Meet Genevieve Jones | Event Planner and Grants Guru

We had the good fortune of connecting with Genevieve Jones and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Genevieve, other than deciding to work for yourself, what else do you think played a pivotal role in your story?
The single most important decision contributing to my success has been choosing education. When my dad and I immigrated from Haiti, he always stressed the importance of education. I always knew that education and experience were important for working in your passion because they make you an expert in your craft. After attending the University of Florida for undergrad and moving to Atlanta, I continually sought out additional education opportunities to grow my passion. I obtained my Event Planning Certificate in 2005 which became the foundation of my business. Since then, I have attended various seminars and training on grants administration and became proficient in grants while working in the non-profit arena with organizations that allowed me to get on-the-job training to master this valuable skill. Being a lifelong learner allows me to pivot and reinvent myself quickly during challenging times such as being a small business owner in this current pandemic.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
G-Squared Events & Consulting is my namesake (Gee-Gee). After over 15 years of free-lance event planning and consulting, I started my business to provide more comprehensive event planning and expand on my reputation of creating memorable events with excellent customer service. G-Squared Events & Consulting takes an approach to planning and executing events by thinking outside of the box ensuring that every event planned is memorable and fun. The expansion into grants consulting occurred after years of non-profit experience and understanding that to be successful as a fledgling non-profit you need funding. Funding is sometimes not readily available when you don’t have the bandwidth to focus on fundraising. We seek to assist these non-profits with access to quality grant consulting to include grant research, grant preparedness, grant writing, and program evaluation providing much-needed support that these organizations may lack. Getting here was not easy. Initially, I lacked confidence and worked a highly time-consuming full-time job. After transitioning from a non-profit organization that had its share of financial woes causing it to close, I was compelled even more to assist other organization in fundraising best practices and realized with the guidance of one of my clients, in order to keep up and grow, I would need to establish myself as a reputable business and not just free-lance. This guidance allowed me to see past that lack of confidence and get my business license and really market my services. I continue to learn and grow thanks to opportunities to learn from ivy-league professionals through programs like The Bank of America’s Institute for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Cornell, I have learned so much about being in business and how to be successful. Event Planning is more than just planning a party, it’s about being a project manager, out of the box thinker, contract negotiator, resource builder, a smiling face and so much more.G-Squared Events & Consulting is all of these things and takes every job as seriously as the last, each and every time.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This one is hard as COVID-19 is taking away some of the greatest places to go. 🙁 Monday- Center for Civil and Human Rights(have to experience the lunch counter) and World of Coke (Have brunch at Atlanta Breakfast Club and dinner at Alma Cocina- best Chicharrones Tuesday-MLK Center and Sweet Auburn Curb Market/dinner at Sweet Georgias Juke Joint Wednesday- Woodruff Arts Center and Piedmont Park walk the trail to the Ponce City Market (i enjoy the lamb sliders at Botiwalla Thursday- Zoo Atlanta and Grant Park dinner at Fox Bros BBQ Friday- Atlantic Station and dinner at Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours Saturday- Tour the city for Tiny Doors… this will take us to a lot of different neighborhoods with great things to see.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Listen, when I say I have the best #tribe ever! From my parents who have always been supportive even when they didn’t know what in the world I was doing or how I could make money from it; to my siblings who bring me all sorts of things to plan knowing I won’t let them down. From my husband, Dave who is the life of the party and my muscle to carry all those heavy event elements; to my besties Abbie and Vonetta who always connect me with resources and clients because they believe in everything I do. Can’t forget the rest of my #girltribe who are doing big things within their own right and push me to achieve greatness every day.

Website: https://gsquaredevents.net/
Instagram: gsqrdevents
Facebook: fb.com/geesqrdevents

Image Credits
Images shot by David Jones (my hubby) and myself