Adam Torres and Erika Liu Wong discuss Mega Mix Expo.
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Show Notes:
Listen to Mega Mix Expo coverage. In this episode, Adam Torres and Erika Liu Wong, Founder and Event Planner at Love Liu Wong Time, explore Love Liu Wong Time and the upcoming Mega Mix Expo.
About Erika Liu Wong
Erika Liu Wong is not just an event planner, she is a master of creating unforgettable moments. With her skillful time management and budget oversight, she ensures a smooth execution of events while handling all the details. Trust Erika to bring your event vision to life and make it an experience to remember.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and hit on be our guest to apply. All right. So today I have Erica Lu Wong on the line and she is the founder and also an event planner over at Love Lu Wong Time.
Erica, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me, Adam. All right. So I’m excited about the upcoming Megamix Expo. I know that we met each other for the first time in person when we were walking the grounds and kind of Tony was showing us around the grounds and , the vision for the event now that I’ve been doing all of these interviews.
I’ve had some people on that have been there since the first event. I’ve had some joining for the first time this year, but I’ll tell you like one thing’s for certain, everybody’s excited, right? Oh my goodness. Yes. I think the venue is perfect for, the amount of people we’re expecting this year.
So I’m super excited. Hmm. So how did you originally get introduced to Megamix Expo and all that? Like where’d all that start for you? So I met Tony a couple of months ago through our BNI networking group. And from there, you know, we hit it off. And then, you know, in my line of business, I’m all about creating events and, you know, making sure that everyone has a great time.
So I just, you know, threw it out there and was like, Hey, you know, next time you’re planning your next Megamix Expo, like, let’s collaborate. And sure enough, a couple of weeks later after that, he contacted me and here we are. And I am going to be This year’s experienced curator and host. So I’m super excited to make sure that everybody just has a great experience that everybody wants to talk about and, you know, come to the next one.
So I’m really, really excited for this opportunity. So for everybody that’s listening to this for the first time and maybe haven’t been following the story, Megamix Expo is going to be taking place in Arcadia, California at Santa Ana Park which is in Arcadia, it’s amazing, beautiful horse track, and it overlooks the mountains out there, and it’s just really, really nice venue.
So, and it’s on March 12th and 13th. You can check out more of the information on MegamixExpo. com just for some context there. But Erica, what do you have planned now from the event planning, from the experience side of things? Like talk to me about some of the plans specifically for the event.
Let’s get people excited. Cause I want them to come out and see us. Oh, yes, definitely. So I am going to be taking over basically the health view. beauty and wellness community. I’m going to make sure that, you know the fashion show that we’re going to be having will have back to back lineup of different, you know, vendors and exhibitors being able to showcase whether it’s a, you know, a fashion line or a beauty product or anything about maybe wellness in general.
So that’s going to be really the popping corner that we’re going to get a lot of opportunity to get, lot of foot traffic. So if you’re in any of those line of businesses. Definitely sign up. If you have not already also I’m going to be manning basically the red carpet. So on Wednesday, the first day of the expo, we’re going to spend a good amount of time on the red carpet where we’re going to interview every exhibitor.
So that way we get our chance to, get our pictures, get our, reels and experience and even just the branding out there. So that’s going to be really my biggest focus is to make sure that everybody that comes through from, you know, even hearing this. Podcast until the day of they’re just excited and hype to just really, Meet with local businesses and really get that connection and opportunity that will lead their business to the next level So that’s really where i’m going to be taking care of, you know, i’ll be helping out with the speakers and also the engaging workshops, but majority of my duties is just to make sure that everyone just has a great time You know, i’m a party person So we just want to make sure that everyone’s just excited to be there and just really enjoy the overall experience How did you originally get into the, event planning, into the party business?
Like how’d that start for you? So the backstory behind that was I was actually working my nine to five before, and I was pregnant with my second child and about to go on maternity leave. And I was just sitting there, I was just like, man, I really don’t want to come back to working a nine to five anymore.
So my husband was asking me like, so what are you, you know, passionate about? And I’m like, well, I mean, I like to throw parties and I like to have a great time, you know? So a lot of my friends are still getting engaged, married, and, you know, having kids. So it’s like a great opportunity to, create these events for them.
And, you know, me being a host and a partier myself, I just know how overwhelming it can be and how time consuming it can get. So if somebody can just completely take that off my hands and just allow me to really just enjoy the party that I have planned and spent, hundreds and not thousands of dollars on.
That’s like music to my ears. So that’s really how I really got into this and I just fell in love with just the different types of events that you can throw. So, I do anything from your birthday parties to even your wedding to now, being a host to any big expo like the Megamix Expo coming up in March.
So, I do it all and that’s what makes it fun because I’m not just tied down to one, lane or one genre and that’s what makes it exciting for me. and the name Love Liu Wong Time, like where’d that come from? And like, give me a scope of kind of like the business. So, yeah.
So Love Liu Wong Time is basically my last name. My last name is Liu Wong. So when I got married in 2017, we were thinking about a hashtag and one of my friends was like, Hey, what do you think about Love Liu Wong Time? I’m like, Oh, it’s catchy. It’s funny. And for those who understand it, they’ll get it. And I, you know, my personality, like it’s.
So, you know, it’s always fun to have a good time. So when I was thinking about my planning, starting my business, I was like, I have to do something a little bit more out of the box. So that way I don’t fall in with the, typical cliche, everlasting event planning or whatnot. So just, just as unique as my company name is what I want to be known for.
I’m not afraid to, color outside the box and dream big and think of these crazy ideas. That does not scare me at all. If anything, it actually excites me. It, makes me want to work harder to put, you know, put together these out of the box events. So Like I said, that’s kind of where my company comes from.
It’s, I’m not afraid to do the harder things and, , color outside the box and be unique and just be bold because life is too short, , you might as well celebrate it. So that’s what I’m here to do. Talk a little bit more about your process, like how you go about your creative process and putting together an event.
And I’m sure it, depends and changes based on size of business, size of budget and like type of event and things like that. But in general, like let us into your head a little bit.
Yeah, great question. So I always encourage my all my clients to be their authentic self, whether that be, , whatever their vision is, like, they should be able to express it the most, calmest, Most easiest way, because at the end of the day, you’re hiring an event planner to put together your vision, right?
You’re, , putting everything in their hands to make sure that the date of the event, it’s exactly how you envision it. So if you cannot be your authentic self and you can’t express yourself freely, then your event is not going to come out how you expect it because there’s a little bit of a barrier.
So I encourage all my clients Interview your event planner, make sure that your personalities make sense and actually, you know, collaborate because at the end of the day, you’re trusting them. if it’s your wedding day, you’re literally trusting them to make sure that every little detail is executed exactly because this is the biggest day of your life.
Right. Um, So. I, like I said, I encourage them to be done, think like self. Of course, I’m realistic about their budget because, everything’s expensive now, and because the industry can be so lucrative, it’s important to have a professional help you, kind of guide you, to make sense of it financially, especially if, you know, hiring this vendor versus this other vendor, if it makes sense.
And if it sounds too good to be true, most likely it’s good too good to be true. So it’s always make sure to kind of, look out for red flags and I am not afraid to, not tell you exactly what you don’t want to hear because sometimes that’s what you need to hear to be able to avoid, Not so perfect situation.
So, just to kind of put it all together. I am all ears I’m here to exactly understand what your vision is So if you’re looking to do, a speak easy wedding or you’re trying to do a specific type of theme, , party, like you need to be able to express that to your event planner because they’re not mind readers.
So as, soon as you can say that, express that, then I always say that , you’ll find your right person and they are going to be that person that’s going to really have your best interest at heart. Can you give me an example of maybe like an event that you threw that was just like really like you’re just really proud of that work and what made it work?
Like what made it pop? Okay, so I have to, this is by far my favorite event. This was a wedding of last year. Other than, wait a minute, other than Megamix Expo, sorry Erica, let me throw that out there. Other than Tony’s Megamix Expo, other than that, go ahead. Right. We got to throw that in there. Exactly. I had the opportunity to throw you know, put together a wedding reception for a gay couple and they’ve been married for five years and they just never had the chance to celebrate their wedding.
So when they came to me, they wanted to do a non traditional wedding. And they wanted to do a 420 wedding. So that’s why they had their wedding on 420 last year. And being in California. Specifically in Southern California, we’re a high fire zone areas. A lot of venues don’t let you have open flame, let alone, you know marijuana.
Right. So my clients wanted a specific four 20 wedding. So my biggest hurdle was to find a venue that allowed us to bring in a weed bar. that was what they wanted. So that’s what we needed to get. So after I was able to secure the venue that allows us to do that, then we were able to put everything else in.
in there. So we ended up getting four different type of food vendors, anywhere from a pho to a waffle maker. We had barbecue and then we even had a pop up tattoo artist, a crazy, disco ball centerpiece that was the dance floor, area. We Curated cocktails. It was just so much fun and then the cherry on top was that I was able to be a guest as well.
So after I was doing, done doing my job, I was able to enjoy the party. So I would have to say that that is my favorite event by far that I’ve been able to put together. Wow, that’s quite a story. And I’m just thinking about , all the different hurdles and things, sounds like you’re a problem solver, like finding the right venue, finding all the other things like that’s not easy.
A lot of moving pieces, huh? Yeah. And I think, being an event planner, anybody can do it. It’s just really going to come down to how much time and how much energy do you have to do it? And of course, how much money, right? So if you are, especially in our day and age, we want convenience. We want to spend the time that we have doing things that we enjoy.
And I’m pretty sure most people do not want to go down a rabbit hole looking for the perfect venue or finding the perfect vendors. So hire an event planner. So that way they can actually save you time, which Equates to money and nowadays, right?
Amazing. Well, Erica, this has been a lot of fun having you on the show today and learning more about what you do and lovely long time.
And if somebody is listening to this and they want to connect and they want to follow up and they want to talk about some events, how do they do that? Yes, so the easiest way is to follow me on Instagram. My Instagram handle is love. liuwong. time. And, of course, you can always text me as well. That’s the easiest way to get a hold of me.
My website. So, yeah, any of those avenues are great to contact me. And, of course, if you guys are not already knowing what Megamix Expo is all about, please check us out. You know, there’s, it’s going to be a big event, and I can’t wait to meet you all there. Bye. Fantastic. And for everybody listening, just so you know, we’ll put, we’ll definitely put the links and all that other good stuff in the show notes so that you can just click on it and head right on over.
And don’t forget to go to megamixexpo. com and get your ticket. We’d love to see you in person. Come out and visit us and come by the booth. I’m going to be doing some live podcast interviews and some other things that we’re going to have a whole lot of fun. So again, come out. That’s March 12th and 13th in Arcadia, California at Santa Anita.
Park and just come out and see us and mega mix expo. com and Erica, thanks again for coming on the show. Thank you.