Today we’d like to introduce you to INDIA and Alia Robertson
Hi INDIA and Alia, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
ALia and I are 6 years apart. both middle children. We grew up on the east side of Cleveland in a blue-collar neighborhood. We did not have many parties as our parents raised 4 children while also caring for cousins. We did not have a lot of parties. I had two that I can remember. While I did not have a lot of parties I always remember balloons and amazing homemade cakes. balloons became our thing. we loved them and used them for every event.
When I became a mother I began throwing very elaborate parties for my children and when my sister and I had children a couple of months apart in 2007 we started working together on those parties and eventually people began to ask us to decorate their events.
I worked as a Chief Officer of a non-profit and my sister worked as a community health worker. We began throwing parties for close friends in 2017 but in 2018 we realized the potential for this to be a real side hustle and we began growing our portfolio and creating a fee schedule. Our business really took off in 2020 when my oldest daughter was pregnant with my grandson and I started planning her baby shower for March 28, 2020. The pandemic canceled her baby shower and she was heartbroken so we decided to throw her a “drive-by baby shower” with a big balloon display. social media allowed people to see that event and we suddenly had people all across Ohio booking balloon setups outside in their yard. I am an extrovert and I love people and parties so the pandemic was hard for me. I really enjoyed doing the social distance parties, or drive-up parties for people. It allowed me a chance to be social in some way when the world was closed. I learned a lot during this time about balloons and the weather as well as how to invoice people. We had to create a fee schedule and make adjustments to that as we learned more about the value of our time’ and the value of our skill. we also learned about creating contracts. My sister Alia and I formalized the business as partners and We Focused on our skills and made mistakes – lots of mistakes. each one taught us a lesson. By 2022 I decided to take a leap of faith and quit my full-time job and focus on my family and our business while my sister worked and handled most of the behind-the-scenes accounting I approached a CMSD employee about doing balloons for school events and he offered us an amazing opportunity to decorate an event so he could see our work. I just walked up to him and told him I could do an amazing job and he said ok well prove it. We proved ourselves! luck would have it that school employee was promoted to a leadership engagement role with Cleveland Metro schools within 6 months and we were able to sign our first contract with the district and provided balloon services for all of the district renaming ceremonies the following school year, the tech festival, welcome back to the school festival, and many other events. I went from feeling I had made a horrible mistake leaving my career to follow a “hobby” to hiring extra help us complete all the work. The CMSD contract showed us that we did not have to limit ourselves to small weekend events and we began to explore more corporate options. To date we have done multiple events for Multiple CMSD schools and departments, the Cleveland NAACP, Cuyahoga Community College ( TRI C), Cleveland Public Library, Retail Stores, Huntington Convention Center, The Cleveland Browns Stadium, and many more.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
it has not always been smooth. We have had balloon displays pop from extreme heat, we have had people contact us to do a wedding and then refuse to pay us for almost 2 years until we started to file a lawsuit ( and then they paid us) but the most difficult bump in the road was my October 2022 Breast cancer diagnosis. I had my first mammogram ( age 40) in August 2022 and I was called to get more images followed by a biopsy that should be quick and routine my entire world turned upside down. I received the call the day after my 41st birthday as I was on my way to set up the Cleveland Metro School District fall festival. As soon as We were high-fiving ourselves for figuring out how to make our business grow, and just as we were becoming known by word of mouth … Boom! I had to deal with stage 2 breast cancer. I had no family history and I had never even considered that the biopsy which was done the day before my birthday would be anything other than an inconvenience and annoyance. suddenly I was in battle. I went through surgery, 12 rounds of chemotherapy, 15 rounds of radiation, and a year of immunotherapy infusions. I was devastated and my sister tried to help me cope while also keeping the business afloat. We went from seeking new business to having a sustainable business to turning people away. my sister still worked full-time as a community health worker for a major health system in Ohio and I could barely go out of the house.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We specialize in organic balloon artistry. organic balloon art uses balloons of different sizes, from 3 inches to 3 feet, to create an artist’s balloon display. We are known for elaborate entry displays that people can use as photo opportunities. These displays are generally used to communicate that you “have arrived”, our slogan is “Every event elevated: turning events into celebrations”. We are most proud of the wedding we planned for 4/24/24. we did a pink breast cancer theme but based the wedding on balloons in place of florals. It was very true to me. We were able to keep the wedding still very true to the elegance you expect from a wedding without it feeling like a birthday party. the venue, Ariel Pearl Center, allowed us multiple days to complete the instillation and take down. We are also very proud of our work with CMSD which allows us to be creative and gives the students and families some awesome social media moments. That partnership has grown so much. We have done over 20 graduations, 10 proms, 6 homecomings, 15 community festivals, 4 retreats, 5 naming ceremonies, and so on. we have also volunteered by offering our services free to the district to help. What sets us apart if the art that we find in balloons. We are known for creative license displays where someone will give us the budget and allow us to be creative. some people can only think of balloon bouquets do once they give us the creative license we will always work to exceed their expectations. it’s also therapeutic for us. next thing we know we have done a display that would typically cost 2000 or more for 300 bucks because it allowed us to tap into that creative expression and uplift ourselves.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
we are really passionate about balloons and balloon art. We practice all the time and come up with new techniques. we challenge one another to go larger, more creative and be bold. We are successful because this is what we get to do… we play with balloons! how awesome is that? my inner child is so happy every day. we are at a level where we can choose who we want to work with and say no to people or projects that do not align with our artistic vision. another part of our success is that this was God’s plan. I did not know i would be diagnosed with cancer right after quitting my career to pursue this but I was able to show up on installation sites with no hair, and a mask, and I was met by the nicest people who understood my immune system was compromised and i was given that space to take 5 hours and do what I love to do with no one around us. I was able to still take care of my family financially during a hard time and part of that is people trusting us, loving our work, and being flexible because they had a good relationship with us. they could have called another person but they enjoyed our work and that is very touching.
Pricing:
- balloon pillars with large topper 75 each
- basic organic balloon arch 350 and up
- balloon tunnel 500 and up
- balloon wall 500 and up
- event consultation 50 and hour
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @style_ish_balloons
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StylishBalloonEvents
