Thank you so so much to Whitney and Zoe for sharing their journey on starting Chicago's first queer owned event space. We also just chat about the importance of being in community in both queer owned spaces as well as just being with other queer folks :)
Please follow along with them on social media to support their journey and maybe even host your own wedding here :)
@villanellechicago
@drinkingpolicy
@dorothydownstairs
The intro and all instrumentals were written, sung and recorded by @JaynaDavisMusic
Thank you so so much to Whitney and Zoe for sharing their journey on starting Chicago's first queer owned event space. We also just chat about the importance of being in community in both queer owned spaces as well as just being with other queer folks :)
Please follow along with them on social media to support their journey and maybe even host your own wedding here :)
@villanellechicago
@drinkingpolicy
@dorothydownstairs
The intro and all instrumentals were written, sung and recorded by @JaynaDavisMusic
All right, Queerly Beloved, welcome back to this week's episode. I have Zoe and Whitney with me here. Um, they are starting a queer focused event space in Chicago and, wow, I've just been following along with them on social media and it's been so cool to see how this is going. Come together, um, so quickly. Um, but I know there's a lot more behind the scenes too. So I'd love to hand it over to you guys. If you would introduce your name and your pronouns and any other identities you would like to share. Sure. Uh, my name is Whitney. Uh, my pronouns are she, her, my name is Zoe. My pronouns are also she, her, and we are the owners of the soon to be Villanelle. Oh my gosh. So exciting. Yeah. Can we just start by kind of like hearing that journey a little bit and what that's looked like? Sure. I can kick us off. Absolutely. Um, so Whitney and I, and we're, we're married as well. So we're a married couple and we are, uh, we own Villanelle and Dorothy, which is our lesbian bar just downstairs. Um, we met about seven years, almost seven years ago. Um, And at the time, the space that we're turning into filling out was a restaurant called split rail. Um, and through the course of the pandemic, and all of the challenges that have ensued since then, we decided at the end of last year to close split rail, but we were really kind of loathe to let go of the space that we. We're so hard to build. That means so much to us and to so many people in our community. Um, and that also acts as a little bit of the gate between the rest of the world and Dorothy, right? We're directly above Dorothy. And so the idea of letting the space go and then just seeing who wound up here when we left was a little bit of a scary thing. So when we decided to close the restaurant, Whitney actually had the idea to, um, reopen the space as a queer event space. Um, and then the name Villanelle came after a little bit, um, The idea just being that just in the same way that, you know, the bar scene, queer people are welcome, ideally, at most bars around the country at this point, um, but those spaces have not been built for them or not catered for them or designed for them, and in the same way, the event scene is the same sort of a thing. If you're getting married, I think that people want and deserve to know that they're in a safe space surrounded by like minded people or allies, um, and not worrying that perhaps somebody who works in the event space or who is, uh, you know, working as a caterer for the evening might have something to do or say about their, their union. You know, so the goal was to create like a truly safe space and, and basically to say like queer friendly is not enough. We want to have queer spaces. Yeah. And I'm curious, um, in your mind, when you're kind of saying those spaces weren't necessarily built for the queer community or that kind of thing, how do you envision it being the opposite? Like, what kinds of things went into it when you were building Dorothy as being a space meant for queer folks? I mean, I think it's just a matter of The intentionality choosing people that we know will be again, allies, if they're not already part of the queer community to work with us. Um, you know, unfortunately, we can't go all the way and say, we're only going to work with contractors who are queer people and things like that, because it is more limiting. Right? Um, and that's part of what we're trying to do with them. Now we're trying to normalize business ownership and entrepreneur. Entrepreneurial ship is challenging for me, uh, in the queer community and show younger queer people that like there is a path to follow that can lead to ownership that can lead to striking out on your own, that you don't always have to work for other people. Um, and historically, queer people have had less access to business loans to people are willing to rent or lease them to people are willing to work with them. Um, and so the hope is that if, if. 20 years from now, some young people are doing what we have done, they could just choose a queer contractor, and queer painters, and queer this, queer that, and that's the hope down the line, but for now, you know, we're really trying to continue to push the boundaries of like, Asking people to identify their businesses in that way so that we can be supportive of those businesses. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And as far as. The event space, um, yeah, specifically, how did you decide to kind of do events? What was the. The passion behind that. Um, I've been working creatively in the event scene here in Chicago for the past decade. Um, I moved here about 15 years ago and started in the storefront theater scene. So I wanted to act. I wanted to do something. Do plays and go to Hollywood and be a starlet and then, um, The storefront theater scene didn't really want me in the way that I wanted it. And so I started to pivot. Um, I had a I had a lot of creatives in my life and started creating um events that Really highlighted all genres of creativity and really started learning what renting spaces was like really started learning. What made a successful event really started learning, um, you know, just. Everything from design to an event copy to, you know, what it. What it takes to throw a successful, fun, um, and really awesome singular event. Um, and so when, when we met, I was coming back into the restaurant industry because I had a goal of opening my own event space in, uh, We met, I interviewed here in December of 2017 and started, uh, shortly after that new year. So in 2018, I was trying to open my own storefront specifically to foster my own events as well as, uh, the rest of the Chicago creative community and was lucky enough to do that, um, that summer. So I've been working professionally in events for that long. And then, um, as we became more involved and I became more involved. Ultimately in the restaurant. Um, then later in my, in my own event space. And then even later in Dorothy events just were a real center of everything that we were doing. Um, I think it's, you know, the restaurant and bar business is so tricky when you don't have. You know, different opportunities to drive guests in. Otherwise you're pretty much just, just hoping that enough people come in and drink enough and eat enough to keep you in business. And with events, we have a very specific understanding of at least anticipated guests, right. Um, in addition to additional revenue and, and all of that. So we were running a really, and we are continually, we continue to run a really robust. Events program down in Dorothy and our weddings, uh, and, and private events really started picking up in split rail in the last year that we were, that we were open. And so we were running weddings between the restaurant, as well as my gallery space. That was next door. Um, we would have receptions in Dorothy and it just became something that was not only. lucrative, but really joyful. And when we were, you know, kind of at the, at the last minute, really. Considering pivoting and not totally closing and walking away. It was like, what if, what if we just focused on, you know, these, these kind of, kind of bigger ticket events and opportunities, um, Because it just, it really makes so much of the work that much more, like I said, predictable, easier to staff around, um, and, and really to, to do everything around, to buy product around, to stock your bar around, to, you know, everything that everything just makes it, it just really makes it easier. Um, you know, and we, and we also saw a need. I mean, we, we have. Had some really incredible popularity with Dorothy, not only because we built a beautiful bar and our team is incredible and we have great cocktails, but also because we labeled it as a lesbian space. Um, and so we knew that if we again opened another, open another business and, and kind of labeled it, By and for the queer community, uh, that we could really carve out a niche instead of just, you know, saying like, oh, yeah, we're gonna do weddings because weddings are expensive and we just want to make money. So having a different angle at it, uh, coming at it at a more accessible and approachable way for the community. Um, has really been our goal. So, um. You know, we did this Kickstarter and it was all or nothing. And we didn't know we, and we were, we were true to that. Like if we, if we don't make it, that's okay. That's a, that's a big sign from the universe that we need to pack up and we need to move on. Um, and we had so many people championing. Champion for us and, and we funded it. So, so now we're doing it. It's true. If we are the long winding road answers the question. Yeah. And that happened in like a month, basically. That's what it looked like on social media. Yeah, we just have February. I mean, we, you know, we closed our businesses because our businesses were not thriving. And I say businesses, we've just talked about the restaurant really, but I also had a gallery space that was attached to the restaurant and we closed those two together. Um, which was the event space that I, that I had, um, that I was seeking to open when we met, um, so our businesses weren't thriving. So it's not like, we're just like, Oh yeah, let's pivot. Let's take all this money in the bank. We had no money in the bank. And so, um, so it was basically like, we, we need to raise the money. Or we need to get out. Like we can't just keep hanging on to this, uh, big, empty, expensive top half of a building. So, um, so we had to, we had to, we had to do it quick. And so we put a timeline on it and then it worked. Yeah. That's amazing. Way to think on your toes. That's great. Um, yeah, and I know we've already kind of really been discussing it throughout this podcast already, but I think there's something. So, like, when I switched from doing, um. Like straight hyper religious weddings into what I do now. Like I was like, there's just something about this that feels like it feels like sacred almost, I don't know, like being in that space with other folks in the community and like getting to celebrate that kind of love. Um, so I just would love to hear from both of you, like what it means to kind of both be like the people who are owning this space, but also like. What that means, what it means to you. I mean, I think, I think it's, it's going to be really incredible. That's my hope. And, you know, of course we've just started booking events. We really only have a couple of books, a couple of events booked. And so the hope is that we're able to book enough events, make it sustainable. But I mean, I think it's going to be an incredible experience. And I think that, you know, we are hospitality minded people. We are bar and restaurant people. Right. And so we have this ability, I think, to show. People an incredible time in our space and a lot of weddings are done in venues that are like, you have to deal with the chairs. You have to deal with the tables. Somebody has to set things up. Somebody has to break them down. A lot of time. It's not the people who run the space. Sometimes somebody even has to clean. And so when we talk about people who don't have enough money to have a wedding planner with a team of people who are there to execute the wedding for them. Um, They wind up having to do so much work for their own wedding. So the hope here is that we've got a restaurant mentality around throwing weddings, which means not only are they gonna be less expensive for the most part, um, than your traditional wedding, wedding venue, when all is said and done, but also that you get to plan your wedding, hopefully six months, a year, 18 months in advance. And on the day of your wedding, all you have to worry about is getting married to the person that you're in love with. That's the hope, right? And that we're going to take care of the tables, the chairs, the food. The sweeping, making sure that you've got a glass of champagne in your hand when you need it, that really you're going to get that hospitality forward, very tailored experience. And that's, that's what we do. That's what we enjoy doing. It's what we love doing. Um, and we are hopefully going to get to host a ton of events where people are celebrating, you know, the greatest of life's joys and that gets to happen here. So it's a really incredibly powerful thing. I think we also, you know, something that I'm always interested in from an events perspective is the unique approaches of, you know, anything, whether, whether it's, if you, if you look at, you know, queer bars and, and like baseline common events, karaoke, trivia, what have you, you know, like, how can we do it? That is more fun, more unique, um, something you've not seen before. And wow. The typical wedding, you know, can, can definitely have its unique nature. Human beings are, are unique and, you know. Bring their own flair. I think a lot of times a lot of the the mainstream wedding vibe is is copy paste copy paste Because people see what see what others are doing and and want to do that nothing wrong with that, right? But the queer community automatically is off the beaten path. And so it's there are they're automatically not doing what? Uh, you know, society is, is kind of shoving at us. And so I think it's so fun. I mean, we, we got married in September and getting to approach our own wedding with like, okay, what's important to us, um, what elements of a traditional wedding, you know, do we want to keep, you know, What don't we want, you know, like that was so fun for us. Um, and to get to share that with our friends and family on, on our specific take of a wedding and a wedding day. Um, I can't wait to see the different elements and the different ways that people celebrate. Um, you know, and we're, we're designing the space that we have to be pretty flexible to have a lot of, uh, to have like really a, a kind of core element of here's the, here's the main room. This is kind of where most people are going to get married, but, um, but flexible enough that you can make it your own, um, a blank slate enough where you can add a little bit of elements to it, but you don't feel the pressure to spend the extra thousands of dollars on. up lights and curtains and, you know, all these decorative elements, um, that you just won't need here. It's the whole intention is that you come in, you choose us because the, the space is, is beautiful and, and you can just go, um, or you can bring in your own unique elements. So I'm really excited for that. Well, 1st of all, congratulations on getting married in September. That's awesome. Thanks. Wow. Um, and it sounds like, did I hear you right earlier when you were saying that you already have hosted a few weddings in some of your spaces? Yes, absolutely. Yeah. And I don't know, I guess I'm just thinking like, from my perspective, like, I'm also like recently engaged and, um, my fiance and I are like, Planning your own thing. And I just feel like there's that, like, if I were to see something like what y'all are doing, like, there's just that like immediate sense of like, like taking a deep breath, it's going to be safe space. And it's also going to be like, just very like celebratory of like who we are. Um, and I guess I'm just curious if like, you've already been getting that kind of feedback from folks in the community. I would say, yeah, definitely. Um, there's, we've gotten a lot of people saying things like, you know, like that they wish that this has existed when they were getting married. Um, and inquiry is already just getting started. Um, and the hope is that the more we have the space built out so people can see it, the more inquiries we'll get. But I think there's definitely, there's definitely a need for it. I mean, I think that's really what it comes down to is we need to have safe spaces to celebrate our triumphs. And some triumphs are, are. Queer specific too, right? There are specific tribes that, that may be, or life milestones that, that the straight community might not understand and that we're, we're here for, uh, in a different way. Um, so yeah, we're, we're definitely hearing a lot of appreciation for the existence to be a Villanova. One of my favorite inquiries that turned into a Kickstarter support that was a buy in for a future event that we'll be hosting next year is a, is a valve renewal for someone in our community who has since transitioned since, um, she and her partner were married. And so, um, they want to have. Like a queer valve renewal where it's like, you know, this is like the, the truer version of us. This is, this is the version of us now. And they very specifically invested in, in us to do that. Um, so that was really beautiful. Um, You know, Dorothy is, is a bar. So it's 21 up. And so we've had, we've had a lot of like 18 to 20 year olds be like, can I just come in though, put X's on my hands? And we're like, it's not how liquor laws work. I wish I could, but you know, so now this is a space for that. We can welcome in those younger members of the community, um, for graduation parties, birthday celebrations, stuff like that. So, you know, we. While we want to be, while we want to put ourselves forward as a wedding venue, you know, we are, we are a gathering space and a celebratory space, um, for really anything that people can dream up and, and it's really exciting to know that, that if we can make that kind of influence on someone, um, as they're coming into an adult world, um, You know, that's really exciting and something that we're not able to do for them in Dorothy just yet. So really looking forward to that. Yeah, this is yeah, it's going to be so impactful. Like, I feel like everything about this is going to just have a huge ripple effect and can't wait to see what that looks like. Me too. Um, speaking of impact, though. I feel like I've been having more conversations recently with folks who are kind of starting to say, you know, I feel that we've kind of gone through these like waves of like, okay. So wedding started to get bigger and bigger and bigger over the years. Um, very like heteronormative focus. And then in the last couple of years, there's been like this Bigger push for, you know, we need to be more inclusive, inclusive practices, things like that. And now it's almost like we're getting into this point where people are starting to say, okay, but like, why do you need to say that? Like, isn't that just baseline? Like, why are you, you know, kind of putting that out there? And in my mind, I'm like, sure, it should be baseline, but it isn't always. Um, and so I'm curious, like, in your, in your minds, what are some things that you're intentionally doing in your space that, that are inclusive that maybe other vendors or venue owners can also do? I mean, For my opinion of that, really, excuse me, let's start that song over, I apologize. In my opinion, what we are doing is creating a space with the queer community in mind, and how we hire, and how we approach events, and how we approach the people that are going to be in these spaces. And I think that is kind of, My point is kind of like, I don't think it's something that a straight business owner can do. They can welcome queer people into their space, and they should, and I'm glad that people are doing that more and more. I think that the nature of a queer space, for the most part, is simply that it's queer owned, queer operated, and made to be. with the intention of housing queer people in whatever capacity. And so that is what we're trying to do here. And that's where I think, you know, it's wonderful to see more acceptance. It's wonderful to see more openness, um, from straight businesses, straight community centers, straight bars, et cetera. But it's not the same, you know, it's, we are a group of people who have found Solace in each other and solidarity in one another for generations and had to hide for generations. And so now we don't have to hide anymore. The major cities in certain parts of the country, certain parts of the world, other parts of the country and other parts of the world, people are still feeling the need to hide, um, but is not hiding enough versus celebrating and, and as Whitney said, champion, championing one another, it's a hard word to say also apparently, um, you know, in a different way that says we're going to take our queer money and put it in queer communities. In queer pockets and continue to push that in other ways where we look for restaurants and bars and places. We can go bookstores and different things where we can do the same right. To support queer people in business endeavors, in growing our community, in strengthening our community, in strengthening our economic, financial toehold in our community. I think all those things are really important. Yeah. And I think it's, you know, I, I think it's. Almost low key, like a continued form of oppression. If, you know, people are annoyed after a year or two of queer liberation, you know, it kind of goes, it kind of goes with, with all systems that are, you know, oppressed, right? Like it can go hundreds of years, centuries, entire lifetime of, of not being. Treated equal or being hated or, you know, literally having laws against, you know, you existing. Um, and just because some things change and some attitudes change and it becomes, you know, a little less dangerous to like fly a rainbow flag, doesn't mean that all of a sudden we should just stop talking about it because as soon as you do that, it's, it's, it's literally just putting us like basically back in the closet, right? Like it isn't just a given. It isn't, It isn't just safe everywhere. We see that all the time. Um, and I think You know, it's, it's important to continue to talk about it because for so years, for so many years you weren't able to, or there wasn't these spaces and, and yeah, I think just like, so he said, like, it's, it deserves to be celebrated and, you know, it is. It is, it is still in, in so many parts of this country and so many parts of this world. I mean, even in our state, we live in a blue state, but, you know, Chicago feels like a completely different planet than, than a lot of the, the rest of the state. Like, you know, it's, it's, it wouldn't be the safest thing for us to do. Elsewhere. So, um, we got it. We got to do what we can. And like, you know, for the people who are rolling their eyes, you know, they can roll the eyes into their back of the head and not look at us anymore. I don't know, you know, but it's just, it's, it's, that's just people being, being, uh, upset that, you know, there's a disruption to the system that, you know, they're being forced at looking to look at themselves and, and, you know, Yeah, it's just, I, I, I think, uh, language like that is really dangerous and, um, and ultimately oppressive. So I think, you know, we'll continue to do this and we'll continue to, to lead with, You know, being queer owned and operated, being woman owned and operated, being now family owned and operated, you know, and cause those are, those, those are important things to lead with. And, and the people who seek us out are the people that we want to serve. Yeah, absolutely. No, I totally agree. It's been very strange to watch over. I don't know. I just feel like even the last year people have almost gone like, okay, you guys are shot too much. Absolutely. Forward, let's like, bring it in. Like it's all fine and good. Like, I don't know why, why you feel the need to like, have that at the forefront of your business. And yeah, so again, thank you for what you're doing. Like, this is truly amazing. And I just know so many people are going to like, have some of the best nights of their life there. That's the hope. I hope so. That's it. Yeah, I mean, we had our reception in Dorothy, you know, we, we talked a lot about what we wanted to do and the restaurant was still operational at the time. And, you know, we're a little too, we don't, we're not bartenders. We don't work in Dorothy. Um, She can bartend. I can't, but, um, you know, we, we run the business. We run, I run the creative side, you know, we, we manage events and stuff. Uh, but otherwise, you know, it's not us down there every night. It's our exceptional team. Uh, but we have, she's a chef and was the chef of split rail. It continues to be the chef of the split rail entity. Um, you know, I was a server assistant here. I was a server here for years. And so that was a little. A little too close to home for us to, uh, you know, have a, have a ceremony in here. You know, it's like, we just, I just kept joking. Like, I think if Phil and Mel had existed, we might've done though. Maybe. Well, yeah. Cause well, we do, we have a different experience, you know, like. She would be like glancing up at the kitchen, like, is everything okay? You know, but so we had our, our, our wedding and her, uh, our ceremony and her parents backyard. And then we came over and had our reception in Dorothy and it was definitely one of the best nights of our life, obviously, because we got married, but also because it's so fun, it's so beautiful, you know, and so we, we. Of course, we've, we've enjoyed plenty of nights in Dorothy, but that was, that was a really exceptional one. So we tested it and it's fun. There you go. Best, best review right there. No, by far would do again. Wow. No, not, not right away. That was weddings are hard. And that's why we're doing it! It really, there is a real opportunity to streamline this whole process and make it a little bit simpler for folks. Um, and you know, I know Whitney mentioned, uh, accessibility before in terms of price point and approach. And I, forgive me if you actually did mention this, but one of the things we want to implement is the possibility of doing a payment plan. You know, I think if you look at sort of the general statistics around it, queer people are, are, if they're younger, less likely to have parents backing them financially than straight people. Um, also some of us just don't get married until we're older. I was 40 when we got married last year. Um, and then paying for it yourself, you know, like, um, and so. If you're doing a 12, 000 wedding here on a Saturday, which is a very reasonable price to get fully married for, you know, with everything, with all of the bells and whistles and everything goes with it. You know, you, if you're doing that next year, you could pay in six, 2, 000 installments so that you're not breaking the bank, getting crazy credit card debt, right? Like seeing that interest stacking up month after month. Um, and so we really want to work with people and create that level of access. And I think that's something that's like, not queer specific, you know, it's, it's. There's plenty of people who can't afford weddings are wildly expensive. Right. Um, but with the hope that we can really benefit our community in that way. Um, and we're not just saying, all right, well, we're switching this now, give us your money. It's really, how can we work with you to create this incredible experience in a way that is affordable and approachable and manageable for you and your partner? Yeah. I mean, we've, we've experienced how, uh, how tricky the industry can be, you Let's say you, you run a standard restaurant that has a party room, you know, as soon as you, you whisper the word wedding, you know, the price goes up 2345 times. Um, and we've never had that approach ever, you know, for our businesses and we're not here to take advantage and, and of course, having, like I said earlier, you know, having the larger events is, is financially Oh, Positive for us, but, um, it also makes the rest of the business simply viable. Um, and yeah, we're not, we're not seeking to, to take advantage of our community and doing this, if anything, where we're seeking to keep a space open and, and approach it, um, in, in a, in a unique way from, from all aspects. And financially is, is a big one for us as well. That is so beautiful. And I'm really glad that you brought up the idea of accessibility also meaning financial accessibility. Um, actually just did a whole episode on, yeah, kind of like the nuances of paying for queer weddings. Cause right. Like you said, like they're already so expensive and then there's so many like historical things and different things that can sort of be actively working against queer folks in that realm. So like. Wow. That is so cool. You know, we'll have a lot of different food options, including like, if you, if you do have the dough to spend and you want to do something really special, like I'll make any menu you want. We can go really fancy, but our most baseline thing that we're kind of well known for is fried chicken and biscuits, which to me is a great wedding food. Everyone likes it. We've got vegan version. We've got gluten free version. Um, it's. Delicious. It lays a good base. So if you're drinking later and partying your, you know, you've got some food in you, um, it's easy to eat and it's not expensive, right? Like our, our base package is like 30 or 32 a person for like a full dinner. Right. And so like, we've got great, delicious food that eats well. That's going to come out hot. That's going to look great. That's going to be inexpensive. And when you think about like sort of banquet style weddings, where the food is coming out individually plated, the food is never good. Actually, I've probably been to one or two weddings where the food was okay. Um, that was good. Cold takes too long. Sometimes I, my allergies don't get acknowledged, you know, and so on and so forth. And so. I really think that not only are we offering a really unique space, that it's queer forward, queer focused, that we're offering exceptional experience. Um, and I think the only thing I'm sad about is that because it's on the smaller side, we won't be able to do weddings over 100 people. Um, so that will be limiting for anyone who's trying to do a 200 person wedding. That just can't happen here. Um, but otherwise, I think it's really great for all price points and, and No matter how fancy you're feeling, I think we've got an option for you. I think that's, that's really great. But we can't cater your outside 200 person wedding. It's true. I can make friends. Honestly, we've done it and we will. Okay. Braggs. Um, well, you know, was so, it's, was so, it's so important to our story. It was Zoe's first, First restaurant that she opened on her own. First and last. First and last. We'll not be doing that again. Oh yes, yes. Um, but you know, we mourned the loss of it so heavily and our, our community and our neighborhood did ride along with us. Um, and the beautiful thing about getting to keep the space is that SplitRail as an entity gets to continue, even though the, the main business is, is Villanelle, the in house caterer is SplitRail. And so. You know, I, I was telling her, like, the, the day that we've passed the, the threshold, you know, I was like, one of, one of the things that I am most excited about is that we get to keep split rail without the impossible slog of the restaurant that it became, um, and now it just gets to be the beautiful, the core of it, which is Zoe's food. That she worked so hard to define as her own food, um, over that seven years and definitely before as she was striving to open split rail. So it's, it's really exciting. And I think, and I know this isn't a restaurant podcast, so I don't want to get like details, but you know, the sad truth is it's actually easier to keep an out of business restaurant in business than an in business restaurant. Like right now it's easier for me to find ways to pair around through catering. Um, Then it was to pay around when we were operational. And that's, that's just the reality of, of the restaurant industry these days. And so, um, well, there's only two employees now, so, and so that's been, it's been fun. I mean, I've been doing a lot of catering. I have, you know, A cook that I call in to give me a hand with it, but I do a lot of the stuff myself. I'm alone in the kitchen. I'm alone in the space. It's kind of nice, but we're looking forward to, like, getting people back in here and being able to make, like, meaningful food for people during meaningful experiences. Yeah. Wow. Best of both worlds right there. Wow. Oh, my gosh. Um, I do sort of have one last question that. Just popped into my brain, so maybe it won't really make sense. We'll see. But, um, I'm sort of curious about, you know, earlier we talked Kind of talked about, like, the ripple effect, like, how much positive impact this is going to have. And I guess I'm curious, like, of course, it's on us as, um, vendors and venue owners and stuff in, in the space, um, to, to keep making spaces inclusive, to keep help educating others and all of that. I'm curious, like, from your perspective, do you think there is any. Role for either, like, your clients or, or the people attending for them to to be a part of this ripple as well. Does that make sense? I, I mean, I think if I'm understanding the question, right? I mean, I think that I believe that the answer I would say is. Think about how you're spending your money, right? Think about how impactful every dollar can be. Um, you know, you might love the way a certain restaurant prepares a steak, but are you prepared to look at how they sort of treat their employees, treat the world, et cetera. And so, you know, being thoughtful in where and how you're spending your money, I think is a great way to continue to create positive impact and, and create more opportunities for. All people who, who have historically been, had opportunities with help from them. Yeah, I think when we, you know, when we were raising the funds, we, you know, 75, 000 a lot of money. Um, it's a lot of money. I can't believe we did it, but, um, yeah, well, this is the year of believe. So I got to believe it. Um, and we did, um, you know, we had no idea how. We could do it if we could do it. Um, you know, our, our immediate community. I mean, day one, we, we popped off with like 2, 500, you know, we were like, great. Okay, great. What a good first day. And then I was like of 75, 000, but in, in meeting our community where they are. And again, like, this is a big theme of, of what we do. Like, generally, you know, we just consistently ask people like, do what you can, not everybody can book a 10, 000 party for, you know, whatever they want to do this year, next year, or whatever. If what you can do is every day share and tag and post and slide into some of these DMs and be like, Hey, you just got engaged, you know, do you have money to put down on this party, you know, for next year? That also helps this, this venue happen. So I think, I think in general, you know, again, if this is, if this is helping answer the question, um, as people learn about us and know about us, like the more opportunities we get to promote our business, um, the, the better. And so, you know, even if you're not in the queer community, but you have queer friends or queer family members, and guess what? That's most of us, if not All of us. Um, I don't know about the queer friends, but family probably, um, you know, oh, sorry. Um, you know, we can't be everywhere. We are currently, you know, we are, we are building, um, our hospitality group. We hope to expand. We hope to be, you know, a larger, um, queer focused, um, community. Group overall, uh, in the future. But right now we are two people who are currently running 2. 5 businesses basically, and, um, you know, we can't reach everyone and we can't expand on our own, you know, so opportunities like getting on your podcasts, like opportunities of anybody who wants to highlight us in lists or, um, just people who can simply. Tag tag us on the internet when someone's like, Hey, does anybody know a space like this? Um, you know, that's what they can do to help keep that ripple going because as soon as you know, we joke a lot because Dorothy's been open for, you know, it'll be two, two years this summer that it's been open, um, fully as a lesbian bar in operation, you know, and we've been very thankful to, you know, have a great Instagram following to, um, have a really vibrant event scene and, and, you know, have, you know, Have busy nights and, you know, positive things and we're like, okay, we've, we've probably reached all the queers in Chicago. Right. And then we'll meet someone who's like, Oh, I live around the corner and I didn't even know about you. You know, it like blows your mind. You're like, So, yeah, I mean, the world is huge. People are endless. And, um, I think, I think the biggest, the biggest way that people, guests, friends, you know, whatever, is to continue to, to keep our, not just our space, but spaces like ours that they want to see continue to be open, um, keep pushing them to, to more people. And, and yeah, you know, around the holidays, I just kept talking about, you know, While we are not typically a, a space that you would think of to shop small, like if you have the choice between walking into Dorothy and buying a cocktail versus walking into, I don't know, you know, a huge chain and buying a cocktail, like the impact that that's going to make is keeping, you know, potentially keeping, uh, a queer space open versus You know, throwing money into a money pit of corporate, you know, so, um, so yeah, I think, I think those are all like really intentional and quote unquote easy and most of the time free ways to, to impact the culture, our business. Um, and, and hopefully as Zoe mentioned at the top future queer businesses, future woman owned businesses, future like radical businesses that want to make a difference and create more. Amazing spaces in the world. Wow. Yeah. Well, snaps for that answer. And I mean, it kind of really sounds like almost what we were talking about earlier, like it's on all of us to like, keep talking about this stuff and like, not, not kind of K when people start to get tired of it or whatever, like it's on all of us to really keep talking about it. So yeah. Um, yeah, I would love for everyone listening today to be able to follow along with this amazing journey. So do you want to share where we can find you and I'll link it on the show notes? For sure. We have like a million Instagram accounts. So, uh, since this has been focused on Villanelle, you can find us at Villanelle Chicago. Um, Dorothy is at Dorothy downstairs. Our hospitality group is called drinking policy. You can find us at drinking policy, um, and then split rails at split rail Chicago, and then you will eventually find our faces on there and you can follow us as well. Um, but yeah, if anyone is interested in, in coming through and having a party or just wanting to visit or, you know, anything like that, there's, you can find our emails. Slide into the DMS, you know, whatever, whatever it takes, just, just reach out and just, yeah. Inquiries at VillanelleChicago. com and I'll write back to you immediately. So immediately, immediately. You heard it here first, immediately. It's a big promise. Be careful. Okay. Okay. I will. I'll make sure to put that on the show notes. Yeah. Yes. Minnesota gays will make a road trip down there, but it's not that far. Come through. Yeah. It's a little far. It's like seven hours. Right. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's not bad. It's like a day day trip or a very fast plane ride. Sure. True. Yeah. Yeah. We would love to see you. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you too so much. Like seriously from, I mean, I know I can't speak for all queer people, but I'm going to in this moment, like, thank you so much for, for being the ones to put so much work and heart and soul and I'm sure also blood, sweat and tears, um, into this and, um, For sharing it and for making a safe, like a safe space like this for us. Um, truly thank you so much. It's amazing. Thanks for your work. Thanks for featuring us and all of it. We really appreciate it. Appreciate you. Thank you.