We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alyssa Lisle a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alyssa, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
After over a decade in high-level kitchens—including the fiery gauntlet of classic French training—I’ve built a resilience that’s as much about grace under pressure as it is about pure survival. Living that intensity as a woman of color meant learning to turn critique into craft and chaos into clarity. Those kitchens carved me, but they also made me unshakable.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
At Lucy’s Bottle Shop, we’re all about celebrating and uplifting diverse voices in the world of wine and beyond. We proudly spotlight QTBIPOC and female makers, from the bottles on our shelves to the art on our walls—thanks to our friends at The Fishbowl Art Gallery in Uptown. With daily wine flights, a cute patio, tasty snacks from our queer-owned café partner Baskette in Fremont, and community events that are always a good time, Lucy’s is more than a shop—it’s a vibe, a space, and a celebration of creativity and connection.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Looking back, the three things that carried me through were grit, clarity of vision, and the ability to build real relationships. Grit got me through the hard “no’s,” the slow funding rounds, and the people who couldn’t quite see what I was building until it was already in front of them. Clarity of vision meant I knew exactly what I stood for—even when others didn’t get it—and that made it easier to stick to my values, especially when things got messy. And building real relationships? That opened more doors than any pitch deck ever could.
For folks just starting out: Don’t wait to be “ready.” Start small, start scrappy, but start. Let your vision be bold and specific, and stay close to the people who genuinely get it—those relationships will fuel you in the long stretches. And remember, the pushback isn’t a sign to stop. It’s a sign you’re doing something new. Keep going.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
My parents have always shown up with open minds and big hearts—even when I was a bit of a wild teenager. They made it clear, consistently, that their love wasn’t conditional, and that kind of steady support gave me the confidence to take risks. In our house, being bold and risk-tolerant wasn’t something to be reined in—it was encouraged, even celebrated.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lucysbottleshop.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lucysbottleshop
Image Credits
Tatyana Monzon @filmsaboutartists
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