio, Texas, which has always interested me in the arts and influenced me creatively. My father and his family are entrepreneurs who opened up a chain of automotive paint stores. Being in and out of the paint store as a child, I always wanted to start a business and be my own boss. Growing up, I had many different business ideas, but never any that I fell in love with enough to pursue.

Eventually I went to the University of San Antonio where I graduated and received my Bachelor’s Degree in Education. I taught for a couple years in San Antonio and Sydney, Australia. In 2013, I decided to move to Houston to be closer to my boyfriend, Alex, who is an outstanding wedding photographer. Alex opened the doors for me to the wonderful world that is the wedding industry. I attended many wedding trade shows in support of his photography business. While at the trade shows, I noticed a few photo booth rental companies. I thought to myself. “Oh my gosh, this is so much fun! I can totally do this – but even better!”

I used money that I had saved up from teaching to start up the business. I felt like I had a bit of an edge being that I was young and aware of a lot of the current trends. I quickly began my journey in creating a photo booth rental company that was fresh, unique, and up to date with technology. After about six months of research and many all-nighters, I finally had a finished product. Monkey Booth Pics’ first photo booth! Alex and I threw a launch party with a bunch of friends and the booth was such a big hit. I knew right away that the business would be a success. It was such an amazing night that I will never forget, especially because there are about 100 photo booth pictures all over our fridge and our friends’ Facebook walls to remind me!

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In the beginning, there were quite a few bumps in the road. There are almost always going to be problems when you are dealing with unfamiliar technology for the first time. There was a whole lot of trial and error. There were so many instances in the building phase where the booth wouldn’t work and I wasn’t sure what was wrong. I would spend hours wracking my brain trying to figure out what the problem was when it turned out to just be a faulty wire or something. It was really frustrating at times. Fortunately, I have had a ton of support and a team of people (who now work for the company) who have really helped me along the way. Sometimes I overthink things and need an outside perspective. Now that we’ve worked out almost all of the kinks, it’s been smooth sailing for the most part, so I feel incredibly lucky about that!

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Monkey Booth Pics – what should we know?
When a client rents out the Monkey Booth we want them to experience a photo booth unlike any they’ve been in before. We want our clients and their guests to be able to look back on their photos and relive the night over again, remembering the joy and excitement that was shared amongst all of their friends and family. The Monkey Booth captures guests in a moment of genuine laughter and fun with our hilarious props and high quality photographs. We are more than just a photo company, we specialize in entertainment! Our photo booth tenants possess characteristics that not only are friendly and laid back, but also professional and helpful. With integrated social features, guests can instantly share pictures to their favorite social media platform straight from the booth. Monkey Booth Pics’ easygoing and hospitable customer service is the icing on the cake that keeps our clients coming back!

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
The key to our success is that we strive for the highest caliber product and service from the moment our client emails us to the delivery of the final photo. The way we interact with our clients, the energy we bring to each event, the studio quality of our pictures, our funny props, and the unique style of our booth are just a few ways that we consistently aim to stand out from the rest. When guests reflect on the event, we always want them to remember the Monkey Booth and refer us to others.

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