“We shrink ourselves.” Ciara Pressler shrugs and sits back in her chair inside her NW Portland office. “The most valuable thing I give people is permission to go bigger.”
We met Ciara as the MC of a marketing conference we attended earlier this year and were immediately captivated by her energy and enthusiasm for businesses and the people that run them. Her office is a community space, a meeting room, a collaborative center.
As people bustle by the windows of her NW Portland business coaching center, Pregame, Ciara takes a break between meetings to reflect.
Above, left: Ciara in our Dati Necklace. Above, right: Ciara in our Semita earrings, Semita necklace, Fluit cuffs and Willamette adjustable ring. Shop Ciara's look.
Ciara launched Pregame after years of dreaming of a place where people could walk in off the street and get good, sound business advice – a place where business owners could walk in freaked out and leave calm in an hour.
She calls Pregame part business therapy, part business strategy, and part community.
“If you're doing it all alone, you'll burn out or tap out. Forming real relationships is not just shoving your business card in front of people at networking events. Just because you have a network doesn't mean you have a community.”
After starting several businesses of her own, she realized how alone that process can make you feel. “If you're doing it all alone, you'll burn out or tap out. Forming real relationships is not just shoving your business card in front of people at networking events. Just because you have a network doesn't mean you have a community.”
So, Ciara set out to make Pregame one space where business people can build that community.
Above, left: Ciara in our Ora necklace, Dalia bangle and the Tienda Ho Fannon Vest. Above, right: Ciara in our Ora necklace, Selma Bridge cuff and Willamette ring. Shop Ciara's look.
Ciara wants to work with people in business because she sees so much potential to help. Her goal isn't to encourage someone to hustle harder, it's to be truer to themselves.
“If someone is considering starting a business, it's usually centered around that person wanting to live their truest, fullest life. So I ask about values. You can't build a business that's out of sync with your values.”
“I love my job. I get people out of the house, out of isolation, and into community. I'm in this to create healthy people.”
This is what drives Ciara. This is the manifestation of a vision and goal she had. We are honored and proud to know her in this community and see the good things she is doing.
Find Pregame HQ just a few minutes from the Betsy & Iya flagship at PREGAME HQ / 1355 NW Everett St. / Portland, OR 97209.
