We had the good fortune of connecting with Breyona Sharpnack and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Breyona, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
When I started my first business Bombshell Cakes, custom cakes were my life. I really didn’t have time for anything else outside of that and obtaining my degrees. The weekends were always booked; and when I say booked, I mean booked months out! I found myself always tired and when I did have downtime I wanted nothing to do with cakes or people. I did this for 7 years and I realized I was making everyone else’s special occasions magically and not my own or my family’s. This got to be draining over time and pushed me to the point where I did not enjoy making cakes anymore. Making cakes felt like a chore. It was no longer fun. When I found out that I was having twins, I was immediately put on restrictions. My kids and my husband voiced their opinions that they were not happy with me doing cakes. It was stressful, time-consuming and most importantly I was not happy doing it anymore. The downtime during my pregnancy made me realize that I needed to make a change to my brand and to my work-life balance. It is very important to have a balance. if you don’t you will quickly become burnt out and full of resentment.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My art and style have always been “not everyone’s cup of tea”. That was the inspiration for my brand’s name Not My Cup Of Tea Designs LLC. I have always loved arts and crafts and things that were a little strange and unusual. I never was apart of the popular crowd because I preferred to be different. I like things that are unique so I try to create those types of things for people like me. My art and such are not things you can find in stores and most of the time I can guarantee it will be a conversation starter. One of the biggest challenges for me was letting my anxiety get in my way. It made me afraid of failure and always wondering if my art was “doing too much” or not appealing to others. Once I started really putting my art out there, I quickly found out that there are a lot of people (especially minorities) with similar tastes for the strange and unusual.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My go-to spots are always ones that have a chill vibe. I am not big into the party scene but more so the adventurous. I would first check online to see if there are any festivals or conventions coming up. There is always something going on in Atlanta and other areas. If there are none available, I check out a few museums. Fernbank, the High Museum of Art, and the Trap Music Museum. I love the Atlanta Botanical Garden and Zoo Atlanta. For something fun and active I would suggest that we go do a beer tasting at a few brewery tours in Atlanta and go to Top Golf for drinks and golfing, paintballing at WildFire Paintball Field, and to the gun range. My favorite gun range is Shots Fired. To top off the activities I would end the week at Bad Axe Throwing. My favorite food spots to check out are The Vortex, Nana’s Chicken-N-Waffles, Yuki Japanese and Korean BBQ Restaurant, and the Terrapin Taproom at Truist Park.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have to give a lot of recognition first off to my husband Zaine. He has been my number 1 supporter and investor since day one. When I run my ideas by him, he helps me expand on those thoughts and also helps me do research and figure out some of the more complex things that I may not be sure about. Next would be all 7 of my babies. They are my tiny reminders that I need to keep moving forward and lastly my friends who are like family.

Website: https://thesavagemomtheory.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mstattooed/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Savagemomtheory
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Savagemomtheory/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/heeheehaha2k6
Other: Etsy: etsy.com/shop/notmycupofteadesigns

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