Meet LaCresa Callaway & Gretchen Butler | Co-Owners and Event Stylist

We had the good fortune of connecting with LaCresa Callaway Gretchen Butler and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi LaCresa and Gretchen, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Risk taking has the ability to create a lot of anxiety. Leaving our careers was one of the single most scariest decisions either of us have had to make. The fear of not knowing if your decision was the best for your family’s future will have you questioning every aspect of it. There are days when you feel like it isn’t going to work and others when you are excited that you took that leap of faith. It’s literally a roller coaster of emotions you go through. Our faith and the support of our families are sometimes what allows us to continue our journey of risking it all to follow our dream. Another aspect of taking risks is the potential absence of security. We are ultimately taught to get a job, work hard trading time for dollars, give a company 20 plus years of service, then retire. This creates a security blanket where your life becomes robotic, placing you into a proverbial “comfort zone”. Well, stepping out of that “comfort zone” definitely takes a lot of risk because you are ultimately making the decision to leave something that is guaranteed for something that may not be. That way of life we believed was not going to be fulfilling for us so we had to learn that being uncomfortable shouldn’t be a bad feeling, but one that was encouraged in order to reach true fulfillment. This is something now that we express to our children that life is short so follow your dreams! We are teaching them that going to college and/or getting a job shouldn’t be their only options. If they see fit that they want to create their own lane through entrepreneurship, then GO FOR IT!!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are an event planning company whose goal is to bring to life our customer’s special day however they imagine whether its milestone dates or just a day to celebrate. With these requests, we take pride in customizing each event with special touches specifically for that event. These range from personalized items to specialty cakes/sweet treats all currently done in-house. In the beginning, a lot of our personalized requests were outsourced to other companies. But as of recently we challenged ourselves to learn how to be more hands-on which gave us the experience we now have. To this day I am proud to say that we added the ability to personalized cakes and other sweet treats ourselves. Having these skills under our belt have not only added more value to our brand, but it has also taught us that through hard work and perseverance we can overcome adversity. None of this was done overnight as it took countless hours of studying those before us, purchasing courses tailored to our business, and simply “falling on our faces” trying to learn the aspects of event planning while giving it our own personal touch. And through it all the one catalyst to everything was us consistently telling one another that we weren’t going to stop until we got it right. Consistency, perseverance, and determination are key qualities in anything you do and so they became the absolute driving force behind us establishing ourselves. We simply want the world to know that if even you fail, you can at least walk away knowing that you tried and gave it your all. And more than likely you will be able to look back and see that the only person holding you back is–YOU!!

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.
Being an Atlanta natives we love to explore the small businesses in our city and areas to visit for hanging out with friends. Here’s a couple of brunch spots Escobar (Peters St.) and Nana’s Chicken and Waffles, for lunch visit Trend Urban Café or go down to Little Five Points. To get a nice dinner vibe downtown, go to The Sivas and to have fun with friends head over to Impulse Lounge and Karaoke. Take the family to The National Center for Civil & Human Right to catch up on history. There’s something for everyone to enjoy, by taking a scroll through Atlantic Station for shopping, activities and fun. Lastly don’t forget to visit the Mercedes Benz Stadium home to our “Atlanta Falcons”.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

I would like to give a shoutout to my children and my mom first. They not only push me daily but also allow me to focus on what’s important in my life. I would also like to give a huge shoutout to my partner in crime LaCresa for always challenging me to be the best version on myself that I can be. Even when there is something that I am afraid I am unable to do, she always have a way of encouraging me to try anyway! -Gretchen

I too, would like to give a shoutout to my children and my family. Most importantly a special shout out to my husband who was a focal point in encouraging me to take this leap of faith and leave a secured career to chase my dreams. He continues to push not only me, but us to stay the course even when sometimes we feel like we shouldn’t. And I can’t finish this without shouting out my friend, daughters Godmom, and most importantly the co-owner to our business, Gretchen. It goes without saying how much she is appreciated.
-LaCresa

Website: https://thepartysalonatl.wixsite.com/tpsa

Instagram: http://instagram.com/thepartysalon_atl

Facebook: http://m.facebook.com/thepartysalonatl

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@thepartysalonatl

Image Credits
Bryant Andrews