An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Being Supportive: Being there for each other is the most important thing as a couple. Each person has their own ideas and opinions, never shut your partner down right away. Always give advice when its needed and be genuine.
As a part of our series about lessons from Thriving Power Couples, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sofia and Michael of 2OAK Production. With over 18 years of experience in the Entertainment and Event industry, it’s safe to say they can crush weddings without using those corny or outdated approaches that you’ve seen from other companies.
They are trendy, open-format DJs who can play a wide variety of genres — bringing the party vibes — one wedding at a time.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you two to your respective career paths?
Michael: From the age of 15, I was always working in the customer service field. At 17, I became involved with a DJ company where I was a party dancer/motivator for events such as sweet 16s, communions etc. I really had no interest in being a DJ myself at that time. At one of the events, the DJ asked me to “just push play on the next song” because he had to step out quickly, and so I did. It was the coolest thing ever and I instantly fell in love! From there I borrowed a DJ system from someone, practiced in my basement endlessly day and night build my knowledge. After about a year, I ventured out with a friend of mine to do events on our own. With the passing years, I became more experienced and gained a following. I was so focused on growing as a DJ professional.
After meeting Sofia and getting married, we started our lives together and we both that knew we wanted something more. With my DJ Entertainment experience and Sofia with her Designing & Decorating talents, we chose the path
Sofia: Growing up, my family owned and operated a restaurant, which I was very involved in from a young age. I would spend all of my free time at the restaurant, hosting and chatting with our guests. Giving our customers an amazing experience was always my main priority. Decorating was always a hobby of mine, whether it was my for my own personal pleasure, a friend or family member. I was constantly changing something in my room, trying out different combinations of decor in the house or changing the look of the restaurant interior. In high school, I used to make party favors for children events and chocolate molds. When I was in my early 20’s, a friend of mine asked me to help her with a birthday party and I was SO excited! When it was all over, I knew this was something I wanted to do with my future. While I was still working at the restaurant and in the hospital as a Vascular Sonographer, I started venturing out to decorate and plan as many events as I could. After meeting Michael and getting married, we both had the idea to take his already established DJ Company to the next level by bringing me on board as his partner. With my Designing and Decorating in addition to his musical skills, we both felt ready to create something special for everyone. We now own our business together as a husband and wife super team which creates magical memories for couples and their families.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you two got married?
Everyday with us is interesting! We cannot even begin to explain or choose something so specific! We are always going somewhere or doing something that turns into our own little adventure. Whether in our personal lives or business related, we make the most out of all our days and always expect the unexpected. From driving 5 hours for one of our special couples and losing cell/gps service to going on vacation and having a flight get cancelled and driving 18 hours home, when we are together, we can handle anything that comes our way.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
At the age of 16, Michael had his first real DJ gig for a Sweet 16. At the time, we were using CDs and not a laptop. When it was time for the Sweet 16 girl to dance with her father, Michael nervously grabbed the wrong CD because all of the CDs had handwritten track names that you could barely read. Without listening to it before hand, he quickly hit play and it was the completely wrong song! They were supposed to dance to Hero by Mariah Carey but instead all you heard come out of the speakers was “ROB THE JEWELRY STORE AND TELL EM’ MAKE ME A GRILL” from Grillz by Nelly and Paul Wall. He was MORTIFIED!!!! It was so funny that everyone turned around to look at him and they all laughed together! Mike then waved his hands up and apologized. Needless to say 20 years later, Michael has not played “Grillz” since!
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Being a Husband and Wife Team. It is definitely not something you find in this industry too often. When we merged together, we found that our ideas were so different but meshed together so well. For example, at first when we were naming our company, Michael didn’t even like the name! We went back and forth for so long on it, but we’re both so glad on our decision! With being in DJ Entertainment and Event Design, we do not separate ourselves from each others professions. We are both fully involved in each others events and we have both taught each other one another’s trade! We bring two different aspects to the company, and without the both of us, our company would not be where it is today. That’s why we’re 2 Of A Kind (2OAK)!
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
We are! We cannot say anything just yet but this will help our current 2OAK couples, clients and future 2OAK fam tremendously!
We are determined to make this upcoming wedding season the best one yet! We always say “Basic Weddings Aren’t Our Thing” and that rings true now more than ever! We’ve been working with our team on some exciting unreleased projects that will take our weddings to the next level. Stay tuned!
What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders to help their employees to thrive?
The most important piece of advice for anyone in a leadership role is to ensure a positive work environment. No matter the situation, keeping positive vibes will always increase productivity and help achieve the goal at hand, which in our industry is client satisfaction. In order to achieve and maintain this goal, our entire team needs to feel appreciated. Always make sure your team can feel the value that each one holds within the company. Expressing gratitude to your team can go a long way. When your team feels appreciated, it will show within their performance and give a wonderful experience to clients and their guests.
How do you define “Leadership”?
Leadership for us is making sure that everyone around us succeeds and not just us. We have found that if our team isn’t growing with us, we aren’t really growing.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
We’re so grateful to both of our families for sticking by us throughout the process of growing our business. No one realizes that throughout the process of success there are a lot of missed family events and weeks at a time where we aren’t able to see our loved ones. We’re so dedicated to our clients that we lose focus of our own lives sometimes, but that was the price of our success. Being a small business, we pride ourselves on always being at every event we do. It’s difficult at times, but we just want them to know how much we appreciate them for all that they do for us and growing with us instead of away from us.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
We bring goodness to the planet by using our abilities and skills to bring loved ones together and celebrate their most special moments!
What are the “5 Things You Need To Thrive As A Couple”? Please share a story or example for each.
Brainstorming: Decision making together is essential when being a power couple. From the tiniest things like what color plates to buy or giant things like buying a house, it’s something that you consult with each other about because ultimately you’re both affected by the decision.
Brainstorming together before agreeing on a final decision is part of the fun!
Having a Vision: Knowing what we both want out of life keeps us both on the same page and we motivate each other towards the goals we have set!
Being Supportive: Being there for each other is the most important thing as a couple. Each person has their own ideas and opinions, never shut your partner down right away. Always give advice when its needed and be genuine.
Communication. To be a successful couple, keeping an open line of communication is key. Listen to what each other is saying and always let your partner know if there is something wrong. Whether it’s personal or business, talking to each other will keep you thriving!
Teamwork: Working together as a team and supporting each other is super important. Neither of us can do this alone, it takes the two of us working together in every situation make us a successful couple.
You are people of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Our industry is based off of love, happiness and celebrating! If we could inspire a movement or create an event, it would be something that brings joy to someone’s life. We love to help people, no matter what their situation is. If we have the ability to host a large event where like-minded individuals can come together. We would be so thankful to be a part of something that special.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them” — Walt Disney.
We believe that if you have a dream or a goal in life, never be afraid to go after it. Always believe in yourself and give it your best shot. As husband and wife as well as business partners, we have our own goals that we want to achieve. It is okay to be different!!
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
Mark Cuban! We absolutely love him and his leadership. Not only being smart in business, he also prioritizes compassion and empathy in everything he does. We would love to have lunch with him.
How can our readers follow your work online?
Learn more about us by visiting our website www.2oakproductions.com
Social Media Handles
Instagram: @2oakproductions
Facebook: @2oakproductions
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Lessons from a Thriving Power Couple, With Sofia and Michael of 2OAK Production was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.