Meet Alena Horowitz

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alena Horowitz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alena, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
When I went back to school for entrepreneurship, I often struggled with the question: “What PROBLEM are you solving?” I felt as if my projects, products or services had to address some monumental issue. In my opinion, in finding your purpose, you don’t have to be solving a global crisis like world-hunger. Products and services can also be new, unique, cool, stylistic, and driven by wants and preferences rather than absolute NEEDS. To find your purpose, you don’t have to be solving a distinct problem, however, if you look deep enough, every activity, path or product has the potential to solve problems.

In some previous work-positions, I’ve wondered, “What’s the purpose?” I’ve felt bored, like I was wasting my time, working simply for the sake of working, or like I was lacking “fulfillment.” However, looking back on those experiences (learnings) years down the line, suddenly I realized WHY I was in that place at that specific time. It almost always seems that each STEP in my journey was the perfect step, leading me to the abilities I’ve acquired, the connections I’ve made, and the direction I was truly meant to go in.

Some things feel like RED lights, but ultimately everything leads you to GREEN lights. As they say, “when one door closes, another door opens.” Everything seems to circle back to a circumstance that helped prepare me in the past, paving the path for the present. I’m always building upon on the layers of who I was before to become the person I AM today.

A timeline of my RED & GREEN lights—the path to finding my purpose(s)—

I’ve always been interested in experiential writing, but since I was already quite the writer, my parents urged me to go to University for design to broaden my scope and become more well-rounded; Wanting to outfit a bohemian boyfriend in college led me to designing unique and colorful menswear for my fashion-thesis project; My fashion program feeling “too easy” led me to double-majoring in Interior Architecture; Fashion school led me to interning with some big fashion companies in NYC; Following my boyfriend to Boise (despite the lack of local fashion-culture) allowed me to take part in a year-long intensive entrepreneurship program while working part-time at an Architecture firm; Being laid-off from my architecture job (while simultaneously going through a breakup) led me to booking a 1-way flight to solo-travel around Europe & Asia for eight months.

This post-college “gap year” led to a gap in my resume where I was then declined from countless jobs on my search; Not being hired led to me moving to Vietnam to teach English for a year; Living in Vietnam led me to working with local artisans & vintage-shops to collect and curate funky fashions that I’d pop up and sell at grass-roots festivals—the first rendition of my business, THE WAVY BUNCH; My pop-up booth led to me being asked to help plan an “ARTIST VILLAGE” at a beach festival where I realized I’m great at event-ideation and bringing creatives together; Seeing success with my festival-fashion pop-ups in Vietnam, I returned to the USA with suitcases stacked full of fair-trade artisanal goods and started vending at small local festivals.

Realizing that small town events didn’t equate to big sales (or a full-time income), I took on several remote-marketing jobs utilizing my writing and social-media skills; Covid hit and I was able to hone my marketing skills while having lots of spare-time to define and plan for THE WAVY BUNCH and other endeavors; A friend urged me to apply to vend a BIG music festival—I was ready, and I got IN.

While attendees at music festivals are always incredible, we found that most management companies don’t really CARE about us “small-business” vendors (or frankly, for their attendees either)—it’s all about making that “mighty dollar” rather than being proactive with feedback about what PEOPLE actually want & need. The culture, music, atmosphere and inside-knowledge I acquired from vending big festivals for several years (while also realizing a deep NEED for COMMUNITY and being “part of something” where all parties’ voices were heard, feedback was accepted, and people were treated respectfully led to me to knowing that: “I should start my OWN festival.”

When I started my own festival—the NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair—a monthly vendor fair, music festival, immersive art experience and themed costume party, I was immediately joined by local and regional vendors that trusted my vision and jumped at the opportunity. I had all the right marketing, social-media, design, business, event-planning, industry-knowledge, skills and connections to make something beautiful come together.

Most of my life, I’ve disagreed with the idea of having only “one true purpose.” We are ALL multi-faceted creative BE-ings and I’ve always been interested in tinkering and dabbling in the many directions I feel called in. In reality, we all have the potential and ability to serve MANY purposes. We just have to be open to POSSIBILITY.

New ideas seem to rise to the surface simultaneously in different areas across the globe. I think this is because all these ideas and inspirations are constantly “floating” around us, ready to be “caught.” If you catch an idea/inspiration, these are “possibilities” that the universe opens up to us. Perhaps, this is “God” pinging us with our destiny, showing us what we’re capable of (if we are brave enough & willing to put in the WORK).

Of course, following through with an idea isn’t easy, however, with the right planning, organization, structure, learning, connections & mentorship, I truly do think that dreams are accessible and that anything is possible. When we’re inspired, we can literally make MAGIC HAPPEN. Those “big ideas” that pop into your mind—they are meant for you.

Through starting my own fashion business, working with many entrepreneurial minds, vending a wide array of festivals, hosting my own events, and winters spent working remotely while exploring the world, I have MANY more event, community-gathering & experiential real-estate ideas on the horizon for the future. The FUTURE is BRIGHT!

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Since the age of six, I’ve been quite entrepreneurial. Both of my parents had their own businesses and I’m lucky to have gotten the hard-working, self-starter & organizational genetics from my mother, and the writing and far-fetched-ideas gene from my father. To this day, my mom (almost 70 years old) is my biggest support and a literal work-horse assisting with lots of the heavy-lifting and organizing so that I can focus on the more “creative aspects” of my businesses.

THE WAVY BUNCH:

With my bread-and-butter fashion-business, THE WAVY BUNCH, I’m about ready to hire a summer-intern A-TEAM to take over the festival-sales circuit. I’m ready to expand and see THE WAVY BUNCH grow with a traveling sales-team while I take on more of a creative-leadership role.

Because THE WAVY BUNCH clothing is all one-of-a-kind, upcycled and handmade, the majority of our sales come from vending on-site at music festivals. The festival lifestyle has been FULL of awesome people, silly encounters, full-belly laughs, hectic hot days, crazy conditions (tornados, 65-mph winds, monsoon rains), and seeing many bucket-list musicians play top-tier venues. It’s also a LOT of ground-work and we’re getting ready to pass this super-stimulating aspect of business off to a new generation of funky, fun, responsible and motivated individuals. Selling fair-trade fashions, wearing costumes and glitter as a “uniform,” traveling often, and attending music festivals every weekend? I couldn’t think of a dreamier college-age internship!

I also plan to procure a better online presence for sales in the off-season (when the snow flies, the festival-industry hibernates). Since everything is one-of-a-kind, I want to figure out some sort of “mystery item purchase.” Here, customers can select their style, size, color & pattern preferences to then receive a one-of-a-kind item!

NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair:

For the last 4 years, the NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair has been such a fun and engaging undertaking. The positive feedback I receive from vendors and attendees feels so enriching. I remember talking to a friend at the very beginning saying, “I never really thought of event-planning as a super-creative job, but this feels like the most creative and inspiring thing I’ve ever done!” He looked back at me and suddenly made sense of it all, affirming: “That’s because you’re literally designing community!”

Creating COMMUNITY is truly how it feels. I get the privilege of bringing people toGATHER; formulating a positive, good-vibes and inclusive atmosphere; supporting other small businesses, artists & musicians; inviting like-minded individuals through social-media marketing; providing a safe space for people to meet, learn, grow, experience, dance, play, and celebrate our differences and similarities simultaneously.

This event could really be a 501c3 endeavor, so I’ll be looking into the pros & cons of converting our structure to a non-profit. I have plans to include and support more scholastic art, theater, design, and entrepreneurship programs; partnering with other local organizations to create better stages, immersive community-art projects, and overall better production; offering artist/vendor/musician “business bootcamps” to assist our people in areas like professionalism, branding, social-media management, etc.; and installing a volunteer work-based-learning program. I also have strategies to build a more environmentally-friendly festival by providing things like reusable beverage-cups (the festival-industry at-large is sadly very wasteful and full of one-time-use elements).

Along the lines of having a “short festival season,” I’d like to create a web-based or VR version of the NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair, so people can attend at any time of the year (or from the middle of nowhere) while still witnessing the unique sights, sounds, atmosphere, and feeling a sense of community while being able to shop and support small local artists and businesses.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
DO rather than THINK – This advice likely counters most guidance you’ll receive from business-schools and entrepreneurship programs. I think a lot of individuals get too preoccupied with the HOW, potential problems, and planning-out every single component before actually even starting. If you’re spending all your time thinking about and formulating your idea rather than physically DOING it, you’re not getting anywhere. Planning is definitely important, but ACTION is equally important. Have a rough plan, but don’t be afraid of getting started before you “know-it-all.” You will iron out the details along the way and your plans will PIVOT and shift anyways. Business is ART, and similarly, there is such a thing as “overworking an art.” Dive in, get started, DO IT NOW (while you’re excited about it).

Get Involved – Work within your community and get entangled with other organizations. I write sporadically for a local online newspaper and this has led me to many new connections, knowledge about different peoples, and cool projects happening in my community that I wouldn’t have stumbled across without my search for interesting news-worthy topics. Join that entrepreneurship meetup you’ve been hearing about, take that in-person photography class, attend local networking events, take your friends (and business-card) to local happenings you find fascinating. The more you do, the more people you’ll meet, the more opportunities you’ll find on the horizon.

Collaboration vs Competition – I think our system wrongly teaches us to be competitive. We’re taught that we need to be the “best” at what we do to be effective. Sure, there is some healthy “competition,” but I urge you to look at it as “outside forces pushing you to LEVEL-UP” rather than seeing it as rivalry. We’re all here together—when one of us does well, it encourages other people to RISE to the occasion. Collaborate with as many people, projects, and “competition” possible. We’re only human—we can’t do everything ourselves. Collaboration brings in more ideas, opportunity for cross-promotion, more boots on the ground, and shared-success for everyone involved.

Mentorship – Find mentors in different areas where you feel less confidant. Others can look at your ideas from a different standpoint, finding clues and connections that were totally outside of your field-of-vision. Mentors offer feedback based on their previous professional knowledge, and can send you in the right direction. Don’t be afraid to talk about your ideas. The more interesting personalities you can present to, the better. Yes, people can “copy,” but if you’re always worried about someone stealing your ideas, you’ll never get started. GOOD-LUCK to anyone trying to copy something you’re INSPIRED about. Ideas may be “a dime a dozen,” but the amount of hard work that goes into bringing BIG THINGS to reality, isn’t easy to replicate.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?
As an entrepreneur, it can be challenging to delegate responsibilities (since we often wear so many hats and want to participate in all aspects of the business we’ve created). However, I’m discovering the importance of handing off tasks to professionals in their field so that I can focus on my strengths. I’m currently looking to collaborate and hire for the following roles:

Festival Sales Team – We’re looking for a team of FUN yet professional interns to manage and run our festival-sales circuit for THE WAVY BUNC. Read our blog post, “Life as a Music Festival Vendor” to see if this is something you’d be interested in and get in touch for more details and application instructions!

Web Designers – While www.thewavybunch.com is beautiful, it could benefit from some updates. I’m seeking talented web-designers to edit, rework, and modernize our site (including an online store-front and shipping calculations). Additionally, creating a fresh web-presence for the NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair is a top priority! If you’re a web designer with strong technical skills, a keen eye for design, and a natural ease with technology, please reach out.

Fashion-Photographers – Searching for fashion photographers who can bring our vibrant one-of-a-kind pieces to LIFE. Ideally, you’ll have BIG IDEAS for creative-concepts, experience styling fashion shoots, can supply unique, bohemian male and female models. If you love creating fun, funky, festive and full-of-life stories through your lens, we’d love to collaborate!

VR-Designers/Developers – Help us make the NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair something that can be accessed by ALL! I’d love to collaborate with VR designers or developers to create an online or virtual-reality version of the event, so people can experience it year-round, no matter their location.

Vendors/Artists/Musicians & Non-Profits – If you’re a Spokane-area vendor, artist, food-truck, or non-profit, we’re always accepting new and unique participants for our monthly events! APPLY to VEND the monthly NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair! Are you a musician or touring-band? APPLY to PERFORM! Something else? We’re always open to new ideas and collaborations for fun, interactive community-projects at the NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Alena Horowitz Aria Horowitz Shayne Craig

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