Meet Miriam Dwyer | Turn Key Events Company

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

Hi Miriam, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
I have never taken the conventional path. I grew up in Brainerd, MN, and my main goal in life was just to not live in Brainerd, MN.
When I was 19, I moved to Minneapolis, then shortly after to Nashville, TN where I started acting and hosting, and then finally to Los Angeles, CA, eventually landing a Hollywood agent and hosting a TV show about fashion.
During this time period I met my husband, who was a touring musician, and when we both found ourselves without record deals or TV contracts, that was the point where we stumbled upon a small struggling production company that was doing outdoor events. My husband began to freelance for various production companies while I continued to work full time to pay the bills while we simultantiously launched our first production company together, Starlite Cinemas.
We started Starlite Cinemas with a $5000 loan. We bought our first projector with that loan, and would rent screens and audio equipment for each event. Every bit of profit would go right back into the business, slowly purchasing the peices of eqiupment we needed one at a time, until we’d no longer need to rent them.
Every expensive peice of equipment was a risk in itself. Would people continue to need that particular size screen, or speaker setup? Would technology pass us by as we finally aquire more powerful projectors? After years of event production, calculated investments, now 3 different small production companies, and genuine old fashioned hard work, every day still feels like we’re taking a risk.

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.
Was is easy, absolutly not. Anyone who works for themselves knows that you are always working, planning, scheduling, ect.. There is always something that needs to be done and never enough time. I think that what sets us apart from other outdoor events companies is the fact that both my husband, David, and I were career entertainers. I worked in television while he toured full time in a hard rock band. We both felt such a familiarity with putting on events, we’d show up, set up, entertain an audience, then pack up and do the same all over again in the next space/town.
Before our daughter was born, I would be on site, help wrap cables, carry equipment, and setup/teardown inflatable screens. It was hard physical work, but we both felt such a sense of accomplishment after seeing the patrons’ smiles and applause night after night.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned along the way would be perserverence. Most people don’t see your vision at first, and most of my friends and family thought I’d lost my mind when I decided to go all in on an events company.
What do I want the world to know about my brand and story? We pride ourselves in putting on the best quality event possible within whatever budget is alloted every single time, and we genuenly care about each and every event we are a part of.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I have friends and family who travel to visit every so often. A typical visit might consist of a hike at Fryman in the morning, then running into Hollywood to grab lunch in Thai Town at Sapp Coffee Shop. Of course we’re going to need to grab coffee from Philz and maybe pick up some food to go from Porto’s before heading to the Hollywood Bowl to take in a show. I love to go out to Palm Springs to get out of the city, lounge, eat, and drink. Big Bear is another favorite getaway. I love going to concerts at either the Bowl or The Greek, but otherwise I don’t go out all that much. Between being a mom, a wife, and a small business owner, I have my hands full 99% of the time.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Our story is one of complete partnership. My husband worked dilligently learning about digital projectors while I continued to hustle to cover our expenses. His pro audio knowlege from his lifetime in the music industry set our small business apart from our competitors, who didn’t seem to realize how important the audio is in the outdoor movie screening space.
We also shared a longtime friendship with an entrepreneur, our friend Ed, who’d come from an immagrant upbringing, not graduated high school, and eventually founded more than one multi-million dollar corporation.
We learned so much from him, the way he treated his employees, his hands on approach, ect..
We figured that with some solid inspiration and guidance, maybe we wouldn’t have to make the same mistakes a lot of small buisnesses do.

Website: https://www.starlite-cinemas.com

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