This month, we’re featuring WCEAN Event Chair and corporate event planner Savannah Becerril (WCE ‘14) for our alumni spotlight. Our alumni spotlight showcases the entrepreneurial journey of the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship's graduates. Let’s meet Savannah Becerril (‘14), owner of Go Savvy – an experiential branding company.
Meet Savannah Becerril (‘14)
Flashback to 2010… You’ll find Savannah Becerril (‘14) completely captivated in her Entrepreneurship 101 class at the University of Houston’s Bauer College of Business. Each day, she recalls leaving professor Carlos Ortega’s class more inspired than the last.
The class spoke to Savannah’s enthusiasm for entrepreneurship that was ingrained in her well before she started college. At a young age, Savannah remembers finding creative ways to generate revenue by selling gel-pen tattoos and other things her classmates would buy.
Her innate passion combined with Ortega’s class inspired Savannah to apply to the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship (WCE), which later became the building blocks of owning her own women-owned business, Go Savvy.
Experience in WCE
Savannah’s WCE experience came with big changes to her schedule and lifestyle. At the time, Savannah was double majoring in entrepreneurship and marketing while working three jobs! Because of the demands of the program, she quit two of her jobs and put her full attention and dedication into her WCE experience.
During the program and even post-graduation, Savannah described her WCE family as “pillars of support” guiding her through her entrepreneurial endeavors. The relationships Savannah made are a true reflection of the collaborative spirit the program sparked in her.
Savannah is the kind of entrepreneur who is always willing to learn something new, but as a busy event planner, she knows she can’t do it all. Instead, she learned how to build specific strategic relationships to help her business grow effectively.
To Savannah, it’s all about collaborating with others who have different and complementary strengths to her own.
Finding Ground Post-Graduation
After graduating from WCE, Savannah admits she initially felt a bit fearful. She thought to herself, “Oh my gosh, I’m all alone. Everything’s up to me now.”
However, it wasn’t long before this wave of fear passed, and she was able to ground herself.
Savannah knew that even though she graduated, she wasn’t truly alone. The lesson of strategic relationships and collaborations still carried with her. So she put into action her most valuable lesson from WCE: to play on her strengths and work with others who have different ones.
And that’s when she founded Go Savvy, her experiential branding company.
Reaching out to her WCE network, she got help creating a logo, working on a website, and developing marketing techniques. She had the support of alumni from her class and those after her. She still continues to work with many of them today – Jessica Ramirez (WCE ‘16), Melissa Jinks (WCE ‘16), Lauren Jefferson (WCE ‘16), Joshua Jackson (WCE ‘15), Eduardo Visbal, Christian Kladzyk, and many more!
Audio Engineer to Entrepreneur
Savannah’s decision to venture into experiential branding was a natural one. She is creative at heart with a strong talent for singing and music. Her passion for music, events and large-scale production set the stage for what was to come.
Before WCE, Savannah became a certified sound engineer. Audio engineers run sound for live events and produce musical records. And that expertise catapulted her towards the event industry.
As soon as she graduated as a sound engineer, Savannah knew she wanted two things:
To be her own boss.
To take a bigger step in helping businesses grow, non-profits reach their community, and artists reach their target market through large-scale events.
Finding Her Niche
At the start, Go Savvy was an “all things marketing” concepts company. The early stages involved lots of target client research and pro bono work to build her portfolio.
Eager to grow her new business through new connections, Savannah also sought out every networking event she could find. By the latter half of 2018, she realized, “I was becoming a serial networker”.
Despite all of her networking, she hadn’t made the progress she hoped to in pinpointing her emerging company’s target audience.
Something needed to change.
From that point forward, she committed to being very specific about where she networked and who she built relationships with. This allowed her to bring more focus to the Go Savvy brand and its marketing efforts.
Her pivot elevated Go Savvy to a whole new level.
The company's focus evolved to specialize in branding and events, then Savannah narrowed the focus down even further to its current niche in experiential branding.
Having a greater understanding of her target audience and communicating with them effectively made all the difference for Savannah and her prospering business.
Event Planning Through a Pandemic
Unfortunately, when news about the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, Go Savvy’s momentum came to a screeching halt.
In-person events were banned. Go Savvy cancelled or postponed all of her events.
While Savannah is no stranger to virtual events and online experiential branding techniques, her true passion lies in bringing people into one accord to celebrate or learn for the greater good – especially when it comes to businesses and nonprofits.
Consequently, safety became Go Savvy’s top priority for all their experiential branding. Go Savvy pivoted to serve businesses by:
Pushing virtual events
Offering podcast editing and mastering
Providing education on how to host safe and clean events
Guiding nonprofits through raising money online
Savannah has also taken the initiative in using this time to build Go Savvy’s content and continue to build her entrepreneurial community.
Now, as in-person gatherings gradually recommence, Savannah is glad to get back to the experiential branding that makes her most excited with safety as the new priority.
Has your company been cooking up something new and exciting during COVID-19 that you’re ready to share with your audience? Go Savvy will help you plan the perfect (and safe) event for you and your group.
Go Savvy: Your Event Planner
Go Savvy is a hip and creative experiential branding company that offers unique, purpose-driven event planning for businesses, nonprofits, and artistic individuals.
The name is inspired by their mission to create a culture of savvy people that make genuine and lasting connections with their target audience, partners, and employees through unforgettable events and branding.
They are devoted to helping you showcase your brand and express your story through meaningful and memorable events like…
Product launches
Ribbon ceremonies
Grand re-openings
Trade shows
Fundraisers
Training sessions
Festivals
… Just to name a few.
Plus the Go Savvy team coordinates every detail of your event, including
Stylish, functional, and clean event spaces
Decorations, music, and lighting
Catering and giveaways
Safety, sanitation, face masks
Additional restrooms
And event marketing
Your event is guaranteed to be the perfect balance of safe, savvy, and sensational.
Words of Wisdom From Savannah Becerril
With our alumni spotlights, we always want to help and inspire current WCE students and WCE alumni accelerate through the learning curve. Here are Savannah Becerril’s words of wisdom.
Never stop being hungry! The moment you stop pushing for more is the moment you lose track of growth in your endeavor. Never stop pushing for more at a healthy level.
Prioritize your personal life. At the end of the day, the people around you are important for helping you succeed – professionally and personally.
Learn more at https://www.gosavvy.biz/ or find them on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
If you’d like to be spotlighted in this monthly series, click here to apply.
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