Educate | Empower | Encourage

What Educate | Empower | Encourage does

Educate | Empower | Encourage (E3) is a members-only online community for wedding and special event industry creatives, founded in April 2020 by Julie Bunkley, Courtney Wolf (Invision Events), and Wendy Kay (Birds of a Feather Events). It targets photographers, planners, videographers, stationers, floral and graphic designers, venues, cake bakers, musicians, and DJs who serve or aspire to serve luxury clientele, with the stated goal of educating, empowering, and encouraging members through peer accountability and industry-specific business education. The platform itself is intentionally low-tech: the community operates inside a private Facebook group, supplemented by a web-based on-demand content library and live sessions, with weekly live video episodes, bi-weekly office hours, and guest speakers.

The product surface consists of three tiers — a $1,200 one-time initiation fee plus a 12-month bundle ($1,776 total) or an 18-month bundle ($1,944 total) — alongside an add-on $1,000/hour individual coaching service (3-call minimum of $3,000) sold directly by the three founders. Content covers branding, marketing, pricing for profit, sales processes, client experience, productivity, publications strategy, and team development; the library has accumulated 350+ hours across 250+ episodes since launch.

The go-to-market is community-led and referral-driven: the community is invitation-only, currently at capacity for 2025, with prospective members placed on a 2026 waitlist. Marketing channels are limited to Instagram Lives (as a top-of-funnel precursor), member referrals (with a one-month-free incentive for both parties), and the private Facebook group itself. The business is privately held, US-based, and operates without outside institutional capital.

Name

Educate | Empower | Encourage

Legal name

Educate | Empower | Encourage Community

Website

https://educateempowerencourage.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Educate | Empower | Encourage (E3) is an invitation-only, members-only online community for wedding and event industry creatives, offering subscription access to a private Facebook group, weekly live episodes, a content library, and founder-led coaching.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Education and Coaching

NAICS

Professional and Management Development Training (611430), Business Schools and Computer and Management Training (6114)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Photography & Videography Workshops (THAJAKAD)

Keywords

• Creative business education
• Wedding industry coaching
• Membership community platform
• Luxury brand training
• Small business coaching

Headquarters

HQ city

Vestavia Hills

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Membership Subscriptions: Recurring membership revenue combining a one-time initiation fee ($1,200) with subscription bundles (12-month at $1776 or 18-month at $1944). The initiation fee grants immediate access to the content library of 350+ hours across 250+ episodes since April 2020.
2. Individual Coaching: One-on-one coaching services offered by hosts Julie Bunkley, Courtney Wolf, and Wendy Kay at $1,000/hour with a minimum investment of $3,000 (3 calls).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Educate | Empower | Encourage operates a members-only online community for wedding and special event industry creatives that delivers business education through weekly live video episodes, a content library of 350+ hours across 250+ episodes since April 2020, bi-weekly office hours, and one-on-one coaching sessions. The community targets photographers, planners, videographers, stationers, floral designers, and other luxury-tier creatives seeking to grow their businesses, raise their prices, and access peer support. Members pay a one-time $1,200 initiation fee plus a 12-month ($1,776) or 18-month ($1,944) subscription bundle, and can additionally purchase individual coaching at $1,000 per hour.

Product overview

Educate | Empower | Encourage is a members-only community platform for wedding and event industry professionals. The core offering is the Community membership, which includes access to a private Facebook group with weekly live video episodes, a library of 350+ hours of content across 250+ episodes since April 2020, bi-weekly office hours, and group coaching from three industry leaders. Members can choose between 12-month ($1,776 total) or 18-month ($1,944 total) subscription bundles, both including a one-time $1,200 initiation fee. Add-on individual coaching is available from the founders at $1,000/hour.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Educate | Empower | Encourage Community Membership

Quantifiable outcome

• Members report doubling or tripling prices within months of joining
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Invision EventscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounded by Julie Bunkley (owner & creative director) and Courtney Wolf (principal planner). Named a Best Wedding Planner in America by BRIDES. Julie and Courtney serve as hosts of the E3 community, providing educational content, coaching, and industry expertise. Invision Events is the primary professional home of two of the three community founders.
• Birds of a Feather EventscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounded by Wendy Kay (owner & creative director). Named a Best Wedding Planner in America by BRIDES and Best Planner and Designer Worldwide by Martha Stewart Weddings. Wendy serves as one of three hosts of the E3 community, contributing educational content, coaching, and industry expertise to the member community.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Showit: Website-building platform built specifically for photographers and creative entrepreneurs, paired with Showit United (formerly Rising Tide Society). Combines tool + community + education — directly overlapping with E3's wedding photographer audience and education focus.
• Sprout Studio: Business management and CRM platform built for photographers, with bundled education resources on pricing, marketing, and client workflows. Targets the same SMB photographer audience that is E3's core customer.
• Aisle Planner: Business management and planning platform tailored for wedding planners and event designers. Targets the same wedding professional segment as E3 and bundles education/resources alongside its core product.
• The Futur: Premium education brand founded by Chris Do teaching creative professionals how to run profitable businesses — pricing, marketing, sales, branding. Closely matches E3's curriculum (pricing for profit, branding, client experience) and targets the same creative-entrepreneur segment via subscription and courses.
• HoneyBook: All-in-one business management platform purpose-built for wedding and event industry creatives (photographers, planners, florists). Operates in the same customer niche as E3 and offers education-adjacent content (HoneyBook Academy), competing for the same SMB creative's wallet.
• Rising Tide Society: Members-only community and education network for creative entrepreneurs, particularly in the wedding industry. Runs on a community/subscription model with educational programming — directly comparable to E3's membership structure and audience.
• PhotoBiz: Website, CRM, and marketing platform purpose-built for photographers, with companion education on running a photography business. Competes for the same photographer SMB customer that E3 serves with business coaching.

Broad incumbents

• MasterClass: Premium subscription education platform offering expert-taught courses across many categories including business and creativity. Differs from E3 in scale and breadth, but shares the premium subscription model and the positioning of "learn from the best" authority-driven teaching.
• CreativeLive: Large-scale online education platform teaching creative skills (photography, video, design, business) to a broad creative audience. Operates at greater scale than E3 but overlaps on the business-of-creativity curriculum and creator-professional segment.

Emerging players

• Tofurious (and other photography coaches): Subscription education communities for wedding photographers focused on pricing, booking, and business growth. Smaller-scale direct peers in the same niche education space that compete for the same luxury photographer customer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/e3grouppage
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/educate-empower-encourage

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Educate | Empower | Encourage