MBN USA

October 29, 2021

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Keeping the lights on — literally

By Melissa Lowery

Iman McFarland is the proud second-generation owner of 21st Century Expo Group, an event-planning company founded and operated by her parents for 30 years. Today, 21stCEG is still the only Black- and woman-owned trade-show firm in the United States.

With a succession plan in place, the McFarlands began 2020 with plans to grow the business with Iman at the forefront, and they had just undertaken a rebrand they were excited to unveil. Then the pandemic brought everything to a halt. Shows were canceled, and business ended abruptly. The firm generated no events revenue from February 2020-June 2021.

“We had to shut our doors completely for the first time in 30 years,” McFarland said. “We did receive CARES [Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security] Act funds which helped keep the lights on — literally — but we had to be aggressive in our pivot strategy.”

That aggressive strategy required out-of-the-box thinking and focusing on the needs of a different customer base. As the pandemic stretched on, she looked around the company’s 40,000 square-foot warehouse and started thinking about other uses for the space. Inspiration struck: With schools and fitness centers closed, student athletes in her Maryland community were losing ground. They needed somewhere they could train that was safe, secure and accessible.

“Prince George’s County is one of the basketball capitals of the country, and both my mom and I played basketball in college, so we combined our love for the game with our love for the community and created a meaningful way to stay in business and support others,” McFarland said.

Welcome to The Campus

She found a smaller warehouse to store the company’s trade show inventory and converted the larger space into The Campus, opened in September 2020. With two basketball courts, two volleyball courts, boxing rings, strength and conditioning equipment, an indoor turf field and room for small group classes, The Campus offers facilities for athletes of all sports.

But McFarland’s vision continued to expand. The Campus offers academic enrichment designed especially for student athletes to help them succeed at school and beyond. Meanwhile, the smaller warehouse now does double duty as The Campus Studio, a private studio space designed with specialized areas for everything from podcasting to band rehearsal to television broadcasts.

“We’ve had people use our soundstages to record church sermons and conduct on-air interviews plus we have bands coming in a few times a week to use our rehearsal hall,” she said.

Ever mindful of community impact, McFarland put together a group of talented local audio and visual technicians — referred to as “The Collective” — to offer full-service production at The Campus Studio.

So far, more than 3,500 people have come through the doors of The Campus and The Campus Studio. The Campus may have arisen out of necessity, but the result is an expansion of the family business for the next generation.

“The future looks a little different, brighter, bigger,” McFarland said. “We are still 21st Century Expo Group. We’re still executing the world-class events we’re known for, and our calendar is filling up, but now we have this amazing community facility. We diversified when we thought we’d have to shut our doors and ended up with something that lets people create experiences and be inspired.”

Poised to become the next CEO, she is rightfully proud of what she created.

“This is my baby,” McFarland said. “I’m putting my mark on the business, building something that will add on to the legacy my parents have created.” 

To learn more about the  campus, visit thecampusdmv.com.

To learn more about 21st Century Expo Group’s succession plan, visit digital.mbnusa.biz/?issueID=37&pageID=190.