As you celebrate Mother’s Day, Jessica Williams hopes you’ll make it “whimsical.” That’s her goal with every event that she stages in her business, Whimsical Celebrations.

Williams, headquartered in Neenah, wants to bring a unique touch to events throughout northeastern Wisconsin. She has the experience to do just that.

“All of my jobs have had some sort of event planning,” she said. “It started in high school when I planned a talent show. That extended into college where as a resident assistant, I put on a social event every month. With every job, there was always something. I was always a leader.”

She was a summer event intern at Leach Amphitheater in Oshkosh, event coordinator and fundraising intern for Appleton’s Children’s Hospital, and ministry assistant for Lourdes Academy. She helped plan events featuring clowns, space robots, face painting, reptiles, mascots, and myriad other activities.

Even while working at Fort McCoy and then serving in the U.S. Army Reserves for nine years, Williams volunteered to help put together fundraising events as she worked toward an MBA. In the midst of a busy career, she began to dream of starting a business.

“Throughout my life from high school and on, many people would ask why I wasn’t an event planner," she said. "I had arranged talent shows, community events, educational and social gatherings, and served as a public speaker for various occasions and roles. Yet, even with all of my experience, I never felt Wisconsin was the best market to host events and get paid for it.”

That changed when she hosted an Art Party in June 2022.

“I said that everyone should dress for a mess,” Williams said. “It was a full-day outside in perfect weather where we tie-dyed with squirt guns, did a paint slip-n-slide, threw darts and paint-filled balloons, and created masterpieces by painting pots, jar, and canvases. It was the most popular and fun event I ever hosted.”

As the compliments poured in, family and friends encouraged her to explore the possibility of starting a business. With that nudge, she began her research and decided to forge ahead. That led to the creation of a business model, formation of an LLC, and graphic design. She also came up with a name.

“The name, Whimsical Celebrations, was thoroughly thought out," she said. "Whimsical means playful quaint or fanciful; a celebration is the action of marking one’s pleasure at an important event or occasion. I want to celebrate any and all occasions because every individual deserves to laugh, be joyful, and live in the moment.”

To hone her business skills, she signed up for the Vetrepreneur Project Course for veterans that was funded by the Venture Project and Salute the Troops. The seven-week program took place at the Venture Center in Oshkosh, and concluded with a business pitch contest where she was runner-up.

August marked the official start of Whimsical Celebrations. Then, in January, she quit her full-time job to dedicate all of her time to the business.

“It was getting hard to have two full-time jobs so I decided to take the risk,” she said. “After a long career of working for someone else, I decided it was time to challenge myself. I was confident that I could be successful at bringing something like this to the community.”

As she works to get established, there have been challenges. It has been hard to figure out pricing and she says that she originally “undersold” herself and wasn’t compensated for all of the hours of planning. For a rental aspect of the business, she purchased products that cost thousands of dollars.

“I should have waited until I knew I needed or would need such items,” she noted.

Williams now follows a business model in a format developed in her business classes at the Venture Center. She uses the business model canvas, an illustrative method of posting ideas and concepts on a large board. With the illustrations and sticky notes, she is able to be adaptable and pivot when necessary.

The same trial and error applies to her marketing plan. With a target market that is defined as people who don’t have the time, expertise, or desire to plan an event themselves, she needs to get brand recognition so those people can find her.

“I am posting on social media at least once a day, but the options continue to grow,” Williams stated. “I sent post cards to members of area chambers of commerce and am networking by taking part in a number of groups.”

The contacts made at the Vetrepreneur Class, led by Amy Pietsch of Fox Valley Techincal College's Venture Center, have been a great help and she lauds the classes.

She said, “It is all about let’s talk and get to work instead of just being lectured at. Because I have fellow classmates, we are learning together.”

That education has her testing the market, and she says, if it’s a hit, you run with it. If not, you adjust.

Throughout it all, she goes forward with the goal of extinguishing boring parties and replacing them with fun, innovative, and memorable events. She will plan, host, execute, develop games, work remotely or in person, and do as much or little as her clients want. She will do family reunions, murder mystery dinners, date nights, proposals, wine and craft nights, business events, and almost any type of celebration.

Her goal, within a year, is to have one event a week at minimum. By year five, she says her big goal is to have a venue with themed rooms in a variety of sizes with enough land to hold almost any event. Above all, Williams wants to be known for bringing joy.

“What I love about this business is the smiles and laughter that occur and being able to see the joy in that moment,” she said. “It’s hard to capture that, but over the weekend I had a game night and my tripod was set up to take a photo, and spontaneously, everyone just burst out laughing. I love that photo. Having so much laughter that people are crying and their bellies hurt.”

Tina Dettman-Bielefeldt is co-owner of DB Commercial Real Estate in Green Bay and past district director for SCORE, Wisconsin.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Whimsical Celebrations of Neenah ready to take your event to new level