Amazing Grace Decor: Event Planner On Staten Island
Amazing Grace Decor: Nurse By Night, Luxurious Event Planner By Day
When I first meet Olubukola Grace Adebayo, aka, Amazing Grace, she’s standing at the entrance of her warehouse while her son paints a Chiara arch wall on the sidewalk. They’re customizing furniture for an event and she has a few minutes to show me around. Inside the massive industrial space, there’s assortments of gold and crystal chandeliers, a large selection of LED numbers and letters, various chairs, tables and statement pieces like a photo booth. A few blocks over is her showroom that is noticeable from a far. With colorful swirls and paint on the facade, its a place you want to explore. Inside, still full of wonderment was less amazing until it’s recent renovation.
I recently visited her newly minted showroom, in NYC, which is a former funeral home turned luxury display space. With a new showroom and growing clientele, she is looking to expand her business and take it to the next level. And she’s leveraging the support of her family to do so.
Grace doesn’t mind putting in the sweat equity to make her business thrive. By day, she dons scrubs as an RN, by nights and weekends, she is a full-fledged event designer and planner.
“My middle name is Grace so the name comes from an inspiration and anytime I work for somebody, they’ll be like, ‘This is amazing.’ I’m like, you know, why can’t we just be amazing Grace?,” says the humble businesswoman during a candid chat. While she does event planning, her specialty is decor. “I have people that work with my company to help with the planning and navigate the whole thing, but I specialize more on the design. And then there’s a new branch of the business now, which is the rental part. We realize some people are hands on, they like to do something themselves. So we encourage people to DIY so we do rent stuff as well.”
Grace has been an ICU nurse for 22 years, working the night shift. “I work three days a week and then I take off my business for the other four days.” Sounds demanding, but according to Grace, it brings her life balance. At work, she takes care of “critically ill patients,” an at work she sees people in their element — lively, laughing and full of energy. It’s a reminder to celebrate. “Monday through Wednesday I’m seeing people on the other side, and then on weekend I’m see people on the other side. So to me it just makes my life more balanced.”
In an era when it’s easy to toss around the term “work hard” with an inheritence as a nepotism baby, Grace built her business from the ground up with the help of her family. As a mom of four and wife, they have been instrumental to her success.
“You need all the support you can get. So I’m fortunate to have an amazing husband. It’s the pillar behind this business. I have amazing family altogether. I have a couple of my siblings here. And my children, they all help. And I must not forget, my mother-in-law, a great woman, she helps take care of the kids. She helps with everything in the house.”
Business for Grace is thriving, but like most entrepreneurs, she started from nothing. 12 years later, she’s still climbing. She believed from day one, her business would be a on top the event industry. And while she services a large clientele on Staten Island and surrounding NYC areas, she remembers when she was still building her inventory. “I remember in those days I used to work one job to another just to save up and then I start getting my inventory little by little. Things accumulated so fast. She shared advice for newcomers in the game, “You just have to put the work in. Work hard and then you start building little by little. Because of social media, there’s a lot of noise out there. Forget the noise and, do your own thing slowly but surely you will get this.”
As for those who love a good DIY project (like myself), she recommends:
Set A Budget
“First thing I always tell my customers when they come to me is look at your budget you choose what is more important to you.”
Choose A Color Theme
“When you go with certain colors, and you’re not spending so much money, it’s still gonna look great regardless. So choose your color palette wisely.”
Take Advice
“Take advice from your decorator or planner because sometimes they have the shortcuts and they have better ways to actually help you.”
Our conversation ends with everything she has coming up. “We expanded the showroom so we can have more display. People can come in and see what we have. We have a place where they can sit and talk and discuss their vision. We go on the mood board and then we come up with a plan. We can try placements and build displays for our customers. It’s gonna be good for both myself and the customers because people like to see stuff and it’s actually going to be fun as well.”
Visit Amazing Grace Decor, here.
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