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

Barlssa, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

We learned the art of hosting events by hosting events for our own friends and families. Our daughter’s first birthday was the event where we felt the first spark of passion as we instantly feel in love with the entire creative process of bringing our vision to life. We found ourselves year after year scaling her birthday parties bigger and bigger as our creativity grew alongside her. Then when our son was born, we immersed ourselves in another world of themes and ideas to bring his birthdays to life the way we did our daughters. We soon became the party planners amongst our friends & families and continued to host parties for 10 years before we decided it was time to turn our passion into a business!

If we could go back and tell ourselves one thing to speed up the learning process it would be, “no one knows what they are doing, you will figure it out along the way so just start now!” We discovered our passion early on but never took the leap because we had preconceived notions that we needed to know everything about the industry and that those in business had it all figured out before they started. WRONG, SO WRONG! Three years into our business we have found that starting before you are ready and trusting yourself to figure it out along the way will actually take you further and serves as the best way to learn! As a duo, we both had different work history that brought essential skills to our team! Our past customer service, hospitality, education and corporate jobs all instilled a different set of skills that we use in our own business now to balance one another. That balance has become an integral part of the success of our business.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

We are Barbara & Alyssa but you can call us Barlyssa. We are margarita aficionados with touches of Latin spice, people pleasing and perfectionism rolled into one awesome duo. We also plan, curate and collaborate on love-fueled events & luxury picnics throughout our community in Rochester NY.

A few more things to note about us:

We’ve been bonded together since the 4th grade
We sometimes cackle like hyenas when something is really funny
We’re addicted to Facebook Marketplace (and Amazon Prime)
90% of our vocabulary is tv/movie quotes

With a shared passion for unlocking core memories and planning celebrations, we officially launched Homemade Events in 2021. In 2022, seizing an opportunity, we expanded our offerings by acquiring a luxury picnic business, marking the beginning of some of the most exhilarating and rewarding years of our lives!

In 2024, a serendipitous scroll through Craigslist led us to a listing for a lease in the historic Corn Hill district. From inquiry to love at first sight, we swiftly secured the space for micro events & indoor luxury picnics, adding another chapter to our whirlwind journey.

And because nothing is ever enough of us, we realized we had a lot to share and decided to start a podcast!

Honestly, we couldn’t help ourselves. We had so much to say 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 with the podcast is simple, we want to empower badass WOC to break free from shackles of the past through raw convos, laughs and tasty margaritas (or beverage of choice). We drop new episodes every Wednesday morning so if you’re ready to hear what your fav Rochester jefas have to say, you can find us on your favorite streaming platform.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Curating moments that will serve as core memories for our clients has been and will always be the most rewarding aspect of our business. Cultivating an immersive event filled with small details that will be enjoyed by not only our client but all who attend means that our art form will create a little slice of joy and a memory to last a lifetime. In a fast paced world filled with negativity and the constant chase for more, we pride ourselves in sharing our magic to spread joy & love to change our clients world.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

There are so many reasons why we embarked on this creative journey! At the top of the list, we want to show women, especially women of color, that you have the ability to achieve any dream you have on your heart! Growing up in the inner city of Rochester NY, we were taught one way to make it in this world; get straight A’s in school, go to college, get the job, stay there until you retire. We were never exposed or encouraged to choose our creativity & curate a world all your own.

Now, we live to share our story in hopes to expose & inspire other women to uncover their creative passion & believe in yourself to make it a reality. That’s all it takes, passion & belief!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://homemadeeventsroc.com
• Instagram: homemadeeventsroc
• Facebook: homemade events roc
• Other: Margs and Mindset Podcast

Image Credits

Emilia Callahan Photography
Susan Elizabeth Portraits
Roc Focus