Vince Romanelli shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Vince, really appreciate you sharing your stories and insights with us. The world would have so much more understanding and empathy if we all were a bit more open about our stories and how they have helped shaped our journey and worldview. Let’s jump in with a fun one: What are you most proud of building — that nobody sees?
The architecture of the show itself.
When you watch a performance, you see the energy, the visuals, the skill. What you don’t see is how it’s designed. I’ve spent 28 years learning to think about a moment the way a director thinks about a film. Every choice is intentional—from how the audio and visuals sync to the narrative, to how the choreography positions you emotionally at each stage.
I integrate into whatever production setup exists instead of requiring clients to rebuild around me. I’ve trained myself to plan with precision so that what looks effortless was actually engineered. That’s the invisible part—the years of thinking about how all these layers work together: performance mastery, technical integration, audience psychology, brand strategy.
Most performers focus on being good at their instrument. I’m focused on being good at understanding what a moment needs to do, and then building it to do that reliably, at scale, across any venue. That architecture—that’s what I’m actually proud of.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Vince Romanelli, founder of VR Creative Group. I create multi-layered entertainment experiences for experiential agencies and Fortune 500 events. For 28 years, I’ve been combining live performance, cutting-edge technology, and audience interaction into moments that actually matter—moments people remember and talk about. I’ve entertained over 100,000 people across 9+ countries.
What makes this work special is the approach. Most entertainment is straightforward: someone performs, it’s entertaining, people clap. But the moments that actually land—the ones that become part of a company’s story—those are built differently. They’re strategic. They integrate seamlessly into what you’re already trying to accomplish.
I work with clients two ways. If you know exactly what you need, I execute it flawlessly within your vision. If you’re not sure what the moment should be, I become your creative partner—we develop it together over months of collaboration. Either way, what you get is the architecture of a show that was designed intentionally: every choice from the audio and visuals to the choreography serves a specific purpose.
The clients I work with most are experiential agencies who are building brand activations and Fortune 500 companies producing major events. They need entertainment that doesn’t just fill time—it elevates what they’re trying to accomplish. That’s what I focus on.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
January 2010. I got hired to perform in Delhi, India—my first international gig. I didn’t know it then, but that trip reshaped everything.
I went there thinking I understood the world. I came back understanding I didn’t understand much at all. When you experience poverty at a scale beyond your imagination, when you see it up close, your perspective shifts. I remember coming home and realizing how fortunate I was—not in a guilty way, but in a clarifying way. The things I’d been worried about, the things I complained about, they suddenly seemed small against a much larger picture of what people actually deal with.
But it wasn’t just about gratitude. Spiritually, I learned that compassion and morality and humanity aren’t tied to where you’re from or what you believe. I met people in India whose character and kindness matched anything I’d known in my American bubble. That changed me.
Professionally, that trip opened a door. I was found on YouTube and booked internationally. Before that, most of my work was within a two-hour radius of home. That one moment became a downstream path—I’ve been doing international work consistently ever since.
So one trip gave me three things: a deeper understanding of how good my life actually is, a spiritual humility about what matters, and a career trajectory I never imagined. That’s what shaped how I see the world. It made me more optimistic, more grounded, and a much better human being.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
Never stop treating the world with relentless kindness.
I believe miracles still happen when people are kind without expectation. There’s something almost spiritual about it—when someone gives you a genuine compliment out of nowhere, when they hype you up and build your confidence without asking for anything in return, there’s this uncomfortable joy that happens. It’s rare. It’s becoming rarer.
That’s what moves me. The things that make me tear up aren’t the big moments—they’re the unexpected ones. Someone doing something completely surprising for another person. Making their jaw drop. Making them feel special, appreciated, seen. That’s where the magic is.
I think a lot of people have forgotten that. We’re transactional now. Everything comes with an expectation. But when someone breaks that pattern and just… gives? Just builds someone up for no reason other than believing in them? That changes people. That’s the kind of unabashed joy and human connection that actually matters.
So to younger me: never lose sight of this. In a world that’s getting colder and more calculated, people are starving for someone to believe in them without agenda. To see them. To make them feel special just because they exist. That’s not weakness—that’s the most powerful thing you can do. Keep being that person.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What’s a cultural value you protect at all costs?
The cultural value I protect at all costs is human dignity.
I never want anyone to feel taken advantage of—whether that’s a client, a crew member, or someone in my community. I lead with empathy and genuine kindness because I believe every person deserves to feel appreciated and seen. That’s not a business strategy for me; it’s foundational to how I move through the world.
When I see someone marginalized or overlooked, something in me refuses to look away. I’m committed to being a voice for people who don’t have one—to make sure they’re treated with the dignity they’ve always deserved. It means being willing to speak up, to notice the people everyone else passes by, to build them up when the world has made them feel small.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Have you ever gotten what you wanted, and found it did not satisfy you?
Yes. And it taught me something crucial: the satisfaction doesn’t live in the destination. It lives in the journey.
I’ve accomplished things I thought would feel like victory—booked the big clients, delivered the standing ovations, built the infrastructure I envisioned. And in those moments, I realized the real satisfaction wasn’t the arrival. It was everything that came before it. The months of collaboration. The late nights problem-solving. The intentional choices made over and over. The struggle. The work that nobody sees.
Kobe Bryant said something that’s always resonated with me: “Clutch wasn’t magic. It wasn’t special. It was the natural outcome of thousands of shots taken when no one was watching. Mastery turned pressure into routine.” And: “Have a maniacal work ethic. You want to over-prepare so that luck becomes a product of design.”
I’m not playing basketball, but I’m thinking through every possibility before I step on stage so that when I perform, it’s a celebration of all the hard work that came before it. The show isn’t what I want—the show is the result of working hard for what I want.
When you chase the result, you’re always chasing emptiness. But when you fall in love with the process—the discipline of mastering your craft, the vulnerability of creating something with another person, the persistence required to build something that matters—that’s where fulfillment lives. T
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.vrcreativegroup.com
- Instagram: @vrcreativegroup
- Linkedin: @vinceromanelli
- Twitter: @vinceromanelli
- Facebook: @vinceromanelli
