OUR STORY SO FAR
April, 2013: The Beginning
Toasted Life was created in 2013 with the simple desire of bringing people together. We noticed there was a lack of diversity and cultural cohesiveness in the Bay Area event scene, and we wanted to fix it.
We took a chance and aimed to create an opportunity for people like us to rejoice, connect, and feel welcome in a seemingly pocketed Bay Area environment.
Initially, it all started with our first day party in Oakland. We wanted to find a unique way to introduce Toasted Life to our community and we believed a day party was something everyone would enjoy.
Not knowing what to expect, we were excited that our friends and colleagues came out to support. It was an invigorating experience and the feedback that we received propelled us to keep going.
We held a few more day parties and eventually tapped into the San Francisco nightlife a few months later. Shortly after our first year, we started to offer new experiences such as volunteer events and live music performances.
2015 - 2017: Press and U.S. Expansion
Press: On August 5th, 2015 a surreal moment happened when we were featured in our first major publication, The Source Magazine! This was huge for us and confirmation that we needed to keep pushing.
Passionate about entrepreneurship, entertainment, and tech we were able to find our groove in catering to a network that really values our services. Since 2015, we've been featured in over 10 publications with the most notable being Forbes Magazine and Highsnobiety.
Expansion: In 2016 we set our sites on expansion and successfully launched the brand in two new markets. We branched out to Chicago in the spring and Los Angeles that summer. Our aim for both new locations was no different than that of the Bay Area, we wanted to add value and provide unique opportunities for people to connect and have fun. Since then, we’ve launched Toasted Life in New York City, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Portland, Detroit and Cleveland. Up next, international expansion!
Toasted Life write up in the SF Chronicle
Chicago: Oktoastedfest 2016
Los Angeles: Toasted Life BET Weekend Day Party
Brand Partnerships: 2016 was also the year that we began to focus on our event production services, a platform that would provide opportunities to produce exclusive events for corporate brands such as Under Armour, tech conference afterparties like Blavity’s Afrotech, festivals like Stanford University's Blackfest and much more. Strategic brand partnerships have been a key driver in our growth and success. Very grateful.
Talent: We also found a really fun lane in talent management/booking, connecting popular entertainers with various brands and fans. Since 2015 we’ve worked with artists like Common, Terrence J, Jidenna, Wyclef, T Pain, Pusha-T, Estelle, 2 Chainz, DJ Envy, and Metro Boomin just to name a few. We’ve hosted them for various experiences like concerts, parties, meet & greets, and/or exclusive fireside chats and networking events.
2018 - 2020: International Expansion & TRips
2018 was a huge year for us on many levels! We curated and produced our largest event ever with over 3,000+ people in San Francisco for starters, one of our top 5 best events to date. Another defining moment for us was the launch of our Trips platform, TLXD: Toasted Life Experiences & Destinations.
As avid travelers with a passion for culture and global connection, we wanted to curate domestic and international trip experiences as a next phase for the business, to further connect people and push toward our end-to-end lifestyle vision for the company. With our primary events business growing steady, we felt it was time to experiment and expand Toasted Life across seas and into new countries.
We piloted TLXD with a 50 person domestic group trip to NOLA in collaboration with Travel Noire in the spring of 2018, and a 8 person experience of our own in Toronto, Canada that Summer for our first international project. We focused on gathering feedback and getting a feel for what it it really takes to produce group trip experiences. We must say… it is not easy haha!
Continuing to learn and try new things, we set our sites on curating a 12 person adventure to Tanzania and Zanzibar later that year, followed by a 16 person group experience to Accra, Ghana in August 2019.
Although very challenging, we were getting better in our process and execution and it felt great to witness these trips turn out so well. It’s a great feeling when you put so much work and time in planning and then get to see others enjoy what you’ve created when it all comes to life. Our guests were inspired, some having transformative experiences, and for us as founders, that meant everything!
By executing on our goals to produce an international experiences, our confidence was at an all time high. We were able to demonstrate to ourselves how versatile the Toasted Life brand and our capabilities are and that we can really build the ultimate lifestyle brand we envision.
Looking back, we’ve been able to accomplish a lot and have grown the brand tremendously, which has been amazing. What has also been incredibly inspiring to us is witnessing others around us living their lives to the fullest.
The fact that individuals from our events and in our networks are seizing new opportunities, advancing their education, pursuing passions, starting businesses and simply growing is amazing. It’s the reason why we raise our glasses and what motivates us to push Toasted Life to new heights.
As we continue to climb and dial in on our mission, we have goals of further providing exposure, connectivity, and access for our growing community. Our ambition is to not only elevate and expand our events to new locations, but also to create a support system that encourages entrepreneurship, peer to peer mentorship, and collaboration; a network built to help us all grow in our careers and personal endeavors. Oh.. and to definitely turn up along the way!
This is why we toast. It’s why you should too, with us.
#Toasted