Raised in Philadelphia, Chrissy is passionate about bringing tourism dollars to Black communities in the area. She does this by offering a variety of engaging, fun, and educational cultural experiences that celebrate ALL sides of Philly, not just Center City.

Read on to learn more about Chrissy’s story:

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Chrissy wears all of the hats within the brand Philly Experiences, a business that hosts weekly, monthly, and seasonal curated experiences for locals and visitors in traditionally Black neighborhoods in the Philadelphia area. These experiences include trap bar crawls, themed party buses, adult game nights, wellness experiences, and Black mural tours.

The inception of her business began with trips to resorts and cultural excursions around the world. Chrissy noticed that the so-called “local experiences” curated for her and her friends were filled with cliché tourist traps that did not express the destination’s true culture at all. And she realized that the same problem plagued her home in Philadelphia; existing experiences did not reflect the city’s true culture and its vibrant Black communities.

Inspired, Chrissy’s new mission was to show off Philly’s dynamic, historically Black neighborhoods, which she had been familiar with since 15 years old. 

“I wanted to change the narrative of Black nightlife and Black community…and we did that.” 

Philly Experiences now serves West Philly, Norf (“with an F”), and German Town.

But Chrissy is providing a service that goes beyond “hood experiences”. Fundamentally, she is economically supporting African American communities that are otherwise ignored or blatantly avoided by the average tourist. Not only is Chrissy actively creating new cultural hot spots, but she also provides advice on where to live and how to find apartments in the area, bringing in renters and homebuyers.

“Everything that I do re-routs tourist dollars to the hood, it brings foot traffic to Black businesses, and encourages them to see things outside of downtown Philly.”

In a world where people can support and uplift with their dollars and reviews, companies like Philly Experiences are crucial for combating urban decay and revitalizing locations that have historically suffered from a bad rep, often imposed by discriminatory practices like redlining.

“We only have history and tourism from the white male perspective, the majority being in Center City. There’re other people that live here, but how come our tourism industry doesn’t show that?”

CONNECT

After Chrissy decided to walk away from her career and go full-time with Philly Experiences, she signed up for three different cohorts in order to grow the business.

During this period she met Tanya T. Morris of MOM your business, who later recommended Venture Café and the OnRamp program. Chrissy was particularly excited about the opportunity to build her pitch deck and present it in front of a panel of judges during OnRamp’s pitch competition.

As she was building her deck, Chrissy took advantage of all of the office hours and extra programming that was offered. Here, people would practice and critique company pitches in real-time. This helped her to see that the people behind these businesses were only human, just like her. Seeing the rawness in which people presented themselves and their companies inspired Chrissy to be more honest about her own struggles in building the business, both in public and with herself.

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When asked what she wished aspiring entrepreneurs knew while building a business, Chrissy says to be aware of the fact that as you are working out things in your own life, they will reflect in your business.

“Entrepreneurship is directly connected to every other relationship you have in your life.” 

This is a growth opportunity that not everyone is prepared for, so be aware of that reality and take advantage of it. Being able to navigate those emotions takes practice and skill. Chrissy says that although it’s not some sort of quick fix, business is therapeutic in the sense that it can help you to unpack the issues that you need to address in order to succeed in life.

In discussing some of the lessons that Chrissy has unpacked during her own journey in entrepreneurship she says, “I have learned to be unafraid of my voice shaking when I have something important to say.”

We hope that you are just as excited and inspired by Chrissy’s story as we are! If you have any recommendations, want to sign up for an experience, or simply want to support Philly Experiences, please get in touch at the links below:

Email: phillyexperiences@gmail.com

Website: https://www.phillyexperiences.com/media

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phillyexperiences/ (@phillyexperiences)