Meet Jamie Dominguez, Delani Smith, Mary Nguyen | 7Heart Entertainment – K-POP Event Planners

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jamie Dominguez, Delani Smith, Mary Nguyen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jamie Dominguez, Delani Smith, Mary Nguyen, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
7Heart is a team that has consisted of many helping hands including Lex Ongoco, Lindsey Robledo, and Hannah Vu. As we move forward leaders Jamie Dominguez, Delani Smith, and Mary Nguyen plan to continue spreading our love of K-POP throughout Fort Worth and beyond!

Living in Fort Worth we recognized the K-POP community and wanted to provide an environment where people who share the same interest can feel safe and welcomed. Before starting our own business we would travel far to attend K-POP events with other fans so we wanted to bring that to the Fort Worth area. We had the idea of hosting our own events that would allow us to be creative and engage with those who love K-POP around us. With our events we hoped to make new friends, experience new cultures, and celebrate diversity. From cupsleeve events to K-POP club nights we have met many different vendors, performers, and fans of K-POP. We love creating a safe and supportive community for lovers of K-POP here in Fort Worth!

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
7Heart is a group of K-POP event planners who hope to share our love of K-POP with the Fort Worth community while providing an environment where others with the same interest can feel comfortable doing the same. We host events that include everything from K-POP merchandise vendors, performers, and even themed drinks/snacks! We are most proud of our want and ability to encourage others to embrace their love of K-POP and showcase their talents through our events. We started as a small group of friends/coworkers at a local coffee shop and would travel together to different K-POP events in Texas. Some events near, some far, all worth the time spent together. Within K-POP, a cup sleeve event, is any event hosted in celebration of K-POP idol debuts, album releases, anniversaries, or achievements! They are typically hosted at a cafe for fans of any specific group to come together and enjoy themselves by trying new drinks/snacks, mingling, and listening to their favorite music. After attending any cupsleeve event we realized they were hard to come by in Fort Worth so we proposed the idea of hosting them to the owners of Ampersand, the coffee shop we all worked at. In collaboration with Ampersand we hosted a couple of our very own cupsleeve events. Having the owners of Ampersand as our mentors we were treated with grace and professionalism. Though our first couple of events were popular, we didn’t necessarily have the funds to support all that we dreamt of. We learned along the way the importance of time management, marketing, and budgeting. After the success of our cupsleeve events we had to decide what more we could do. In the summer of 2022 we hosted our first K-POP themed club night in collaboration with a management group called Eclipse. We began the night with special vendors and performers then transitioned into a K-POP rave. Receiving comments like “this was the most fun I’ve had on 7th street” and “I’m so happy I came” are the reasons we felt motivated to continue hosting events. In collaboration with Eclipse we continued to put together club nights at venues in both Dallas and Fort Worth. We’re very grateful to have began working with both Ampersand and Eclipse for their continued guidance and constant support. We couldn’t have done it without them!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If we were to show a friend around Fort Worth there are definitely some places we would require as a must visit! To begin our morning, our favorite spot in town for coffee is Ampersand Coffee and Bar. Not only have we hosted events there but it is the coziest spot to get work done or catch up with friends. They were voted Best Coffee Shop in Fort Worth and deserve all the praise. The unique thing about Ampersand is their addition of a bar. The entire place transforms to a night club on the weekends set with a DJ, LED lights, and bartenders. To make sure we get the full experience we’d have to head back after 10pm to enjoy music and drinks at the bar! Following a coffee run in the morning we would take our friend for a walk along the trinity trails, we often travel these trails ourselves on walks, runs, and picnics. After we’ve struck up an appetite we would take our friend over to Wabi House, our favorite spot to grab a bowl of ramen, a lot of our team meetings have happened here. Finally to finish off the night we would go to the Fort Worth Water Gardens or Sundance Square to enjoy scenery and take fun pictures, an activity our group loves doing with one another!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
7Heart would love to give a shoutout to Ampersand Coffee & Bar for providing us with not only a venue to host but with guidance, utilities, and helping hands. The owners of Ampersand have believed in us from the start and their constant support has been the push we needed to make it this far. With their help we now see our potential to grow and only hope to give back to them as we expand. Along with Ampersand, we would like to shout out Eclipse Management. We have worked in collaboration with Eclipse on all of our club night events and couldn’t have had the same success without them. Their leader, Peter Bui and Social Media Manager, Mary Nguyen didn’t hesitate to go along with our ideas and bring out all of their audience to our events. From introducing us to different talent, arranging a DJ, and helping us promote, the success of our events is greatly due to their contribution. Finally we want to give a huge shoutout to all of our volunteers, vendors, and performers! Many of them have been with us from our very first event to our most recent and their continued support means the world to us. The positive vibe and welcoming community we have built all comes back to their smiling faces. Thank you to everyone who has given us the encouragement we need to keep growing!

Instagram: @7heartent

Other: 7heartent@gmail.com TikTok: @7heartent

Image Credits
Photo credits: Cristian ArguetaSoto Insta: @cristianarguetasoto