Meet Randi Yarrell of The Landry Collective

Today we’d like to introduce you to Randi Yarrell.

Randi, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am originally from Randolph New Jersey. I have received a Bachelor’s degree from North Carolina Central University in Visual Communications and then pursued and received my Masters in Communication Design from Pratt Institute in New York. Postgrad I was working for a nonprofit at Columbia University’s Pediatric Oncology Unit as a Graphic Designer.

While in New York I met my husband Larry Yarrell, we courted for little over a year and then decided to get married and move back to his hometown, Dallas, TX. I have been in Dallas now for ten years and we have three beautiful children. Laine who is six, Lenox (4) and our baby Lucas who is 16 months. While in Dallas I have worked for Neiman Marcus as an Interactive Designer and then for American Airlines the past six years as a Senior UX Designer. While pursuing my career I was asked by the Nonprofit Marcus Graham project to help plan and execute their 1st Annual fundraising gala.

To my surprise, I was bitten by the event planning bug. The following years I continued to plan for them and from there decided to start plan weddings on the side. I was officially hooked. This is where Rae Lawson my event planning company was born. I held this close to my heart and whats more close then my children. so I decided to name the company after them. Rae is my daughter’s middle name and Lawson is my son’s middle name.

Over the next few years, I was able to build a following and secure several weddings each year. I was still working my full-time job but knew my passion for UX was slowly fading. I was faced with a tough decision to stay or leave corporate America. I have a loving family, a great job but why wasn’t as happy as I could be.

Over the next year, I really tried to slow down and listen to my heart. I had several conversations with my husband about this, although he was supportive I was still holding guilt about possibly making our family financial situation difficult.

One day I was meeting a potential client for a consultation at this local coffee shop and it just hit me. I needed to solve a problem and the problem was having a place to go to as an event professional to elevate my business. So I thought why not create a niche co-share workspace/small event space specific to the event professional. Event photographers, videographers, planners, bakers, florists you name it. A community where we build on our business and collaborate as we always do when we are working an event.

This is when the Landry Collective was born. My youngest son’s middle name is Landry so I decided why not keep it in the family. This will give all my children the experience of seeing their mother follow her dreams and see their names in “lights”. I hope one day they are proud of me the way I am already proud of them.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I believe once you realize your purpose and passion its smooth sailing. The hard part is struggling with defining what that is. The back and forth, the doubt the fear.

The Landry Collective – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
The Landry collective is a collaborative workspace for the modern event professional. We provide a new way for event entrepreneurs, freelancers and companies to create, connect and collaborate.

Beyond collaboration and energy, one of the perks of working in a modern co-working business model is it centers on self. We promote a lifestyle of wellness and personal growth at the Landry with flexible schedules, yoga classes, gym access, and more. As part of the southside Lamar community you will enjoy loads of community events, access retail shops, sundries and social fun, not to mention the panoramic views of downtown Dallas!

We also host monthly workshops and rents the space out for small events.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment for me was just taking the leap and being at peace with it. Taking an idea, a dream and seeing it come to life and having my family witness all of this was definitely the cherry on top.

Pricing:

• MONTHLY COLLECTIVE MEMBERSHIP – $200
• EVENT SPACE RENTAL – $150 PER HOUR (4 HR MIN)
• CONFERENCE ROOM SPACE RENTAL – $50 PER HR

Contact Info:

• Address: 1409 S LAMAR ST
  UNIT 211
• Website: www.thelandry.co
• Phone: 214 699 6849
• Email: hello@thelandry.co
• Instagram: @thelandryco

Image Credit:
Amber Knowles
Jeremy Patton

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