Meet Andrea Ramirez | Founder, The Next Fun Thing

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

Hi Andrea, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I’ve always planned events with my close group of friends, and originally my website ‘www.TheNextFunThing.com’ was used to share details on the next fun thing we were going to do as friends.

As our events continued to occur, the list of people who wanted to partake started to grow and we realized we unintentionally created a community of like-mind friends. Having this community of people who want to get out and have fun allows us to create fun events with a deeper purpose.

Now we create unique and fun activities that support charities we love.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
We started The Next Fun Thing because we had ideas of things we wanted to do, but when we searched online to find ideas similar to what we envisioned, we found little to no options.

That’s when we decided to create the ideas we envisioned on our own. And now that we’ve been able to build a community of new friends, we have an influx of new event ideas which has been exciting. So I would say that is a key differentiator for our community, the fact that our community members also have a voice to share ideas, and then we collaborate with them to produce the event.

Another part of The Next Fun Thing that I’m proud of is the fact that every event benefits a different local charity. We all want to help others in need, but sometimes finding the time or energy to do it is hard. So we decided that a portion of proceeds generated from every event we put together would go directly to a charity we love. The charities change every event, this helps us stay motivated during the event planning process, knowing that there is a bigger purpose for us to host the event, and I believe this helps attract attendees who are looking to give back to others in a way that also allows them to give back to themselves.

Today we’re growing steadily, but it was a long road to get here. Working on events is the fun part of the job, but getting people to attend has proved to be more difficult, particularly since we have a limited social media reach and ad spend. Word-of-mouth marketing has been the biggest driver of our events, so we strive to make sure every event is memorable and fun, so people continue to join us and bring their friends to the next event.

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.
Well, let me shine a light on cities east of the 405. Most people will go to the west side, but there is so much to see on the east side.

Here are a few of my favorite places:

Silver Lake:
– El Cid – a historic bar and restaurant in silver lake. They have a multi-level outdoor patio and host dinner and a show every night in their theatre
– Edendale Restaurant and Bar – an old firehouse turned into the most adorable restaurant…so much space indoor and outdoors and a fantastic menu

Atwater Village:
– This whole strip is a great place to stroll for the day. They have a variety of cute shops and restaurants to check out that have their own flavor
– Bon Viant Cafe is adorable and a must-see when you’re in Atwater

Highland Park:
– Magpies Softserve – best ice cream and pies
– Block Party –

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would have to shout out to my boyfriend and my core group of friends, who always have, and continue to support all of The Next Fun Thing’s ideas and events.

Let me give you an example.

The tipping point for The Next Fun Thing was our world record attempt in 2019 for ‘the largest gathering of people dressed as a fruit or vegetable.’ For an entire year leading up to the event, I carried an assortment of 15 fruit and vegetable customers in the trunk of my car, and every time I saw my friends, I would ask them to film a video for me in costume for promos – and they always said yes.

With 20+ videos of people dressed in different fruit and vegetable costumes, I was able to make the event look like it had a lot more traction, and I believe that was a major reason why we were able to have over 800 people join us for the world record attempt.

I’ve been really lucky to have so many supportive people in my life, and without their enthusiasm and support, we wouldn’t be able to continue what we do.

To date, our team at The Next Fun Thing is lean, with the only full-time staff being myself, my boyfriend, who is our Creative Director/COO/General Manager, and my cousin, who helps with all day-of event coordination.

Website: www.TheNextFunThing.com

Instagram: @TheNextFunThing

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-next-fun-thing/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/918787359012388