Meet Hope Carew | Big Deck Energy

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

Hi Hope, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I originally started Big Deck Energy because I’m a comedian and creator, with comedian and creator friends! I wanted to create a space to showcase my standup and my crafts, while elevating my talented friends who also have jokes to tell and homemade crafts to sell! I wanted to create an event where we could all shine. I started Big Deck Energy on my (you guessed it) deck and was shocked when 100+ people started showing up to the events. My deck was big, but not big enough for that type of crowd!

So I partnered up with my friend Mattie Ellis to take BDE to the next level. With her experience in events and partnerships, Mattie started producing the shows with me and together we’ve created an incredible community! We decided to find a local business where we could host future shows and further build our impact. Enter: Kombu Sushi in Silver Lake!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Creating is such a big part of who we are. Truly, our friends do arts n crafts every time we get together. I make mugs, crocheted fruits, keychains, and signs, and Mattie is a big vision boarder, painter and dried flower girly. I have a table at every event for my “Hope Improvements” brand and you can sometimes catch Mattie’s locally foraged, dried flower arrangements around the show. Needless to say, partnering felt like a very natural collaboration.

We’re both passionate about building community and bringing creative people together, and in that spirit, we keep things casual and friendly for our guests and vendors. We’re dedicated to sharing the spotlight with smaller, newer and local creators, prioritizing diversity and representation across our vendor and talent lineups.

Whether you’re showing up solo or coming with a group of friends, we want Big Deck to feel like a fun social space for those with crafty spirits!

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.
Big Deck Energy…duh 😉 We’ve got local artists, live music, delicious refreshments, and some of the best comedy that LA has to offer. Plus, community and friendship! While we see a lot of community regulars, we’ve also been pleasantly surprised by how many out-of-towners come to the shows. We recently had a guest in attendance who was visiting from Italy and they said our show felt more like home than anywhere else they visited in LA. Wild!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Our craft fair and vendors are what makes us stand out. We are so grateful for our dear friends Kari Shrode of Cozy x Dope and Madalyn Bond of Gone Mad Vintage & Styling, who are regular vendors and really contribute a special energy to our events. Madalyn even styles us for each event, and she designed a custom cannab!s-inspired dress for me to wear at our 420 show.

Additionally, our friends Maddrey Blackwood and Shannon Cloud have been insanely supportive in producing the event at a high caliber. We love these ladies!

We also want to shout out Jessica Joan and the team at Kombu! What started as a bad date at Kombu ended with me befriending Jessica, who has been imperative in helping build our relationship with Kombu and creating this new era of BDE.

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/big-deck-energy-78808473543

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bigdeckenergyshow/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556417284529