Eventfulsoul Catering LLC

By Terry L. Watson - Photos Provided by Leo Harris of OEP Photography

Eventfulsoul Catering LLC is a catering company owned by Chicago, IL, native Virginia Simon. Her company offers products and services designed for those that love good down-home soul food with a twist. “We love to take food and make creative masterpieces blending food that typically are not blended together,” Virginia says. Some of the products offered are Customized Cakes, Buttercream and Fondant, Cupcakes, Dessert Trays, Pastries, Cake in the Jar, Pies, Full Customized Catering Services, Gourmet Soups/Salads/Sandwiches, as well as Table Decor and Balloons.

Virginia was born and raised on the south side of Chicago in a vibrant community called Chatham. She is the fourth child of three siblings and the only girl in her family. She shares, “I was always an independent child, eager to help and do what I could to serve before understanding what it meant to really serve. I graduated from Simeon High School, Chicago, IL, in June 1998 with a diploma in Cosmetology. I knew I wanted to be self-employed, but I wasn’t quite sure what that something was, so I went on to pursue college at Chicago State University, majoring in Political Science. I wanted to become a lawyer, so I thought.”

Practicing law didn’t stick with Virginia as her focus changed to the nonprofit sector. While working in this field, she became acquainted with meetings and convention management and realized her niche for administration, creativity, planning, and organization. She soon found herself traveling extensively across the US and abroad, managing and directing the logistical planning of conferences for various associations. She has worked in the same capacity for nearly 20 years.

In 2014 Virginia added culinary into the mix, and Eventfusoul Catering was born. “I had always cooked with my mother since I was a little girl starting at the tender age of eight. My mother would have me in the kitchen, teaching me how to cook meals for our family and extended family. I was cooking full-course meals. I didn’t think I would begin a career as a chef, but that’s the way the Lord took me,” she says. In the fall of 2014, Virginia enrolled in LeCordon Bleu to perfect her skill and craft and says that God has been directing her steps ever since.

Virginia started off baking cakes. Her signature cakes were Hershey Double Chocolate, Red Velvet, Taffy Apple Cake, and a variety of Berry Pound Cakes. She started experimenting with three-tier cakes, wedding cakes, and what she calls Cake In a Jar.

Today, Eventfulsoul Catering aims to provide its customers with fair-based pricing and excellent service. Virginia says her company strongly believes that everyone deserves a helping hand. “I love seeing the smiles on my client’s faces when we’ve exceeded their expectations in service. It brings me joy to serve.”

Without question, Virginia wouldn’t be able to do what she does without having faith in what God has given her to do. She says, “God inspires me, and His gift that He has trusted me to steward has the most profound impact on my life. God, along with my mother and Him using her to cultivate and nurture these gifts from a child, has been the greatest that has ever happened to me.”

Virginia has been blessed and fortunate to gain opportunities for her business to progress. “I have had the opportunity to service the likes of Jesse Jackson and members of the Rainbow Coalition in Chicago, which has opened doors to serve other well-known familiar companies around the Chicago area.” On the other hand, she has faced some challenges along her journey. “I’ve learned that the public will love your work and level of excellence, but, at times, they can be unappreciative and disrespectful of the time and cost it takes to pull an event together,” she explains. “I’ve learned to value my worth and time by setting costs and sticking to that. If I don’t value my work and ability, no one else will do that for me. I’ve learned to listen to keywords at the beginning of the conversation. Doing so will let me know if an event will be good for us to take on. I’ve learned that all money is not good money, and you have to learn how to decipher the good contracts vs. the contracts from hell. Discernment is critical even in business. You must be able to discern well who and what is good for business and partnership.” www.eventfulsoul.com h

Virginia says it’s her goal to make her catering business the #1 in catering, event consulting, and planning service in the Chicagoland area. Eventfulsoul Catering is just one of the entities of the Eventfulsoul brand. They are currently looking for a location in the Chicagoland area to extend their services further and looking for sponsors to help invest in this endeavor. In acquiring this space, they plan to expand with its shared kitchen facility, event entertainment room facilities, and the future five-room banquet hall facility, with aspirations of the banquet facility being located in the south suburban part of Illinois. “Our Plans are simply to expand and help in any way we can in the community where God plants us,” Virginia says.