We were lucky to catch up with Keyatta Mincey Parker recently and have shared our conversation below.

Keyatta, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

Short answer: Yes, I’m happier as a business owner. I genuinely love the life I’ve built. I love creating real impact in my community through A Sip of Paradise Garden. I love the freedom to be bougie, creative, and imaginative with Pictures and Cocktails. And I love having a space like After The Garnish where I can speak my truth without shrinking myself.

Now, the honest answer? I want to quit about once a month. (LOL)

The last time I had that thought was late at night after a long day in the garden. My hands were dirty, my phone wouldn’t stop buzzing with emails, invoices, grant deadlines, and last-minute requests, and I was sitting in my car just staring at the steering wheel. I remember thinking how easy it would be to clock out, go home, and not carry the weight of payroll, programming, partnerships, chasing grants, and wondering where the next check was coming from. I imagined what a steady paycheck, benefits, and actual off days might feel like.

But then I thought about what my life looked like before COVID, working nonstop, making decent money, but at the cost of my body, my mental health, and my joy. I was always tired, always pouring into someone else’s dream, and still feeling behind financially because burnout doesn’t leave room for growth. It wasn’t sustainable. It was almost soul-crushing.

What I realized in that moment is that entrepreneurship comes with financial uncertainty, but it also comes with financial possibility. Some months are tight, some months are great, but every dollar I earn now is tied to something I built, something that creates impact and opportunity for others. The stress I feel now is building wealth with purpose, not just surviving paycheck to paycheck.

So yes, I have moments where I daydream about a simpler life with a guaranteed income. But I always come back to the same conclusion: I don’t want to go back to being comfortable and depleted. I’d rather navigate the ups and downs of entrepreneurship while building something meaningful, financially freeing, and aligned with who I am.

And honestly? Even on the hardest days, I wouldn’t choose another path.

Keyatta, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m Keyatta Mincey Parker, a hospitality creative, community builder, and globally recognized bartender and cocktail expert based in Atlanta. I’m the founder and Executive Director of A Sip of Paradise Garden, a nonprofit community garden and wellness space created specifically for hospitality professionals, and the creative force behind Pictures and Cocktails LLC, where I design elevated, story-driven cocktail experiences that blend luxury, sustainability, and cultural storytelling. I’m also a former model ( I love sliding that fun fact in, lol ) and the writer behind After The Garnish, a reflective platform centered on mental health, self-care, and life behind the bar.

My journey into this industry wasn’t linear. I began my career as a professional model and worked in restaurants on the side, which deeply shaped how I see the world through visuals, detail, presence, and storytelling. Modeling taught me how to hold space, understand aesthetics, and communicate without words, skills that later became foundational in my work behind the bar and in experiential design. Eventually, I transitioned fully into hospitality ( I became a mom twice ), spending over two decades working across restaurants, nightlife, fine dining, and events, learning the industry from the ground up.

Cocktails became my creative language. I realized they could be more than drinks th, they could tell stories, honor culture, spark connection, and create moments people remember long after the glass is empty. Over time, that approach led to collaborations with major spirit brands, chefs, farmers, and cultural organizations ( I created the official cocktail for the Liberian Olympic Team for the Tokoyo Olympics), with my work featured in Forbes, Food & Wine, Thrillist, Southern Living, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

I am half Liberian, and my heritage is a central thread in everything I create. From flavor profiles and ingredients to storytelling and community-centered rituals, my work is deeply influenced by Liberian culture, African diaspora traditions, and the ways food and drink carry memory, resilience, and joy. That cultural grounding is especially present in my dinners, garden programming, and educational work, where I often explore ancestry, land stewardship, and the stories carried through our hands.

Alongside the beauty of this industry, I’ve also witnessed its harder truths, burnout, mental health struggles, financial instability, and the lack of support systems, especially for Black and brown hospitality professionals. That reality is what led me to create A Sip of Paradise Garden. The garden is a sanctuary where hospitality workers can rest, grow food, access wellness programming, and reconnect with themselves and each other. We host mental health workshops, sustainability education, garden-to-glass experiences, and community connection, all rooted in care, healing, and belonging for an industry that sustains soooooo many people, but no one sustains us.

Through Pictures and Cocktails, I provide luxury cocktail curation, consulting, experiential events, brand activations, and education. What sets my work apart is intention. Every experience is rooted in culture, sustainability, and visual storytelling. I don’t just create menus, I design moments that feel thoughtful, layered, and deeply human.

The problems I solve are both creative and structural. For brands and clients, I help them stand out in crowded spaces by creating emotionally resonant experiences that feel authentic. For communities, I create access to wellness, education, and opportunity in an industry that often prioritizes output over people. And for individuals, I model a way of working that honors creativity without sacrificing mental health.

What I’m most proud of is building an ecosystem where luxury and care coexist. A Sip of Paradise Garden has grown into a true community hub, and watching hospitality professionals find rest, confidence, and connection there is deeply meaningful to me. I’m also proud to show that cultural storytelling, sustainability, and impact are not limitations; they’re strengths.

The most important thing I want people to know about me and my work is that it’s real, intentional, and rooted in purpose. Everything I create is about connection to culture, to community, to land, and to self. Whether you’re attending a garden workshop, collaborating on a cocktail experience, or reading After The Garnish, you’re stepping into a space built with care, beauty, and truth.

At the end of the day, my mission is simple: to create beautiful, meaningful experiences that nourish people and communities and to help reshape what hospitality can look like when it leads with heart, and I want my kids to be proud of their momma.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

One thing non-creatives often struggle to understand about my journey is that creativity isn’t just a talent; it’s labor, emotional energy, strategy, and constant problem-solving all at once. People see the beautiful cocktails, the lush garden, the events, and the storytelling, but they don’t always see the planning, budgeting, pitching, relationship-building, failures, the crashouts, and late nights that make those moments possible.

There’s also a misconception that when you love what you do, it doesn’t feel like work, wrong. The truth is, building creative businesses requires just as much discipline and structure as any corporate role, sometimes more. You’re not just the artist, you’re the marketer, accountant, strategist, customer service team, fundraiser, and visionary all in one. You are the face.

Another thing people don’t always understand is the emotional weight of creating with purpose. My work is tied to community healing, cultural storytelling, and people’s wellbeing. That means when something succeeds, it’s deeply fulfilling, but when something struggles, it feels personal. You’re constantly carrying other people’s hopes, experiences, and trust alongside your own dreams.

What I wish more people understood is that choosing a creative path isn’t about avoiding hard work; it’s about choosing meaningful work. It’s choosing risk in exchange for impact, freedom in exchange for certainty, and growth in exchange for comfort. And while it’s not always easy, it’s incredibly powerful when creativity becomes a tool for change, connection, and building something bigger than yourself.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the biggest lessons I had to unlearn was the belief that my value was tied to how much I could produce, how busy I was, and how exhausted I felt at the end of the day. For a long time, I thought rest had to be earned, and burnout was just part of being successful, especially in hospitality, where long hours and pushing through pain are worn like a badge of honor.

The backstory is rooted in how I came up in this industry. For over twenty years, I worked nonstop, doubles, late nights, early mornings, holidays, and weekends, always saying yes because I was afraid opportunities would stop coming if I slowed down, all while being a mom, a great mom at that. As a former model who transitioned into hospitality, I also felt pressure to constantly prove myself in new spaces, to be twice as prepared, twice as polished, and twice as hardworking just to be taken seriously.

There was a moment before and during the pandemic when my body and mind forced me to listen. I was exhausted in ways sleep couldn’t fix. I was anxious, emotionally drained, and questioning why something I loved felt so heavy. I realized I had built a life around constant output, not sustainability. Burnout is a real thing.

Unlearning that hustle mindset changed everything. I started designing my businesses around wellness, boundaries, and impact instead of burnout. That’s actually what led to creating A Sip of Paradise Garden, a space built on rest, healing, and community care for hospitality professionals who were carrying the same exhaustion I was.

Now I measure success differently. I still work hard, but I no longer believe suffering equals success. I believe sustainability is the real flex. I believe rest is productive. And I believe you can build beautiful, impactful work without sacrificing your health, joy, or peace.

That unlearning didn’t make me less successful; it made me more aligned, more creative, and more fulfilled.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.asipofparadisegarden.org and www.picturesandcocktails.com
• Instagram: @asipofparadisegarden and @picturesandcocktails_
• Facebook: A Sip of Paradise Garden
• Linkedin: A Sip of Paradise Garden
• Youtube: Pictures and Cocktails

Image Credits

Jose Pereiro
Kimberly Howell
A Sip of Paradise Garden