Meet Lisa Lopez | Positive Apparel Business Owner

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

Hi Lisa, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
For most of my life the thought of starting my own business didn’t pass through my mind often. When it did, it felt like an unreachable goal. I had always been the kind of person who lived every day in the moment. My goals were to work, make money and memories. I never really set up career-oriented goals for myself. When the pandemic hit, things changed and my perspective on life shifted. Not only did the pandemic take away my job but it took away a job that I had been severely injured at a couple months prior to that. I spent some time being immobile, meaning I had a lot of time to sit and think about my future. I spent a lot of time feeling lost. Until one day, I decided to paint my dogs for fun. I immediately fell in love with it. I had decided that I wanted to practice painting pets so I could eventually offer this service to other people. Skip to almost two years later and it’s turned into a successful small business. Building Pawtastic Pet Paintings from scratch helped build my confidence, which led to me to where I’m at today. I recently launched my dream business of starting an apparel line. I had dreamt about starting this project for almost two decades. It was something that seemed almost impossible for myself to achieve but with my newfound confidence, I decided to make it realistic. I always knew I wanted to start an apparel line, but I had always struggled on a theme. Like a lot of people, I went through some trauma and experienced some dark times. When I decided to move to San Diego over five years ago, that was when I decided to leave those dark times behind me and start fresh. I realized moving away was a choice. I realized wanting to find happiness was a choice. I realized that I could continue to make choices to try and better myself and my life. So, with my new business I wanted to create something that people could wear and feel happy in because finding happiness has been so rewarding. I decided to name my new business Finding Euphoria Co. It’s a brand to help people find their euphoria in feel good clothes and more. Right now, I’m creating fun clothes that make me happy to share with others and I of course plan to continue to do that but I eventually want to focus on turning this brand into something that represents soul searching. I want it to be a reminder to never stop searching for your happiness through your own personal journey of self-love.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
This is the very beginning of Finding Euphoria Co. Right now, I’m so proud that I finally got to this point and launched my first official launch on January 11th, 2022. I currently am creating and designing t-shirts, sweatshirts and tote bags. I plan to branch out to a bigger selection of stickers, sweatpants, beanies, leggings, keychains, dog apparel and more. As a new business, I plan to take things slow and feel this market out. I’m honestly learning as I go. I do however have much bigger plans for this brand. Someday I hope to have my own boutique where I can host events and raise money for different organizations. Finding Euphoria Co is so much more than me just pursing a dream; its about helping others. I truly want to spread positivity and kindness, whether that means its as simple as helping someone find a new piece of clothing they absolutely love and feel good in or helping someone with partial proceeds going to a good cause. I hope to someday get to a point where I can have specific launches that focus on supporting (just to name a few) cancer research organizations, mental health research organizations and domestic violence organizations. These goals will come in due time and if I’m honest, I’m both nervous and beyond thrilled for the future. If there is anything that I’ve learned its that you can either let fear scare you off or you can let it drive you. You choose.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

This is both a hard and easy question to answer because San Diego has so much to offer. If my best friend came to visit, I would start by taking her to lunch with a scenic view. We’d start at Tom Ham’s Lighthouse or Top Sail. I’d then offer to take her on the fairy from downtown to Coronado Island because she would have to have an on the water experience as well as swimming around the calmer waters of Coronado. I would feel compelled to show her the 360 view of San Diego at Mount Soledad as well as take her to see the breathtaking views at the Torrey Pines hiking trails. I would take her to my personal favorite brunch spot, Truckstop in Pacific Beach and personal favorite taco place, Salud! In Barrio Logan. For fun and drinks, I’d take her out for a famous Mai Tai at Bali Hai, a glass of wine during happy hour at The Wine Pub in Point Loma and top it off with some karaoke at Red Wing or The Lamplighter. For our sunset views we’d walk the pier in Ocean Beach and walk to trails at Sunset Cliffs. All the time in between we’d either lounge at the beach or take my dogs to fiesta Island for a fun filled day!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First off is my family. I’ve been blessed to have both supportive parents as well as supportive stepparents. For me I see it as the bigger the family the bigger the support system and it’s been really amazing to have. My mom has always been be my biggest fan and I’m where I’m at in life because of her. Next, There are a few social media influencers that I follow but the one that has stuck out to me the most is a woman named Ashley Jesus. She started a similar business while going to graduate school and is now running her t-shirt business full time. Her shop is called With Love, AJ Co and it’s very inspiring. She focuses on the importance of mental health and spreads awareness through her brand. It’s been so cool to see her business grow! Lastly, I want to give a shoutout to all the female entrepreneurs here in San Diego that I have had the pleasure of meeting along the way. You all know who you are! Your strength and bravery for pursing your dreams is very inspiring! Keep going!

Website: www.findingeuphoriaco.etsy.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/finding_euphoria_co

Facebook: www.facebook.com/findingeuphoria.co

Other: www.instagram.com/lisa.lopez.art Email: findingeuphoriaco@gmail.com