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

Hi Bryanna, thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

This might be a long story but it’s the only way people will truly understand where I started. My creative career started back in 2016/2017 when planning out a gender reveal for my bestfriend. She was the first friend in our group to have a baby and I always loved having parties so I was so excited to make this special anyway I can. In that time balloons weren’t a huge thing, it was more about little details to make the party pop like themed treats , cake pops, signage, the nice linen, lettered tables, and draping. She actually hired an event planner to help with everything and we felt like she wasn’t doing what we wanted and we ended up doing a lot of the work for her. Soon after I found out I was pregnant and thus began more planning for my gender reveal and baby shower. Again not much balloons just creatively making themes come to life. We both realized we were good at this and started doing parties for family and friends. Not charging quite enough but managing and investing in new things each time. We got a quote from a balloon artist one day and we were speechless. It was like $500+ for something so simple and I thought “I’ll just watch YouTube and learn this myself, amazon balloon kits are only $25” From then we launched our social media page and had so many clients. I was the hands-on creative brains while my friend was organized and knew how to put themes together. A few months into the business we realized we weren’t making enough money to continue doing this. This was taking a toll on us and we eventually stopped altogether. Here and there I would help people with balloons only charging like $100 to put a kit together. I then had my 2nd son where again I planned out the events and did everything. Friends continued to ask and I would say I only do this for my own personal events not really a business. To answer your question I WISH I continued doing what I loved, it was the perfect time. I was a new mom, I was good at it, I just didn’t have the business knowledge that I do now to be successful back then . This new business started only in late 2022 and I was pregnant with my 3rd. I was 5-6 months pregnant and a friend asked me to help her with her events and she would pay me. I was working from home at the time which was great cause I had my 2nd at home only a year old and with a new one on the way I didn’t know how I can continue to work an average job. I needed more income and this side hustle was going to be the stepping stone to that. I used whatever money I had saved to invest into the business. I took balloon courses, watched lots of YouTube and continued to practice. I eventually went from making only $100 of profit to now breaking 70k this year in revenue and having 80+ clients. I’m glad I started when I did, I made mistakes, I learned from them and came back stronger and better than ever.

Bryanna, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Bryanna and I’m the creative force behind GlitznGarlands. I’m 29 and I have 3 kids ages 6,3,2. I got into this industry because I loved planning out events for myself and friends and after I had kids the love grew stronger. I didn’t have the means to go and spend so much money on an event planner so I would end up doing everything myself. Like most people you end up doing so much and thinking “I should have just hired someone’ So that’s where my business comes in. Unless you know how to work with balloons, an amazon kit will never look the same as a luxury balloon garland. I’ve tested out kits and you’ll need about 3-4 kits to even come close to a nice garland and depending on the brand the balloons are not thick enough and won’t last as long as one of my luxury ones would. Amazon sellers actually steal photos from professionals and make people think they can pull off that design. This is why I specialize in organic and classic balloon work, I offer helium now as well, and I love putting together grab and go’s for clients who still want to party on a budget.

As you can imagine my hands are full with 3 littles and sometimes Idk how I do it all, but what sets me apart is my willingness to make sure your party is picture perfect for your family, while my family is home waiting for me. I love when my oldest ask me how my set up was and if he can help me or come along. He knows my job is a balloon artist and he tells everyone he comes across. I’ve even gone to his school 2 years in a row now for career day and he is so proud when I walk in and bring something fun for his class.

I am most proud of how successful I became in such a short time. I want my potential clients to know I give my all to each and every party as if it was my own. I wouldn’t leave 3 babies behind to do something I didn’t love.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I wish I knew there was a such thing as balloon courses, but maybe back in 2017 that wasn’t a thing. YouTube definitely has helped me a lot but being in person with someone who is showing you how to put balloons together is a world of a difference. Business knowledge is so important as well and my hopes for 2025 is that I can bring this knowledge I’ve gained to people that look up to me and want to learn from me.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect is being able to work on my own terms. I am able to choose what dates I want to take jobs, I can choose how many jobs I take a month. Being a mom of 3 is definitely harder in terms of running a business especially a business that runs 90% through all weekends. My kids understand though and that’s the most important part. They love that mommy does fun parties and they get to play with balloons all the time.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.glitzngarlands.com
• Instagram: @glitzngarlands