In this, episode of the Thorn City Syndicate Spotlight Show, Doris Woods explores her remarkable journey from Detroit to Portland. Discover how Doris turned her passion for balloon artistry and real estate into thriving ventures while focusing on community service and personal growth.

Key Highlights:

-Background and Move to Portland: Doris opens up about her transition from Detroit to Portland, the cultural shifts, and her initial challenges and triumphs in finding her community.

-Founding of Small and Mighty Events: Learn about the humble beginnings of her business in balloon artistry and event decor, evolving from simple rentals to full-scale designs.

-Adaptation and Growth During COVID-19**: Doris discusses how the pandemic reshaped her business model towards intimate, home-based celebrations, helping her business survive and thrive.

-Community Engagement and Future Goals**: From contributing to the Portland Pride Festival to her plans for venturing deeper into real estate and mentoring young entrepreneurs, Doris shares her ongoing commitments and dreams.

-Work Philosophy and Community Impact**: Highlighting the joy and connections her work fosters, Doris reflects on the importance of community and creativity in business.

Small & Mighty Event Rentals Plus

Small & Mighty Event Rentals Plus, owned by wife and wife Alisshia and Doris Woods, is a Black women-owned and operated, LGBTQIA2S+ friendly event decor and rental company that caters to all events from small to mighty. Launched in early 2020, the company initially focused on renting tables and chairs for small events. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic shifted events to more intimate venues like homes and backyards, the demand for personalized, “Made with Love” experiences increased.

Emerging from quarantine in 2023, Alisshia and Doris, originally from Detroit, decided to specialize in custom balloon setups and throne chair rentals. Doris enhanced her skills through online courses and in-person classes, while Alisshia’s background as an Engineer and risk assessment expert ensures the structural integrity of each balloon project.

By June 2022, Small & Mighty was in high demand, providing custom balloons for major events such as Portland’s Pride Parade and working with organizations like Nike Moms, the Urban League of Portland, and the Portland Trailblazers. Today, Alisshia and Doris are dedicated to building their brand, giving back to the community, and participating in local organizations including The Washington County Chamber of Commerce and the Black Business Association of Oregon.

Connect with Doris Woods and Elevate Your Next Event:

Ready to make your next event unforgettable? Visit https://smallandmightyERP) for balloon designs.

Instagram @smallandmightyERP

Elevate Your Brand with Thorn City Syndicate Management:

Enhance your brand’s impact with our management and promotional services. Schedule your free strategy session at Thorn City Syndicate Management

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Doris Woods Final Episode

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

balloons, started, podcast, portland, joy, business, thorn, community, gmp, city, detroit, journey, event, find, syndicate, doris, brand, growing, small, real estate

SPEAKERS

Naeem Hall

Music. Welcome to the thorn city syndicate spotlight Show. I'm your host. Thorn city podcast guy in this episode, Doris woods, entrepreneur will transform her passion for balloon Archer street to a thriving business. Small and mighty events Join us as we explore Doris journey from Detroit to Portland, her challenges, her triumphs, and how she's using her business to bring joy and community together. We'll dive into our strategies for overcoming obstacles, staying motivated, fostering a strong connection with our customers. If you're an aspiring entrepreneur looking to make a difference yours, the story will leave you inspired and ready to take action. This is more than just the podcast. It's an opportunity to gain insights inspired and join the conversation today, the Orange City podcast guy, let's go yes sir. Welcome to another episode of the thorn city syndicate spotlight show where we network and build connections through interviews and discussions. This episode is brought to you by GMP podcast group. I'm your host. Thorne city podcast guy. Make sure you visit Thorn city syndicate.com and subscribe for updates, exclusive behind the scenes content and join the conversation today. Today I got another special guest in the house, Miss Doris woods, how are you?

01:21

I'm doing good. How are you tonight? Good.

Doris, that's my mom's name. So he got points? Do you so, yeah. So today we're going to talk about Doris background and her journey that led her from Detroit to here in Portland, and how she found her way into the world of balloon artistry and real estate, yeah. So Doris, can you walk us through your journey that led you from Detroit to Portland?

01:46

Naeem Hall 02:45

So you have a lot of Nike shoes,

02:47

lots. She has way more than you see, yeah? Hall new car man,

my little brother used to work at Nike. He worked part time for six or seven years. He stayed there mostly just to keep us on the discount on them. So he has a ton of shoes. He bought a house, and so he sold some, a lot of them, but I still have a bunch. I don't think I got as much as him, though. Yeah, I definitely have shoe issues, but I say, thanks. So I'd say since he left Nike, I haven't really bought many, okay, because it's hard to pay full price when you had the discount. Okay,

03:26

wink, wink, maybe we might need to get another discount. There we go.

So what inspired the small and mighty, and how has your journey been since you started

03:38

it? Oh, the journey has been one that is so rewarding. It's been up and down, of course, as anything with life, but it's one that has filled my heart with so much joy, more joy than anything I've ever done, both next to being a mom and a wife, like people don't understand the joy that comes with this. So let's talk about how I got into it. We I was working for Am I able to say their name? It was a corporate okay? I was working for Airbnb here in Portland, office, and I enjoyed my job there. It brought me a lot of joy. Taught me some skills and customer service and things

like that that I didn't know before. So now I decided I just want a little something more for myself. I enjoy my community. I enjoyed what I was doing at work that I wanted to give back to the community, but more than that, I wanted to give more joy to myself, and I wanted to take that joy and I wanted to share it with others. How do I do that? Okay, let me start a business. What business do I want to start? And I went to my wife, I said, maybe we could start renting out tables and chairs. And she was like, Okay, same, easy enough. And so we started actually renting out tables and chairs. And I was like, oh, no, it is too hard. So one day she said, you know, a lot of times you can people who. Do balloons also rent out this party equipment. Maybe we should try it. We did a balloon design one night in the house, and it came out beautiful. You can actually go to my Instagram page and still see that very balloon we did that night, first one, the very first you had never done balloons before. Never done balloons before, other than going to the dollar store asking them to give me some balloons so I could take them to a party.

So did you, you just, did you take a tutorial or something? Or you just, we watched the

YouTube, YouTube, YouTube, university. But

05:31

you know that sometimes, like, you can watch YouTube, and the stuff just doesn't come out. No, it will came out. Yeah, and I was shocked myself. So the point, I said, Okay, let's do this again. And we kept doing it. We kept practicing, and we kept perfecting. And then my wife, she's such a researcher, um, she's deep into, like, the analytics of things and how they work. So she said, let me figure out how we order belongs. How do we make this smoother? And then I got into, let's find some of our warehouses. Where do we buy the stuff? At wholesale. Who's our wholesalers? We started buying them, and then I started making more, and I put them on my social media page, and I got a client. You got a client, there

you go, just like that, huh? That's that.

06:20

And from that point forward, we've been taking off. Portland loves me and I love them. So

is this something you started in Portland? Yeah, nice.

06:32

I did not start in Detroit. I started it when I came here. We actually started going back to when

Naeem Hall 09:00

was probably a lot of balloons, though. Yeah, yeah.

09:05

Naeem Hall 09:25

nice. Oh, that's tight. Yeah, I loved it. Nice. So can you share any challenges you faced during

your transition from Detroit to Portland? Oh,

09:34

the challenges? Yeah, the first challenge was finding community. You know, there's a big culture shock when you're moving from Detroit to Portland. You know, I grew up around predominantly black people soulful. I could get my hair braided on any corner. I could find a hairdresser on any corner. I could go to the club. I could do all the things. When we moved to Portland, I see it where all the people, but it's okay. I know y'all out here somewhere. I'm go find you. So at that time, me and my wife and I, we were going everywhere, looking for the

people. So that's been the only challenge. It's no longer a challenge, because Portland has grown a lot since then, but in the beginning, that was my challenge. Where is the community? And I found my small cluster of people, and I stayed with them, and that's what has helped me along this journey. I'm still close to many of them. Some of them have fallen off, and that's okay, yeah, but many of them I'm still close with to this day. Yeah,

that's happens. Yeah, that's a lot of people. They don't know black people's here in Portland, and we used to be more close together in Northeast Portland, but we've definitely got spread out since the Yeah, they started buying people's homes up in Yeah, you know what they do?

11:01

Gentrifying. That's what they do. Yeah, I know that. Go back home to Detroit. It's the same way. Yeah, I'm looking at my own neighborhood, and I'm just like, where, where's the houses, where's the people? Generations are gone, yeah, and their Mega apartments put up restaurants, yeah, that used to be black owned have now been taken over by other owners. Yeah, then now our community can't even afford to go in there and get a new Oh, it's sad to see.

Yep, they know what they doing. Yep, they do. Man, that's crazy. So we're gonna take a break here and get a message from our sponsor, GMP podcast group production team, and we come back, we'll talk more about your a little bit more about your balloon artistry. Okay, great. Discover GMP podcast group studios located at 2406 East Burnside Street in Portland, Oregon, offering a range of podcasting packages to suit your needs, starting at just $49 per hour for your basic setup, featuring your roll caster, Pro Audio console and SM 7b microphones, as well as options complete with camera operator and audio engineer expertise, elevate your podcasting with multi camera recording, plus we capture behind the scenes, shots within the studio. Visit us at www dot GMP podcast group.com, and let GMP podcast studios be where your podcasting journey begins

12:30

this in the kid lyricist exists. Don't break one eye, baby. You just might miss history getting to make it from the making of this third I guess it's Welcome back to these words. So I'ma come well like, welcome back words for sure. Yeah,

sir, welcome back to the spotlight Show. I'm your host, thorn city podcast guy. I got Miss Doris woods in the house. How you doing?

How are you?

I'm good. So this is where I tell people about my spotlight show and and how I got started the thorn city syndicate spotlight show. It's all about the power of networking and former strategic alliances. And so I started my management company, Thor city syndicates, a management company, and I started it to help my best friend out. Okay, he's a hip hop artist. Growing up, he almost made it big, and then some stuff happened, and then he came back home, and he got caught in a fast life, and he was hooked on pills and alcohol, and so I wanted some of his music. You think, excuse me, so I decided to pay for some studio time and get them back in the booth and recording some music. So we recorded a few songs. We just started doing some shows. We traveled. We did some shows. I needed a music video. And somebody introduced me to my business partner, now, Justin, okay, he's into video production, yeah. And we filmed a video called honesty. We got a budget together into some film festivals, and we won a few awards, got to travel and to some film festivals, and then shortly after that, my buddy wouldn't got clean, and so he's now almost seven years clean, now engaged to be married. He's working over at poic as a he's a director of community, the Healing Hurt People program, sorry, where violence takes place. Someone is up in the hospital. His team shows up to offer support. So yeah, he's pretty busy, but I got my buddy back, so that's why I did it. Covid hit, and so the music stuff stopped, and Justin was friends with a guy named Tim James. Was a health coach and sales help supplements. And they started, decided start him a podcast, because his business wasn't doing so well. And so his business is just taking off. And so he hit me up. He seen what I was doing for the third his name's third twin. Okay, see what I was doing for the third twin. Brandy wanted me to help him with the GMP podcast brand, okay? And so we got this place down here on Burnside, 2406 East Burnside Street. Anybody into Thank you. Um, anybody into podcasting? Come down and we'll hook you up and get you right. And so after about three years of helping other people, um, do their podcast? Um, it was time for me to start my own show. Um, I like to be behind the scenes, so I was kind of like pulling teeth. They finally get me here, but I'm here now. It's been really great. Um, we get a lot of feedback, and so that's why we're here now. And so now I like to bring people on, to share their stories and highlight them and see what they got going on.

15:44

Thank you. So I appreciate you. I appreciate you coming through. I appreciate you. King, oh, thank

you. Yes, thank you. Thank

15:50

you for having this space and creating a space, and thank you for sharing your story. Yes. Do you think you saved your friend's life?

I actually, I know I did. Yeah,

16:00

I definitely did all of this is for that's exactly why I do belong, hopefully, to save somebody, save somebody.

Yeah, that's crazy. So the the art of balloon twisting, yeah, it's, it's really art. Tell me about how

the creative process,

16:17

gosh, so twisting is just a little different. So when you're doing balloon twisting, it's actually when you go to different carnivals and you see people who's like, Oh, let me make a dog for you. I'm alone. That's balloon twisting that I don't do. Oh, that you don't do. Let me tell you the strange thing, I don't like the noise balloons mate, really. That's why I won't twist balloon. So many people are trying to get me to twist balloons. I'm like, I don't like the noise. No, I cannot stand it, so I won't twist but what I do is just they refer to me as a balloon designer or a balloon artist, because I'm basically creating scenes with Balloon Art. And how I like to look at it is that if a client calls me, I'm looking at a canvas, their event space, their home, wherever I need to put balloons, that's my blank canvas. I'm just gonna come in and color it. That's it. I'm gonna color it, and balloons are is my medium.

So have you always been an artist in some way? Yeah, yeah.

17:23

I've been creative all my life. So started off as a little kid, drawing, just okay, drawing, drawing in school, doodling, coloring. I remember when I was young, I won a coloring contest in school, really, yeah, I got tickets to go see like, a movie called Fern Gully. That was, like, really old. I want, like, two big more. It was happy I was in elementary so it was a new thing for me. Nice.

That's tight, um, so not like stick figures, like I used to, no exactly draw. I used

to draw, yeah, draw all the characters. I would study the lines and figure out how to make everything perfect, and I could just draw. I used to have, like, I used to have a portfolio. I wish I still had it, but, yeah, I used to have a portfolio as to, like, drawing. I've tried. So in terms of artist, artistry, things I've done being creative, let's start with drawing, photography, painting, and now, balloons. Now balloons, that's tight. Wow.

So how did you navigate the challenges of starting small and mighty?

18:31

One of the ways I've navigated is leaning into my community, reaching out to other business owners here, just like myself, and getting resources from them, getting information from them. I had started off with a business coach when I was working at Airbnb. I told her I wanted to start a business. She helped me start then get the foundation sheet that helped me come up with the name very early on, when we were trying to do just table and chairs so and I needed to pivot. I talked to her, and she said, Baby, let's just pity we gonna let that go. Do something else. You gotta know when to let it go. Yeah. And so I let it go and and rest in peace to her. I miss her, and every day she she was like the best thing to get me through it all, because I didn't know anything how to start a website, LLC, all of the things coach mine is what I called her. She said, people call me Coach Ma, because I'm like a coach, but a mama, cuz when I was doing something wrong, she would say, Hey, you gotta stop trying to be perfect. Perfection. Don't Exist, she would get on me a lot, and because she instilled in me so much about being a business owner, I carried that with me to this day. So in terms of getting through it, now that she has gone on to the other side and she's an ancestor now, what I have lean. Into is my community, people like you creating spaces like this. So I lean into this. I have a number of connections, and then other professionals I link up with, I do collaborations with. I may have event planners who call me and say, Hey, I've seen your work. Would you mind coming on with me and doing an event with me, and I do that event, and then I'll get more business. But if I have questions, if I have challenges, I have a network of people, trusted people I can reach out to, and I know I'll get answers, and I'll get assistance, one of the biggest benefits right now, and resources. And I'll tell this for any small business that's out there, Join your local chamber of commerce, for your community, for your county, join the resources. There are unlimited the amount of people that can help you in those spaces. People don't know that it's there. And if you go and you don't see enough people that's like, that looks like you start up a black advisory business board or something, be the change you want to see. Because I'm out in Washington County, and we have that. We didn't have a lot of people. I wasn't there during that time, but from what I heard is there wasn't a lot of people that looked like us, but they got enough people together, and they started the black advisory business council, which also branched off and started other councils. So these are the types of resources that we as business owners have to utilize in order to overcome our challenges.

Gotcha, no, that's tight. Yeah, I just went to a I got invited to a network, a speed networking event. It was put on by the east, east, east chambers of commerce. And I met some, it wasn't a lot of people, like, there wasn't a lot of people there, like me, but I still make some good connections. Yeah, and so, like I said, you never know who you're gonna read, you're gonna meet. And so that's, that's probably one of the biggest things for me starting this show. It's got me to come out of my show and actually get out there and, like I said, network with people. And so it's been a good and I'm enjoying the run. Yeah. So can you describe any of your favorite balloon creations or events you've worked on. Oh,

22:21

favorite events, top event would be pride. Though, my wife will probably roll her eyes right

now, because she's the one when it comes to our structure designs. Listeners, please know that that is my wife. That's her. She's the engineer. She creates the structures when they need to be sound. She is the one who's going to make sure that they are structurally sound. They don't fall over. In case we're using some big props and things like that. When you have balloons that need to be exactly the same size, that is her me, I come in and say, This is what I want. And she's like, Okay, this is how we get it done. Now, most of my balloon creations, I am an organic balloon artist. That just means that everything that you see comes from my head. I create many of these designs on site, Inside Out of what, what's coming out of my head is what I paint. So

you don't even cups, you know, yeah, I was gonna say, you know. And you just get to the to the place, yeah, you just look around, yep, and say, All right. We just what we gonna do, and just make the magic happen exactly,

23:37

unless a client, unless we have a client like pride Northwest, or some of our other bigger clients, and they're asking for a specific dose, right? Yeah, and they're paying the right price. There you go again. Hey, now I can make I will do a mock. Other than that. Everything comes out my head and my heart, and it's put on a canvas. And I haven't had one client yet say, oh, that's ugly, you know, yeah, not yet, because it all comes from a place of love, yeah, yeah.

So it's crazy. I've always seen, like, I've looked at your website and seen your some of your stuff, but I've seen those things around but I've never took into mind, like, who, who's behind the creation of those? Yeah? And that that's like a

24:23

Naeem Hall 25:03

the Janita I went to school. Janita, yeah, that's

25:04

Naeem Hall 25:47

Did you any of them pop you little something? No, no,

25:50

she said throughout the night, well, I actually went to the event. No, no. One balloon floated down from the sky like days later, but she literally had to go. Her and her and her husband went up and took him and popped

him. Popped the most job in itself, yeah, being him out of there,

26:07

yep. And that was so fun. It was challenging, but it was super fun. I enjoyed it. Thoroughly. Enjoyed

it nice, yeah, oh, that's tight. Well, we're gonna take one more break. Here we get a message. Oh, see

Oh, see

you watching too. Janita, hey. JJ, Anita.

Hi, Janita. Miss Jones, right there. You know, we're gonna get a message from thorn city Syndicate, the management team. When we come back, we'll discuss your life beyond the balloons. Realtor, I'm ready. Introducing Thorn city, syndicate management, your solution for brand management, social media promotions, digital content distribution and podcast production, from shaping engaging content that resonates with your audience to amplifying your brand's reach through podcasting, we're your partners in driving success. We offer free strategy sessions and leverage our recording studio and personalized strategies to establish an online presence your brand's journey to the top starts with Thorne city syndicate management, where innovation meets results. Contact us now at www dot Thorn city syndicate.com to embark on the future path of transforming your brand's future,

27:17

this syndicate lyricist exists. Don't drink one eye, baby, you just might miss history getting to make it from the making of this third I guess it's Welcome back to these words. So I'ma come well like Welcome back words to share.

Yeah, that's it. That's it. Yes, sir. Welcome back to the spotlight. Show, thorn city podcast. Guy,

it's Doris woods. So it's not just the balloons you're into, but you're into real estate.

27:50

Hey, Amanda, real estate.

Are you just a realtor? Do you invest?

27:54

I am a realtor. I haven't started investing yet, but I would like to. So

what motivated you to become a realtor?

28:01

Naeem Hall 29:53

So how do you find the balance between the balloon artists and being a realtor? And is there

any crossover between the two? Yeah? Legends

30:00

I find. You know, as I'm starting to get more into real estate, I'm finding a lot of intersection, so I can go to a lot of these events and put up balloons, and then I hear of someone saying, Hey, I'm getting ready to move out of here, or I'm going through this issue. Or, how about my daughter is getting ready to have a baby and she need a house. This is the opportunity and the time for me to step in and say, I have I can also help you in this area as well. And so that's where a lot of the two cross over. And it's been fun to kind of navigate and look at all the different ways in which the two kind of pair together once they get their own home, I put the celebration balloons in. There you go

site. So are there any specific community building events you've been involved in?

30:55

Oh, let's see which community building events, besides pride, I have been working with Project

lemonade, and actually just got an email from them today. I work with them a lot, and if you know project lemonade, they are inside the Lloyd center. They are near and dear to my heart. Many of the listeners, I don't know what they know, but I'm not afraid to share that I was adopted when I was younger. So I went through the foster care system first, then adoption. So project lemonade actually is an organization that reaches out to foster youth to help them with whatever they need to get back into independent living. Even as parents that's raising foster children, they have supplies, and they can go in, and they can shop into their store for free, but they have a lot of other resources to help families and help foster children get whatever they need to be able to live their life. So project lemonade is my biggest organization I work with that. I thoroughly just love working with them, yeah.

So looking ahead, what are some of your goals and aspirations for the future of small and

mighty and your real estate ventures? Yeah. So

32:11

for me, I know you asked about small and mighty and the real estate venture, but I want to read a book, okay, and talk about all of this. I want to write a book. I want to talk about all of this, but in the meantime, before I get to the book, I kind of want to start moving over to kind of, maybe mentoring. I feel a pull into, like mentoring or education with our young entrepreneurs. Right now, my daughter, she's a girl scout. We're in full Girl Scout Cookie mode, and I watched her just grow into her little entrepreneurship journey. And I'm thinking about starting a little mentorship program for young people, but I'm talking children starting at elementary age. How do you find your joy? How do you find your passion? Tap into her early. Let's start getting that generational wealth built early, and let's make things happen. Yeah, let's bring a joy and love, nice. That's what it's about for me, and starting at elementary age.

So you got a name for your book? Yeah? What's it called?

33:21

1215, and 22

1215 and 22 Those are numbers,

33:25

numbers. They are numbers, but they are ages.

Yeah, nice. Well, y'all gonna have to wait for the book. Sure is, we have to bring her back and she can explain what those numbers mean, yes, um, to her and why she chosen as a book. Yeah, man, I really appreciate this. Man, this was a good conversation. I

33:45

appreciate you speaking.

So I'm just gonna recap a little bit what we talked about today. We talked about Doris journey from Detroit to Portland, and the beginning her entrepreneur journey with small and mighty. And we talked about some of the challenges she's faced in transition and her passion to balloon artistry, she shared her innovative approach to the brand, to the building, to the doing the balloons. We discussed, discussed her expansion into real estate, and then we got to some of the community stuff. So you really active and busy out here? Yeah. Well, I really appreciate you coming through and sharing your story. You have any more, any final words of encouragement for the listeners as they embark on their own journey? Yeah? And then also, how can they connect with you? You can hire

34:37

you, yeah, you can find me on Instagram. I'm at small and mighty. ERP, you can go to our website. W Well, you know it's WW, but it's small and mighty events.com. Before I go, I just want to leave you all with do something every day that sparks joy for someone else and for yourself. Be to people. What. What you want them to be to you, and always assume good intent. Just because someone is angry at you today, they might be angry at the problem and not necessarily you. We can get rid of a lot of this ego problem stuff, and we can get rid of a lot of the negativity in the world if we just approach most things with a loving heart and good intentions, assuming good intention.

That's it. You heard it from Miss Doris first. Hey. So this is where I like to encourage the listeners to explore their passions and embrace innovation and pursue entrepreneurship in their own unique ways. Thanks for joining us for the power of networking and find inspiration by following me at Thorn city podcast. Guy for updates, exclusive behind the scenes content and enjoying the conversation today. Stay tuned for upcoming episodes of thorn city syndicate spotlight show, as we continue to highlight individuals, businesses, brands and podcasters, and don't forget to subscribe on Thorn city podcast Guy YouTube channel. Follow at Thorn city Syndicate, the management company at GMP podcast group to production company as well,

and be sure to drop by Thorn city syndicate.com schedule your free strategy session. Come on down here, 24 from Burnside, and let's get your podcast going. Um, till next time I'm the thorn city podcast guy, I'll let you boy,

36:21

you did. So good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it.

I appreciate y'all tuning in to another episode of the thorn city Cindy Kitts spotlight show, where we network and build connections, interviews and discussions till next time I like your boy, the one city podcast guy I'm out. You remind

36:47

me of a man. Do