Today we’d like to introduce you to Valery Whitfield.
Hi Valery, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
PR SPACES began less than a year ago when I decided to move out of my newly renovated townhome. In 2019 my home caught on fire due to the gas fireplace. It took about a year to reconstruct the house and make app repairs. IT was a full renovation; nothing was salvaged from before the fire. Of course, I was devastated by the loss and my new normal of being out of my house for a while. However, I realized it was a huge blessing in disguise! I took this opportunity to resign my home altogether. I hired a well-sought-after interior designer to assist me. Together we custom-designed every room! This was a fun yet stressful process in dealing with contractors and vendors, selecting furniture, waiting for shipments, and making sure it all came together for me to move back in. Thankfully, I was able to do all of this before Covid-19 hit!
So, I move in, have friends and family over, and we love the space! I’m also a freelance makeup artist, so I have clients regularly coming to my home for appointments. Each person entering the house is immediately distracted by the decor. Their focus is to tour the space, take pics, and record reels and tik-tok. With my many attempts to redirect them, I just couldn’t! Every guest was in awe of the aesthetics and versatility of each room.
Fast forward to one year after I moved in and tons of friends and family coming in and out of the home, and I decided to move out and allow others to enjoy the space truly. I woke up one morning with the idea to turn the space into a luxury Airbnb, but for traveling professionals only, such as travel nurses and corporate execs. I did that successfully for 6 months. About 5 months ago, in January of 2022, I fully converted it to a Content Creation House. I decided to transition my business to this because I can maximize the number of people who want access to the space and host in-house PR SPACES events such as our Content Creator Workshop 101 and our Realtor Headshot and Content Day.
The transition from Airbnb to Content Creation House has been an immediate success! We have had the pleasure of servicing everyone from Realtors, Social Media Influencers, Photographers, Musicians, Bloggers, and more!! We love seeing the content they create in the space. Each photo and video look completely different, although they are captured in the same space. The house has so much versatility and uniqueness in each room. We pride ourselves on having a fully functional space where you can use the kitchen to do a cooking show or the shower to record a hair product, whereas, in a studio, everything is just props.
As a bonus, we offer various additional services, such as photographers and videographers specializing in branding and lifestyle. And We also have on staff a makeup artist, hairstylist, floral decorator, and fashion stylist. High-quality content is what we promote and support. Therefore we are always prepared to help our clients in achieving that look!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been fairly smooth?
The road hasn’t always been smooth but I was grateful for the lessons we’ve learned in the business. There are not a lot of Content Creation Houses in the area for us to network with and get knowledge from, so everything has been trial and error. Our biggest challenge is bringing more exposure to the brand and building our audience. We have been improving in that area due to the help of our brand ambassador @aminaplease
We also struggle with finding funding and resources for small minority-owned businesses to help us expand.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
My favorite childhood memory is riding around with my mom every Saturday morning to help her run errands. I especially enjoyed these moments because we would always stop and get lunch and pick up something special for me from the stores. I enjoyed spending time with my mom on those days since she worked two jobs during the week.
In running her errands, we would go to stores and get new furniture or decorative pieces for the house. I loved the decorating process and revamping our space. I now do that in my home and apply the styling tips I learned from my mom.
Pricing:
- 2 Hour Minimum Rental: $150 per hour
- Mandatory Cleaning Fee: $85
- Appliance Usage Fee: $250
- Makeup Artist: $150
- Lifestyle/Branding Photographer $300 Hourly
Contact Info:
- Website: Prestigeresidentials.com
- Instagram: @prestigeresidentials
- Other: @prestigeresidentials on TikTok
Image Credits
SnapsbyAsh- Ashley Jean
