Margs and Mindset

Barlyssa Lopez
  • 5.0 (4)
  • 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. 1D AGO

    Unbecoming and Becoming w/ Sarah Napoli

    Send us 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

  2. JAN 28

    A Change You Can Make

    Send us 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

  3. JAN 21

    The Thirteen Magical Nights

    Send us 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

  4. JAN 14

    Happy New Year 2026

    Send us 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

  5. JAN 7

    Boys Allowed w/ Dominic Piaccentini

    Send us a text A cranberry margarita, a haunted retreat story, and one simple framework that quietly changes everything you touch—our convo with Dominic Piaccentini will help set the tone for the entire year.  Meet Dom: Dominic Piacentini is the founder of R4 Wellness & Consulting and a Real Estate Professional who helps leaders and entrepreneurs make clearer decisions under pressure. With a background spanning education, real estate, and entrepreneurship—including owning and operating a catering business, hosting wellness events and retreats, and property management —Dominic brings a practical, real-world lens to mindset, leadership, and growth. Now a professional learning leader and executive coach, he works with organizations and individuals to strengthen focus, resilience, communication, and follow-through. His work blends strategy, mental fitness, and human connection—delivering insights that are actionable, grounded, and built for real life. Dom breaks down mental fitness with a four-part flow:  -Detect the patterns and triggers that hijack your day -Disrupt them with fast somatic resets -Reframe without slipping into toxic positivity -Surf the waves with steadier presence Our convo gets into the science too—why the refractory period keeps you stuck in fight or flight, and how short, consistent reps shift activity from the limbic system into the prefrontal cortex where focus, creativity, and problem solving live. If you’ve ever wrestled with “justification lies” or lingering stress after tough moments, this will hit home. If you’re curious to try it, Dom’s launching a free four-week Rise and Thrive intro to mental fitness in mid-January—join in and tell us what changes for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs this reset, and leave a review to help others find the pod. If you're anything like us, you'll want to be friends with Dom after this episode! You can follow his journey on IG @dominic_j_piac and learn more here! Music Track: Building Dreams by Aylex Source: https://freetouse.com/music Copyright Free Background Music

    49 min

  6. 12/31/2025

    Life In Review

    Send us a text The pause finally arrived—and with it, clarity. After a relentless run of projects, we sat down with our margs, looked honestly at the past year, and turned a messy pile of effort into something simple and strong: intention, consistency, and proof. That proof showed up in the best way possible when our accountant confirmed what we’d been grinding toward all year—we ran a profitable business. Not vibes. Not almost. Real profit that changes how we plan, spend, and dream. We pull back the curtain on what shifted, from tightening operations and pricing to leaning on coaches and staying painfully consistent when motivation dipped. The win sparked something bigger than numbers: once your brain sees evidence, you stop apologizing for wanting more. That confidence spills into life at home, too. We talk about cohabitation as a shared project, planning with kids in mind, and the unexpected growth that comes from doing renovations and relationships the same way we do strategy—step by step, with rest built in. Of course, we celebrate. This time it involved a next-level burger and a milkshake that could power a small city, followed by a hilarious sugar crash and a humbling reminder that bodies keep the score. We unpack what smarter celebrations might look like, why frequent recognition beats year-end blowouts, and how to keep momentum without sacrificing health. There’s also a detour through a surprise eye scare, a telemedicine shrug, and the ongoing practice of meeting chaos with humor and gratitude. If you’re hungry for a practical, heart-forward roadmap—set a clear intention, do the work even when it’s boring, collect evidence, and then aim higher—you’ll feel seen here. Hit play, then tell us: what’s the intention you’re willing to back with action this year? Subscribe, share with a friend who needs the nudge, and leave a review to help this community grow. Music Track: Building Dreams by Aylex Source: https://freetouse.com/music Copyright Free Background Music

    35 min

  7. 12/24/2025

    I Didn’t Know I Did All Of That

    Send us a text Music Track: Building Dreams by Aylex Source: https://freetouse.com/music Copyright Free Background Music

    35 min

  8. 12/17/2025

    Things You Like To Do

    Send us a text Music Track: Building Dreams by Aylex Source: https://freetouse.com/music Copyright Free Background Music

    32 min
See All (123)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 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
    123
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Margs and Mindset
  • Show Website
    Margs and Mindset