Margs and Mindset

Barlyssa Lopez
  • 5.0 (5)
  • SELF-IMPROVEMENT
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Barlyssa have been taking on life's challenges side by side, discovering what works and what doesn't. We're not just addressing past wounds, but also picking up handy skills and strategies along the way to steer our journey forward. We're convinced that no one should have to pilot through these experiences alone. With a common objective, we pondered the most impactful way to extend out support to women of color tackling generational traumas and experiences in solitude. It turned out that launching a podcast is the best conduit to build a supportive community that engages in raw, real and open dialogues that yield authentic growth. But, add tasty margaritas and some laughs for a good time because a good laugh can overcome more difficulties and dissipates more dark clouds than people realize.

  1. 5D AGO

    We Didn't Just Meet It We Exceeded

    Send a text Sun on our faces, sand in our shoes, and a whole new standard for what family time can feel like. We just came back from a resort-and-ruins whirlwind and a cruise that forced us to unplug, and we’re talking about how travel rewired our kids’ expectations, our work rhythms, and our own sense of what a rich life looks like. From a first sip of bitter espresso to a virgin daiquiri on the beach, little moments sparked big conversations about taste, boundaries, and the kind of care we want our kids to expect from the world. Mexico gave us more than tan lines. A day in a Mayan community and at Chichen Itza hit like a reset button, reminding us why we leave home: to be changed. Then came the cruise—the kind of old-school hospitality that makes you feel remembered—plus a near disaster when we almost drove to the wrong port. With no service at sea, we actually had to be present, and it felt like a gift. We came home, cracked a champagne bottle tied to a very specific goal, and celebrated beating our event target in the shortest month of the year. Ritualizing wins turned momentum into a habit. All of that flowed into a bigger theme: this is the year of flow. Last year was discovery and surrender; this year we integrate. We’re choosing to put away the laptop when the family bucket needs filling, to trust that abundance expands when we stop gripping, and to let plans we made months ago finally land—like a Vegas trip lined up with a birthday and a JLo residency we’ve dreamed about since we were kids. We talk manifestation without fluff, the power of intentional planning, and why standards aren’t snobbery when they’re rooted in curiosity, care, and self-belief. Press play for travel stories, honest laughs, and practical takeaways you can use to build a life that celebrates as it grows—one goal bottle, one memory, one flow-state decision at a time. If this resonates, subscribe, share with a friend who needs a nudge to plan their next memory, and leave a review to help more listeners find us.

    39 min

  2. FEB 25

    Showing Up & Showing Up

    Send a text What happens when you say yes without having any idea what you said yes to and walk into a house full of strangers with nothing but a weekend bag and an open heart? We did exactly that at a women’s goddess gathering and left with something rare: real friendship, a calmer nervous system, and a new standard for joy. This isn’t a recap of spa vibes; it’s the story of how cacao, Human Design, Reiki, tarot, and a private-chef dinner teamed up to make vulnerability feel safe—and fun. We start with the wobble: two lifelong “room kids” realizing they’re sharing a bedroom with someone new. Instead of bailing, we lean in. A cacao ceremony dissolves the small talk and invites real shares—the kind you usually save for a late-night phone call. From there, Human Design becomes our map. Side by side, we see how our energy works, why we click where we do, and how to give each other space where we don’t. It’s not a label; it’s a workflow for life and business that reduces friction and amplifies what’s already strong. Then comes the bodywork that changes everything. Reiki lands like a somatic exhale, releasing what words can’t touch. Tarot and a blazing phoenix goddess card give language to the same truth: it’s shedding season. We talk about burning down old roles—pleaser, over-doer, constant performer—and rebuilding with more play and less proving. And yes, we geek out on the food. A calm, intentional private chef turns meals into care, reminding us that real ingredients and presence taste like love. Grapes in salad, chimichurri on everything, and a flourless chocolate cake that lives rent-free in our minds. By the end, we’ve set up a “domino plan” for the month: a string of joyful commitments designed to keep the momentum going. The takeaway is simple and doable. Try the thing you wrote off. Revisit practices with a kinder lens. If it feeds you, keep it. If it doesn’t, release it without drama. This is an episode about sisterhood, spiritual awakening, practical self-care, and building community beyond business. If you felt the tug while reading this, hit play. Then subscribe, share with a friend who needs a courage nudge, and leave a review with one thing you’ll say yes to next. Your next domino is waiting. Music Track: Building Dreams by Aylex Source: https://freetouse.com/music Copyright Free Background Music

    43 min

  3. FEB 18

    Love Dump

    Send a text What if your most enduring love story began with a teacher asking a fourth-grader to be a friend? We share the arc from that first yes to a Valentine’s Day reunion in seventh grade and the 28-year bond that followed—one built on unspoken rituals, trust without scorekeeping, and a village-first approach to love and life. No clichés, no tidy labels—just the real mechanics of a relationship that defies assumptions and still feels simple. We walk through how everyday gestures—one of us crafting the perfect margarita while the other dials in cameras and mics—become a part of our love language. That language powers everything: our personal lives, our parenting, and a business that runs on devotion expressed as structure. We unpack why we don’t ask one person to be every bucket and how a village model brings more stability, less jealousy, and a lot more joy. From navigating outside judgments to finding partners who honor our soulmate friendship, we show how consent, clarity, and care become our operating system. You’ll hear why chosen family can be a strategy as much as a sentiment, how planned joy turns into a season of celebration, and why the most efficient business process might be a deep breath with someone who knows your whole archive. This conversation invites you to rethink monogamy myths, redefine commitment, and design a life where love is abundant, logistics are thoughtful, and kids grow up surrounded by steady hands. If you’ve ever felt seen beyond words—or wanted to—this one’s for you. If the story resonates, subscribe, share with a friend who’s building their own village, and leave a review to help others find the show. Music Track: Building Dreams by Aylex Source: https://freetouse.com/music Copyright Free Background Music

    30 min

  4. FEB 11

    Materializing Emotion

    Send a text What if wedding planning felt like love instead of noise? We share how a simple meal prep habit with Seared and Sacrum turned into a white glove partnership that raised our bar for every touchpoint—then fueled a bold experiment: a micro wedding expo built for intimacy, intention, and real conversation. We start with the everyday magic of great food showing up exactly when and how you need it, and the way that reliability reshaped our mindset for client care. We unpack how traditional expos overwhelm couples with crowds, sales pitches, and zero time to think. Our answer was to flip the format. Couples arrived on staggered schedules, walked through fully staged tables and a sweetheart setting, saw a pristine buffet before the first guest touched it, and then tasted dishes that matched the visual promise. Afterward, Adrean from Seared and Sacrum sat down one-on-one to demystify menus, logistics, and costs. The result wasn’t swag—it was trust. Along the way, we talk about luxury as intention, not price tag: slower pacing, thoughtful sequencing, and space to be heard. We get honest about the emotional stakes too. People cried. Hugs happened. Stories surfaced. That’s the heart of micro weddings—materializing emotion in a room through design choices that reflect a couple’s history and hopes. We also share how breathwork helped us integrate the win instead of sprinting past it, and how our past roles quietly trained us to orchestrate moments that land with a visceral “oh.” If you’re curious about micro weddings, curated tastings, experiential design, or how to build community-first events in Rochester, this one is for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s planning, and leave a review with your dream guest count so we can tailor future experiences. Music Track: Building Dreams by Aylex Source: https://freetouse.com/music Copyright Free Background Music

    31 min

  5. FEB 4

    Unbecoming and Becoming w/ Sarah Napoli

    Send a text A margarita, a mic, and a moment of truth: that’s where our conversation with leadership coach and community-builder Sarah Napoli really begins. Sarah opens up about the “pretzel twist” of corporate life—how chasing targets and fitting into someone else’s values can tighten you into a smaller version of yourself—and the surprising freedom that came when she loosened her grip on timelines and held the vision instead. Meet Sarah: With over 25 years of leadership experience across retail, beauty, med-tech, and healthcare, Sarah has always been driven by more than results. She found her greatest fulfillment in developing people - mentoring leaders, building culture, and helping others step into their potential. Today, she is a personal and professional leadership coach, supporting individuals, leaders, and teams who are ready to evolve. Her work centers on creating space for growth and empowering people to lead with clarity, confidence, heart, and strategy. We trace Sarah’s arc from retail floors to multi-unit leadership and into coaching, where she now supports women founders and executives through clear audits, belief work, and culture change that actually sticks. She shares how rejection becomes redirection, why the best leaders stand with one foot in vision and one in operations, and how empowerment beats push tactics when you want results that last.  Expect practical tools: a simple life audit to spot misalignment, future-self thinking to guide habits, and the power of “borrowed belief” when fear blocks the first step. Along the way, we talk consistency over intensity, health choices that serve you decades from now, and the underrated celebration of a deep breath to integrate wins. If you’ve felt wound tight by a role, a title, or a timeline, this conversation offers language, frameworks, and community to help you uncurl. You’ll leave with mantras worth screenshotting, questions that sharpen your next move, and a reminder that unbecoming and becoming can happen at the same time.  Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s on the edge of a big move, and leave a review with your top takeaway—what’s one grip you’re ready to loosen this week? If your’re anything like us, you’ll want to be friends with Sarah after this episode! You can follow her journey on Instagram: @sarahnapoli. Music Track: Building Dreams by Aylex Source: https://freetouse.com/music Copyright Free Background Music

    41 min

  6. JAN 28

    A Change You Can Make

    Send a text A lifetime of vague symptoms can make you stop asking questions. When a clinician finally names the pain—painful bladder syndrome (PBS)—the relief is real and the path forward gets bright. We talk through what that moment felt like, why a diagnosis can unlock calm, and how to turn insight into daily choices that reduce symptoms and return joy to the body. We get specific about triggers and tradeoffs: alcohol, caffeine, citrus, chocolate, artificial sweeteners, and processed foods vs. a baseline of gentle, whole food staples. An elimination diet becomes a map, not a punishment, helping us find personal thresholds and rebuild confidence. Movement, hydration, and sleep show up as non-negotiable allies. Most importantly, a mindset practice—gratitude, reframing, and self-advocacy—transforms compliance into commitment. It’s not about losing treats; it’s about gaining clear mornings, steady energy, and pain-free workdays. Alongside health, we open the door on community and belief. One person’s yes years ago sparked our business and this show, and now we’re paying that forward—mentoring friends, fielding unexpected messages, and seeing proof that storytelling compresses someone else’s timeline. We revisit our origin story, reflect on therapy wins that improved communication, and talk about parenting for the long game: modeling values, celebrating growth, and planning adventures that build independence and trust. If you’re navigating chronic symptoms, craving practical steps, or just need one voice to say you can do this, this conversation is for you. Hit follow, share this with someone who needs clarity, and leave a review to help others find the show. Your next step could be the one that changes everything. Music Track: Building Dreams by Aylex Source: https://freetouse.com/music Copyright Free Background Music

    40 min

  7. JAN 21

    The Thirteen Magical Nights

    Send a text Ready for a year that actually feels different? We open 2026 with a grounded surge of confidence, a clink of margarita glasses, and a candid look at how two weeks of family, silence, and sawdust helped us integrate life and business without losing our spark. From the relief of getting meal prep back to the reality of running separate households, we explore what happens when routine disappears, awareness expands, and gratitude takes center stage. We share the “13 magical nights” ritual we tried—imperfectly and honestly. Thirteen intentions on paper, twelve burned to release control, one kept as our job for the year. That process surfaced the stories we needed to rewrite: letting go of judging ourselves for trying new things, and learning what “taking breaks” actually means for people who rarely stop. Through journaling and messy action, we found practical mindset shifts that invite trust, cut down on chasing, and turn intention into behavior. If you’ve ever worried about doing growth “wrong,” this segment will feel like relief. A multi‑generational Christmas became a live seminar on parenting phases and legacy. Toddlers tugged “I need you,” big kids wandered free, elders held quiet wisdom. Seeing the same party through different lenses changed how we set goals and how we teach our kids to handle change. That continued with Oliver’s room upgrade: a metal “O” from newborn days came down to make space for Star Wars and Crunch Labs. Watching him say “you can let it go” reminded us that identity evolves—and our environments should evolve with it. We finish by naming what integration looks like now: aligned priorities, systems that support energy, and a single intention we own while the universe co‑creates the rest. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s craving a fresh start, and leave a review with your one intention for the year—what are you choosing to own in 2026? Music Track: Building Dreams by Aylex Source: https://freetouse.com/music Copyright Free Background Music

    33 min

  8. JAN 14

    Happy New Year 2026

    Send a text A spilled margarita and some wildly irritating under-eye patches cracked open a bigger truth: we were performing self-care while ignoring what our lives actually needed.  So we started asking better questions. What do we want our days to look like? What do we want our kitchen cabinets to say about who we are becoming? That’s how a cabinet clean-out turned into a manifesto on curating joy—pizza on vintage plates, margaritas in teacups, and a home filled with objects that carry stories instead of dust. We get honest about cohabitation, purging with love, and why convenience culture keeps us from choosing things that make us feel alive. The dishwasher-safe reflex meets a slow-life rebuttal: sometimes handwashing is the point.  Then we map how mindset becomes momentum. After a year of grinding and building an abundance mindset, we finally gave ourselves what we’ve been working toward: a Q1 built for celebration.  A women’s retreat to refill our cups.  Family trips to Mexico and Florida with a Bahamas cruise.  A long-overdue girls’ trip to Vegas for a birthday show.  A true, no-work week in North Carolina. We’re not escaping real life—we’re curating it. If you’re ready to trade guilt for intention, plastic for patina, and grind for grace, this one’s for you. If this resonates, tap follow, share it with a friend who needs permission to decorate their life, and leave a quick review so more people can find the show. Music Track: Building Dreams by Aylex Source: https://freetouse.com/music Copyright Free Background Music

    34 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

Barlyssa have been taking on life's challenges side by side, discovering what works and what doesn't. We're not just addressing past wounds, but also picking up handy skills and strategies along the way to steer our journey forward. We're convinced that no one should have to pilot through these experiences alone. With a common objective, we pondered the most impactful way to extend out support to women of color tackling generational traumas and experiences in solitude. It turned out that launching a podcast is the best conduit to build a supportive community that engages in raw, real and open dialogues that yield authentic growth. But, add tasty margaritas and some laughs for a good time because a good laugh can overcome more difficulties and dissipates more dark clouds than people realize.

Information

  • Creator
    Barlyssa Lopez
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    127
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Margs and Mindset
  • Show Website
    Margs and Mindset