Securing The Bag Together: Unlocking the Power of Partnerships
Join Victoria Jenn Rodriguez for a deep dive into collaborations - how to find the right business partners, avoid mistakes she's made, raise money for your events, and create win-win partnerships that fuel success.
Drawing from her own experiences, Victoria Jenn reveals her collaboration journey for an upcoming event with Cara Alwill, from initially connecting as speakers to now co-creating their first big summit focused on how to #SecureTheBigBag & Love Unapologetically Summit.
Victoria Jenn unpacks the critical steps for identifying collaborative opportunities, establishing trust gradually over time, playing to each partner’s strengths, and tips for seamless large-scale event execution.
You’ll learn:
Why collaborations built on existing relationships have the best chance of thriving long-term
How to identify potential partners with shared values who complement vs. compete
The importance of giving partnerships time to blossom naturally vs. forcing connections
How to determine the unique value each party brings to build win-win collaborations
Event planning tips: securing sponsors, the power of negotiation, hiring event teams, and more
This episode provides a blueprint for cultivating intimate professional relationships that push you to grow. Discover how humility, vulnerability, and patience help transform collaborations from risky to richly rewarding.
If you liked this episode, you'll love our next one—it's packed with similar insights and inspiration!
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Full Transcript:
In order for you to have a successful collaboration, a relationship needs to be built. At the beginning, everybody's hyped. Everybody's like, yes, absolutely, that idea sounds amazing.
I wanna do it, let's go. And when things get tricky is when the work begins. You just get wiser and you're just more mindful about who you are bringing in to your world and who you are choosing to exchange your energy with.
There's a gap between how people are showing up in their businesses and how they are showing up in love. You have to be fearless in both. You have to be unapologetic in both.
You have to be authentic and vulnerable in both. Ultimately, business and love, foundation-wise, starts with relationships. I'm all about that secure the big bag life, okay, honey?
She's gonna be collaborating with someone who knows what the hell she's doing, okay? We are each bringing our strengths to the table. There's no competition, there's no envy, there's no shadiness going on.
We don't do anything half-assed here on Banking on Cultura. That is not what we represent here. What's up, y'all?
“Welcome to Banking on Cultura, where we talk about all things Latino culture, entrepreneurship, and all the bonchinche in between. Now, you know I like to start these shows with what's the bonchinche? And the bonchinche is that y'all don't know how to collaborate.
You know, a lot of people struggle with collaboration, finding the right partners, and kind of figuring out how to develop partnerships that last. And this is specifically true amongst women. I know that I've had my fair share of collaborations that did not work out.
And I've also had my fair share of collaborations that did. So I want to talk about a collaboration that I'm currently working on right now that I'm super, super pumped about because it's with one of my favorite people. And I want to share how it came about because I think it's really important for you to understand that collaborations just don't happen overnight.
And in order for you to have a successful collaboration, a relationship needs to be built. There needs to be some type of, I would say, rapport that happens before going into a collaboration. And this is my advice.”
“This has been tried and true through my experiences and why I am suggesting that there's rapport and you take your time with who you decide to collaborate with. It's significant because one of the things that I've learned about collaboration is, at the beginning, everybody's hype. Everybody's like, yes, absolutely, that idea sounds amazing.
I want to do it. Let's go. Let's go all in.
And when things get tricky is when the work begins. Then you start to see true people's colors. That's when the true colors come out and you really are able to identify someone's work ethic.
You're able to really understand their weaknesses, their strengths, all that jazz. And by the time you figure that all out, you're already knee deep in. So what happens is either you're taking on more responsibility or the project fails, right?”
“Or you do it half-assed, which we don't do anything half-assed here on Banking on Cultura. That is not what we represent here. And so one takeaway that I want to make sure I drive home for today's conversation is before you get into any type of collaboration on a professional setting, and this can be also personal too, make sure that you're putting in time to build rapport, which brings me to the collaboration that I'm working on right now.
So I'm working on a super cool project with Cara Alwill, who is the founder of The Champagne Diet. Many fans of this show know who she is. And we decided to collaborate on an event called Secure the Big Bag and Love Unapologetically Summit.
We are super pumped to bring you guys this event, but it was, I would say I've known Cara now, hmm. I've known Cara now about four years, and this collaboration was built over time, right? And the way that it started, really I invited Cara to come and speak at one of my events for my nonprofit, The Female Collaborative.”
“She came, she spoke, it was amazing, and that's how our relationship started, right? And I always knew, I don't think I've ever shared this with Cara, but I always knew I wanted to do something together. I wanted us to create magic because I felt like our values aligned, we're both Taurus's, we both from New York City, and we're both amazing gals, right?
And I just felt like there was something there for us, and I wanted to explore it further, but it didn't come to me yet, right? God didn't put it in my path, he didn't tell me exactly what it was, and so it took time. And so we kept in touch, you know, I supported her podcast, she would support my stuff, and we would continually just show up for each other in different ways.
And throughout that time, she was studying me, I was studying her, right? Because I think at our big old age, right? Where you just get wiser, and you're just more mindful about who you are bringing into your world, and who you are choosing to exchange your energy with.”
“I think as we get older, we're more mindful of this, right? Whereas when we're younger, we're quicker to jump into collaborations, we're quicker to become friends with people, we're quicker to just engage with people, right? And as you get more seasoned, professionally and personally, you tend to take your time more.
So she was studying me, I was studying her, and then we decided we wanted to go out for some drinks. And we're having cocktails at this beautiful little Italian spot in downtown New York City. We were actually waiting to go see Ashanti get interviewed.
Shout out to my girlfriend, Alexandria Dria. I see you mama. She was hosting an interview with Ashanti.”
“So before we went to the Ashanti interview, Cara and I were having some wine. And we were talking about like, hey, how can we collaborate? How can we make some magic?
Like we have to do an event together. And it just so happens that I was at a point in my business where I was really transitioning my brand to focus heavily on entrepreneurship and business. And Cara was in a position in her brand where she was transitioning to talk a lot about relationships and love.
She's writing a book on it. And it was like, you know what's missing in the market right now? And what we both were yearning for was an experience that focused on business and love.
Because we truly both believe that there's a gap there. There's a gap between how people are showing up in their businesses and how they are showing up in love. But when you really think about it, you have to be fearless in both.
You have to be unapologetic in both. You have to be authentic and vulnerable in both, right? Because ultimately, business and love, foundation-wise, starts with relationships, right?”
“And so there's a lot of synergy and a lot of similarity between love and business. And so we were having this discussion over wine, and we were like, we should do something that's talking about what's going on in the metaverse and AI and all the things that are developing in the business space. And I'm like, yes, because I'm all about that secure the big bag life, okay, honey?
And then I'm telling her, but we got to think about this love piece. And we were just coming off the cusp of my Gender Wars event that I hosted, which was talking about the tension between men and women and dating and all that jazz. And so Cara was like, yes, so we need to talk about love and what women should be thinking about as they pursue relationships in business and in love.
And then we decided that, you know what? There's not enough events that bring men and women together that specifically talk about business and love. And it was right there in that moment that our summit was born because we identified a gap that existed in the market.
“We tied that with what we both are passionate about, right? We're both passionate about business. We're both passionate about love.
We're both passionate about right now being the best time to have these kinds of conversations and to disrupt kind of the traditional way that conferences are done and disrupt how men and women are working and falling in love together. And so the hashtag secure the big bag and love unapologetically summit was born over wine in that cute little Italian spot in downtown. And that happened organically, right?
It happened organically with years of us building a relationship where we both felt comfortable. Like, you know what? This collaboration could make a lot of sense.
Because to be quite frank with you guys, Cara's been burned in her collaborations. I've been burned in my collaborations. So when you have experienced that, same thing, when you've experienced that in your personal life too, you're kind of like a little hesitant, just like more intentional and strategic about what you agree to and what you are committed to do.
“And so both Cara and I had those experiences bringing it to the table, but I think what made us feel at ease about this was the fact that we've been watching each other. We also worked together before on smaller projects. So she had spoken at my Gender Wars event.
I had her also speak at my Woman Who Wars summit that I did a couple of years ago. And so we've kind of seen each other in our element. So we both knew that we could bring it.
We knew that, right? And we've worked together, not, I would say, directly because she wasn't helping me organize those events. She was speaking, but she got to see me in my element.
She got to see me organize these things, right? And she got to witness it. And I got to witness all the value that she was bringing to these events, right?”
“And so I think that made the collaboration easier to agree to. But to be honest with you, I had to convince Cara, y'all. I had to convince her because she, she's never organized an event at this scope, a huge summit.
And so this was new territory for her. And so she was a little hesitant because she wasn't really sure what that responsibility will look like. And what's really important in every collaboration, and I want you to take note of this, is...
“Everybody needs to bring value to the table.
Everybody needs to fulfill an area that not necessarily is a weakness for you, but is a value add, right? You want to make sure that everyone that is at the table has something unique and special to bring to that collaboration, or else you're gonna have too many chefs in the kitchen, or someone else is going to have to do the heavy lifting to cover up for where someone is lacking, right? And so what I was explaining to Cara was, listen, I've done this before.
I know how it goes. We're gonna get an events team to help us manage this bad boy. I already have five years in this space in terms of putting on large scale events.
So lean on me for that expertise. I will take the lead on logistics, coordination, and kind of bringing this full circle. And I will also help with the sponsorship piece, right?
Because we have to raise money for this thing. And I've also done that in the past. So I raised my hand and I said, look, this is what I'm good at.
“This is where I can really excel. Like I am happy to take this on. This will be my responsibility.
And of course we would IDA together and we would share information with one another. But ultimately someone needs to take the lead. So I think that allowed her to agree to the collaboration more easily because it gave her some calmness to the fact that she's gonna be collaborating with someone who knows what the hell she's doing.
And what made me comfortable with working with Cara and what she brings to the table is Cara has an amazing community. She has an amazing brand. She just has this energy and this aura to her that I know would be tremendously valued to this experience.
And she also is fun. She's fun, you know? And I wanted to work with somebody who was fun.
I wanted to work with somebody who was smart. I wanted to work with somebody who had her own thing going on. So there was no competition.”
“I wanted to work with somebody who was smart. I wanted to work with somebody who had her own thing going on. So there was no competition.
There was no envy. There was no, oh, I wanna be like her, or oh, she's got something that I want. And so I don't know how I feel about this because that happens often in collaborations, right?
When someone is not bringing value to the table or when someone is feeling less than, all these emotions start to play and bad decisions are made as a result, right? And somebody's trying to be more than what they are just to show up, just for appearances, right? Versus just playing your lane, knowing your position, doing what you do well, and just continuously adding value, right?
And so I knew that I wanted to work with somebody who was already established, already had created a lane for herself where we could learn from each other. So it would constantly be a beneficial collaboration, a beneficial relationship, and one that we can grow together. I think that's really, really important.”
“So I wanna talk about next steps. So we came up together with the idea, we decided and committed, right? Cause I convinced Cara to do this.
And there were a couple of things that have come up that I wanna share with you. As you are thinking about collaborations going forward, as you were thinking about event planning, I know a lot of you are interested in planning events, conferences, bringing people together, all that jazz. So I wanna share some tips that I have for doing this over the last five plus years that hopefully allows you to plan your events with ease and also enter into collaborations that actually make sense.
So let's go to event managers. So when you put on a large event of this scale, you have a decision to make. Either you are gonna take on the responsibility of handling all the details, the logistics.
“And what I mean by details and logistics, I mean finding the location, finding the speakers, finding the vendors that you need to hire for the event, for your catering, for your beverage. Maybe you need to dress up the space. Also coordinating the event consists of the actual program.
What is the program going to be? What is the run of show? What's gonna be on the step and repeat?
Who's gonna sponsor? Like all these things. There are so many details that go into event planning that I decided that this event, we were going to bring in a very, I would say experienced event management team that was going to alleviate a lot of the administration that comes into play when it comes to events and was going to keep us organized so that Cara and I can do what we do best, right?
We were going to essentially be, we just wanted to be the talent. We just wanted to show up and do our thing and teach and inspire, talk our shit, do what we do best. And we wanted a team that we could rely on to handle everything else.
“And that is what I encourage you to do, depending on where you are in your phase. Because at the beginning, it might not fit into your budget to hire an events team, because events teams are expensive. You're looking at anywhere between 8,000 to 15,000.
Maybe you might be able to get someone to do it for 5,000, but it needs to be included in a part of your budget. And quite frankly, when you're starting, unless you have a lot of sponsors, you're not gonna have money for this. So you're gonna take on a lot of that responsibility, which is what I did for my two first big events.
I didn't have an events team. I coordinated everything with my team, my board and I, I had volunteers. Like, it was a lot, honey.
This event planning thing is a lot, darling. And so for those experiences, I was like, you know what? Every event that I do from then on, I'm going to have an events team.
“And so Cara and I agreed to bring on an events team. Now, the events team is going to handle things like finding the location. They're going to handle things like managing volunteers, finding volunteers for the event, because there's a lot of manpower that takes day of for the event to actually go on without a hitch, making sure that everybody has an amazing experience.
They are also in charge of managing our budget. They are also going to be in charge of the coordination of speakers, making sure that speakers have everything that they need, what time they need to show up, the run of show, how long they need to be there for, any photo ops that need to be taken. They're also handling anything with the step and repeat, ordering it, setting it up.
They're also setting up the space, right? And making sure that they're working with all the vendors to set up the space so that it is pristine darling and quite the experience. And anything really related to logistics and administration for the event, that is their ballpark.”
“That is their expertise and that is what they are gonna handle for us, okay? So you wanna decide where you are in your process. Does an event management team make sense?
Does it not? You can do it either way. I've done it both ways and both ways work well.
But once you get to a level where you understand all the details, and this is actually a good point that I wanna drive home. I'm actually very thankful that I hosted the two events without an events management team because it allowed me to really understand what goes into event planning and what needs to be looked over, what needs to be looked out for, what needs to be checked, what needs to be organized so that once I did hire an event management team, I knew what to look for. And I knew what questions to ask because I have actually done the experience myself.”
“Because a lot of y'all out here are trying to run before you learn how to walk, trying to walk before you learn how to crawl, not realizing that that learning process and what you learn from doing it yourself will actually prepare you to hire better in the future. All right, next thing I want to talk about is sponsorship. Because sponsorship is a big part of putting these events together unless you want to pay for it all yourself, which I am a big fan of OPM, using other people's money, and making sure that you are curating experiences and events that have value so people want to contribute.
“So what I would recommend you do if you are looking for sponsors, and when I say sponsors, let's talk about corporate sponsors first, because there's also your sponsors who could provide you wine, who could provide you beverages, who could donate space for you, right? I want to talk about corporate sponsors though, because this is, I would say, an art for you to secure corporate sponsorships for your events. And what I recommend you to do is for you to write down who are the top 10 corporate sponsors you would want to bring into your event that makes sense, not a brand or a corporate sponsor that you think of just because the name comes to you and it's marketed to you crazy.
I want you to think about who do you have relationships with, where do they work, and do those organizations already support your concept? Meaning, are they already supporting different kind of experiences that are similar to the event that you're trying to put on so that it will be a much easier lift because you already know that this is something that they do? They already are sponsoring conferences.
“They are already sponsoring events that are catered toward leadership. They are already sponsoring events that are catered toward wellness, whatever it is. The point is for you to work smarter instead of harder.
So I would say make a list of who you have relationships with, where they work and start exploring, start asking questions. Hey, what are you spending money on this year? I have this idea, what do you think?
And start kind of planting these little seeds as you are organizing the event. You wanna start having these conversations. I don't want you to wait until you have your venue locked in, until you have all your speakers, until your website is up for you to start these conversations.
You wanna start them early and you wanna plant the seeds so that when you are more organized and your program is built out and you have your website, you have your speakers, you have your pitch deck and all of that jazz, you already planted multiple seeds where they're expecting you to come to them with an ask. Make sense? So let's talk about the pitch deck now.”
“So after you're planting these seeds and you're collecting information from folks, right? You're asking them, hey, what did you sponsor? At what level did you sponsor that?
Why? What was the value add? Why did you make the decision to sponsor that event, right?
And you can see this easily because when corporate sponsors are supporting events, you're seeing it on the step and repeat. You're seeing it on websites. So you're gonna have to do some research to figure out who's doing what, right?
And then going back to them and asking them, hey, why did you do that? Why did you decide to sponsor them so you can use that data to build out your deck, okay? Now, a pitch deck is essentially a summary of what the event is going to be about, the value that that event is bringing to a particular sponsor, and it wants to include sponsorship levels along with the bios of who the organizers are and contact information, okay?
“Now, when you think about your different sponsorship levels, I want you to think as if you are the sponsor that you're asking to give you money. Meaning, so let's say an example, NBC, Universal, huge sponsor of mine for years. Shout out to Sal Mendoza.
One of the things that I always keep in mind is asking the question like, hey, what is important to you? What do you value? And how can I tie that into the experience that I am putting together so that it's an easy yes, right?
It's an easy yes. And you could think about things that are prevalent. So for example, right now, branding is paramount.
Everybody wants to get in front of everybody, right? So branding awareness is important. So if you're able to build out into your sponsorship level different ways for your sponsors to get more visibility, that already is a win.”
“So that needs to be built in. Also you wanna think about from a corporate lens, what do they care about? Right now they care about talent acquisition.
They care about talent development, right? There is a recession brewing. How can they invest in their talent to have an experience that builds morale and builds loyalty to the brand, right?
How is your event going to allow them to do that, right? Something for you to think about. Also, which is huge.
Do you have a huge social media? Do you have a podcast that they're able to get visibility on, right? All key things.
Also, that's higher tier levels for your sponsorship. What marquee experiences can you create for them that's going to make them feel special? So for example, are they going to be able to open the event?”
Are they going to be a speaker on the program? Are they going to have priority seating, right? Are they going to have a number of tickets that they're able to give out to their staff to go to this event?
So all of these things is what you want to consider with the pitch deck. And a pitch deck is a formality. In the industry.
So you definitely need to make sure that you have this pitch deck ready and take your time building it out, all right? So what do I want to talk about next? Next thing I want to talk about is, I want you guys to make sure that you're being strategic.
And what I mean by strategic, whenever you commit to dedicate time to curating an experience, you want to make sure that it makes sense. It makes business sense. So if you're an entrepreneur, you curating this event, does it make sense?
Does it make sense for what you're trying to do? Is it gonna bring you more revenue? Is it going to bring you more brand awareness?
Is it going to bring you new clients? Like what is the strategy that is affiliated with you putting on this event? Because you have to be strategic and intentional about what you are dedicating your time and your thought leadership to, right?
Cause those are your assets, right? And you want to make sure that you're not depleting yourself, that you're being very strategic and intentional about everything that you are doing. So I want you to ask yourself, if you have an event in your mind, I want you to ask yourself, how am I going to get ROI on this event?
Is it through sponsorship? Is it through ticket sales? Is it through building rapport with relationships that you're going to invite people to speak at that event because you have a long-term strategy in mind or vision for that relationship?
Are you selling things at the event to drive revenue? Like what is the point of you hosting this event? It is super, super important for you to be strategic and intentional about that because that will allow you to continue to fight through the frustration that comes with event planning.
That just is what it is. There's gonna be some amount of frustration. There's gonna be some disagreements.
There's gonna be some things where you're gonna feel like I'm being stretched in multiple directions. So you gotta tie it back to what is the reason why? Why does this strategy make sense?
Why I'm doing this event? And then the last thing I wanna make sure to leave you with is the only way for you to make this event super successful, especially if you are working on a budget or just making sense out of dollars, you have to get comfortable with negotiating. And if you're not comfortable with negotiating, this goes back to getting someone on your team that you can collaborate with that will be in charge of negotiating.
Because that will be a huge and critical role in how much money is going out and how much money is coming in for this event. And so you have to make sure that you have a key negotiator on that team, whether that's you or somebody else who is well-versed. Because the art of event planning, I truly believe, is negotiation.
Because that negotiation is going to allow you to curate the real experience that you're trying to bring to the market and allow your attendees to really feel your brand, to really understand why they are choosing to support you and to really get a good understanding of you, right? And what you bring to the market. And so you have to negotiate so that you are able to position yourself for success throughout this event planning experience.
And this isn't just negotiation with your vendors, right? Or with your event management team or your sponsors, right? This is negotiation even with your speakers.
What if you have a speaker that is requiring a $20,000 investment in order for them to speak at your event? How are you gonna negotiate that? How are you going to present value to negotiate that price down, right?
So negotiation is key in anything that you do, but especially during event planning, when you are trying to put down a big, huge, amazing event. So those are my top tips for today. I hope those were helpful.
I'll put in the show notes, how you can get yourself a ticket to the summit. It's going to be absolutely amazing. And on another episode, I'm gonna break down the entire program, but it's going to be an entire vibe because y'all already know I bring it and so does Cara.
And that's why this event is gonna be so amazing and this collaboration is going to be so beautiful because we are each bringing our strengths to the table. There's no competition. There's no envy.
There's no shadiness going on. Our goal for this event is to help you be the best business person you can be and help you hopefully also find solace in finding and allowing yourself to experience love. And maybe you might find your boo thing at the event as well because this event is going to be open to both men and women.
And we have strategically implanted certain things throughout the program to hopefully get folks to, you know, flirt a little bit. But also hopefully fall in love because that's what we're all about. So thanks for tuning in and I'll see you on the next episode.
Hola mi gente, thanks for listening to today's episode. Don't forget to make sure and leave a review. This is super important because this is how we're measured on the different audio platforms.
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