Check out Alyssa Gallion’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alyssa Gallion.

Alyssa Gallion, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.

When I was in high school, I was the student body vice president, which meant I filled in when the President couldn’t fulfill a duty. The previous year, we had a carnival that hosted around 300 people. When I took over the next year, we had 3000 attends. It turns out I was pretty good at events.

Of course, I could have stopped at that and decided events were meant to be. However, I wanted to ensure that I loved ALL parts of events: the good, the bad, the ugly. I applied for internships with several event planners but only one responded: Angela Carlon. She had the same philosophy on events that I did in that we knew something would always go wrong with events, the key was to remain calm and take it one step at a time. After all, that’s why the client hires you!

After interning for a few years, helping to coordinate weddings, we decided it was time for a change. It could have been because of a Russian/Czech wedding where vodka and ledges on Mt. Lemmon were just too much stress at one time. We decided to develop a business called, Social DoGooder, where big events gave a percentage back.

It turns out we were both pretty busy, so Angela offered to sell me the business. Straight out of college at The University of Arizona, I couldn’t necessarily pay to take it off her hands. Then, a few years ago, my mom passed away from breast cancer and Angela said she had a tiny voice on her shoulder telling her that she had to GIVE me the business at no cost to me, because this nagging feeling told her I could do more good with it.

Naturally, I thanked her by completing changing the business model with the help of StartUp Tucson and within 8 weeks I had a brand-new business: people building their event on our site, with us doing all of the heavy lifting, and a percentage going to charity (Celebrate for Good). Since our founding in 2016, we have hosted 40 events, hired on 25 contractors, raised nearly $5k for charity, and I have left my job to pursue this dream full time.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
A client heads to our website to build an event based on their budget. For example, they say I want 100 people on this date. Great! Here are some venues that are available. Then they can add things like a private chef, a bartender, and more to make it a truly memorable experience, all while the budget builds on the right-hand side. Then their event is assigned to an experience designer and they make an awesome party based on that budget. The guests then RSVP and can donate in lieu of a gift (companies can donate a flat amount to write off) and the host doesn’t have to lift a finger.

How can artists connect with other artists?
I have been really involved with StartUp Tucson and have helped to create a community called XTucson which helps us connect with socials, workshops and Jam Sessions (where we chat about the difficulties of being an entrepreneur). For me personally, I have to have alone time that isn’t dedicated to my art or business, which then allows me to make those connections with others.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
www.celebrateforgood.com/contact-us
www.instagram.com/celebrate_for_good
www.facebook.com/celebrateforgood

Contact Info:

• Website: www.celebrateforgood.com
• Phone: 520-780-0164
• Email: alyssa@celebrateforgood.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/celebrate_for_good
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/celebrateforgood

Image Credit:
Rights belong to CFG and we use various photographers. If you have a way for me to add them individually that would be awesome.

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.