Carter McKinney recorded this episode at WDIY in Bethlehem’s Broadway building, the same place where he and Labrel Simone held their first event together: a Halloween photo party designed as a networking night. Simone helped bring it to life, and the two have been producing events ever since.
Simone is the founder and owner of FabxCozy Events. She plans weddings, corporate events and community events, hosts her own gatherings around the Lehigh Valley, has served as chief of events for McKinney Media, and is planning McKinney’s wedding.
From the stage to behind the scenes
Simone grew up in New Jersey and spent weekends in New York City with her father’s side of the family. She was a performing arts kid who graduated from Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts in Bethlehem, always on stage or behind the production. After college she moved to New York City to work in fashion, interning on fashion shows, where she got her first close look at how events come together.
She realized recently that the signs came even earlier. In high school she worked at Chuck E. Cheese and ran the parties there, which taught her to keep guests entertained when the pizza came out late. Her family gave her a mix of examples: a grandfather who owned a club and a cleaners in North New Jersey, relatives in the music industry, and an uncle who is an architect.
Producing, not just planning
FabxCozy offers full, partial and day-of wedding coordination, along with brand activations, corporate events and community engagement. Every experience is customized, because Simone has found that no two love stories or events are the same. Her ideal client is simply one willing to let her team in. She likes to grow with clients through their milestones, and McKinney is an example: she helped with his Halloween party and a personal event, was there for his proposal, and is now planning his wedding.
She also hosts in her own right. With a fellow decorator and planner she met at a Galentine’s Day event, she runs a social club for Lehigh Valley women that has hosted about five events, including private dinners and an annual holiday horse and carriage outing in downtown Bethlehem, often spotlighting local businesses as venues.
Next, she wants to grow into FabxCozy Productions, add people who love planning, decor and logistics, and launch a podcast. She sees herself as a creative director and event producer, thinking step by step through logistics, the team, the guest experience, the lighting and the whole atmosphere.
“It’s more than just the planning side of it, which is really major, but I produce events.”
Taking the risk
Simone took the professional route until her mid-30s, then decided it was time to do what she loves. For the past two and a half years she has been going full force on planning and on building relationships in the community. The adjustment was real. Without a workplace laying out meetings and weekly goals, she had to set her own schedule and get up early.
She used the quiet stretches to build systems, so that when a client reaches out she knows exactly how to move forward. Her earlier jobs fed into that. As a retail sales associate and then manager, she learned to read people’s strengths, delegate and solve problems. In her last corporate role, in HR, she learned systems and professional email communication. The creative side, she says, is God-given. The balance came from the workforce.
“When you’re an entrepreneur, you have to be disciplined. But in order to be disciplined, you have to have a vision. And that vision gears your discipline.”
Partners, sponsors and scale
Simone says she cannot do her job without a team. Even on a solo booking she may need a balloon installer, a photographer or a DJ, so partnership for her means knowing exactly who to call. When someone brings her an unpaid project, she weighs whether it resonates, what she could learn from it and how it could pour back into her business.
On sponsorships, her advice is to understand your event and your core audience, research the brand, and explain why it is a fit instead of asking anyone and everyone. Relationships often come first, she says, and a company that believes in your idea is more likely to back it.
McKinney raised scaling, after meeting a planner for whom a slow weekend meant three events a day. Simone’s answer was structure. She holds a morning meeting each day with AI tools so she already operates like a team, and she wants onboarding, a handbook and clear leadership ready before growth arrives.
“Run your business as if you have a team. Start now, because you never know when the opportunity comes where you would actually need to scale.”
Lessons from the road
With her cousin, Simone produced Not Your Average Sunday Brunch, a travel event that took about 60 people by bus from New York City to Baltimore for a brunch, followed by a three-day weekend in Miami. Working with out-of-town vendors and venues taught her to handle different time zones, hotel rooms that were not ready, and flights delayed by severe weather.
“Things are never really perfect, but it’s how you view the situation and how you pivot from it,” she said. She hopes to do more travel experiences, including bachelorette weekend itineraries for brides, and is seeking partnerships with travel agencies. Her office is in downtown Allentown, and she can be found as fabxcozy on most platforms.
- Let your vision drive your discipline, especially when the phone is quiet.
- Build systems before clients call so every inquiry has a clear next step.
- Pitch sponsors on fit: know your audience and what the brand cares about.
- Run your business as if you already have a team.
- Expect something to go wrong and decide in advance how you will pivot.
