 Meet The Owner
In 1988 I was a young punk attending the Corcoran School of Art, drawing caricatures, badly, on the boardwalk in Ocean City, MD, as a summer job. I loved the drawing, but was doubtful about the long term career prospects of such a fun job. Later, when I went to the University of Pennsylvania to major in Entrepreneurial Management, I set up caricature stands in the malls in the Philadelphia area, and staffed them with local artists, to pay my way through school. As time went by, customers began to ask the artists at the stands about drawing at their parties, and we gradually added that service. By the time I graduated, About Faces was a fledgling business, with a growing client list, who kept demanding more and more. I hired one employee, then more. We added other entertainment options slowly, learning a lot about each one as we went, so we could talk to performers and clients about what we offer, without sounding like complete nincompoops. We built a website and went nationwide in the mid nineties, and developed a strong web presence, which our webmaster fiercely maintains. We made mistakes along the way, but we've been in business, now, for twenty years, and we have several clients that have been booking with us, at least once a year, for fifteen or more of those years. We've provided talent at the White House and for Senators and Congressmen; for both Bill Gates and for Steve Jobs; for the NBA, the NFL, the NHL, and the MLB; at movie premieres for Shrek and Cars, for trade shows for veterinarians and morticians; and we don't shy away from small private events, either, like bar mitzvahs and birthday parties. About Faces has gradually become a real business, with seven agents working full time in the office, booking events, a webmaster and a bookkeeper both working part time, and me, working double time. I still get out and draw caricatures at events from time to time, because I still really love doing them.
-Mike Hasson, Owner, About Faces Entertainment
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