Meet Barlyssa Lopez

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Barlyssa Lopez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Barlyssa, so great to have you with us today. There are so many topics we want to ask you about, but perhaps the one we can start with is burnout. How have you overcome or avoided burnout?

First and for most… BURNOUT IS REAL!! Yes, even when it’s your passion! Yes, even when what you are doing is what you love most in the world!

We just came off the most insanely busy month in our business yet and found that while we were prepared for the events on our calendar, we were NOT prepared for all of the stress and exhaustion that came along with the demands of each of the those events. To keep up with the busiest month to date, self care was placed on the back burner and by the end, we felt the weight of that decision.

Once we became aware of how we got ourselves into this predicament, we knew we had to pull ourselves back to the front and prioritize our mental health to get back on track. We gravitated towards one of our self care pillars, family. Family is a core value here at Homemade Events because we know that spending time with the people that bring us the most joy, reenergizes us in a way that nothing else can. We spent 4 days in a big house surrounded by laughter, joy and all the good food that feeds not only stomach but your soul. We find that the simplest pleasures in life are what help us reframe and get our mindset back in check. It just can’t get any better than sharing stories of life, fears, and aspirations while breaking bread and unlocking core memories.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

We are Barbara & Alyssa but we identify as one so you can just call us Barlyssa. Margarita aficionados with touches of Latin spice, people pleasing and perfectionism rolled into one awesome duo. We plan, curate and collaborate on love-fueled events & luxury picnics throughout the Rochester NY community with the end result of unlocking your next core memory. We do not take this lightly. Our goal is to curate fun, immersive, and beautifully decorated events & luxury picnics that will live rent free in your brain forever.

We also found that we had so much to say, so we started a podcast!

Tbh, we couldn’t help ourselves. We had a lot on our heart and Instagram Reels and Stories just weren’t cutting it. Did we know what we were doing when we started the Margs & Mindset podcast? Absolutely not. But we did it anyway. We did it scared. Our goal? To empower badass WOC to break free from shackles of the past through raw convos, laughs and tasty margaritas (or beverage of choice). You can listen to your fav Rochester jefas every Wednesday!

And because MORE IS MORE when it comes to us, the most recent addition to the Barlyssa Empire is our micro event space. The Homemade HQ is a beautiful 650 sq ft micro event venue and creative space in the historic Corn Hill district of Rochester, NY. With this hourly venue, you’’ll have access to what’s already inside of it, like the historic architecture, vaulted ceilings, beautiful furniture and seamless paper backdrops that provide endless possibilities for creating the perfect backdrop for your vision. You can host your event yourself or there’s always the option to add the homemade touch!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

1. Self improvement! This has been and will always be the most important skill we continue to develop for ourselves and our business. In order to handle the life of an entrepreneur you must be mentally prepared to take on all of the challenges that will come your way because it’s not a matter of IF, it’s a matter of WHEN. By understanding that any work we did on ourselves as people would naturally help scale our business, we have been able to scale all 3 of our businesses in just 3 years!

2. Prioritizing self care! This continues to be a huge area of opportunity for us. It is so easy to keep up the grind & continue to move on to the next project once the last one is completed AND we found that is a sure way to end up feeling burned out and unfulfilled. It doesn’t feel like work when we are completely obsessed with what we do but that’s why its more important to take the break. We always say, “choose the break or the break will choose you”. So don’t let taking care of your needs be at the bottom of your to-do list. Prioritize yourself so that you can show up for your business the way you both deserve.

3. Flexibility! If we had to choose one skill to rank #1 for all entrepreneurs to embody, it’s flexibility. No business owner is able to predict everything that will come their way, no matter what industry they are in. In order to move your business forward, you must be flexible to the curveballs that will come your way to take you off the path you planned for. Learning to adapt, reframe, adjust the plan/idea/project and keep moving forward is the biggest flex for an entrepreneur! Pun intended 😉

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

Let’s be real, feeling overwhelmed sucks and unfortunately is also unavoidable, especially as an entrepreneur! As we move through our journey, we have learned to listen to our bodies and our inner voice. When we feel the overwhelm creeping in, the first thing we do is pause and take a few deep breaths. Most often, the feeling of overwhelm begins because you are being pulled in a million different directions and your brain is feeling scattered. Intentionally taking a moment to breath will help regulate your nervous system so that your brain is able to take focus again and begin building a realistic plan to tackle all your tasks.

Another strategy we are still working on ourselves to beat overwhelm before it even happens is learning to say no. As recovering people pleasers, this proactive approach is still very hard for us but we know it’s the right thing to do so continue to actively work on it everyday. It’s natural to want to say yes to every opportunity that comes our way but we recognize that is one way we actually cause our own overwhelm. Taking the extra step to ask ourselves, is it worth it? Is what we are saying yes to worth the feeling of overwhelm? gives us the permission to say no because that’s ok too. We tend to see ’no’ as a negative but when say no to the opportunity that wasn’t worth it for us we are saying yes to our mental health and that’s a win!

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: Homemadeeventsroc
• Facebook: Homemade Events
• Other: Margs & Mindset Podcast

Image Credits

Emilia Callahan