Meet Susie Lynn | Blogger

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

Hi Susie, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Having been a retail manager for years, I knew that I wanted to do something that wouldn’t take me away from my family on nights, weekends, and holidays as retail does. I would ruminate over what skills I already had that I could turn into a business. I have my Bachelor’s Degree from C.U. Boulder in English and have always loved to write. Combine that with my experience in hosting school events, party planning, and passion for home decor and traveling with my family and voila! A blog was born! I have so many friends that ask me for tips on traveling abroad with kids. And I have other friends who ask me for tips on how to decorate their homes for the holidays or how to style their outfits for events. And then I have my mom friends who ask my ideas on throwing holiday class parties for their kids, or thoughts on teacher appreciation gifts. I figured if I had friends across the board trusting my advice, that I could dole out that wisdom through my blog. Plus, I wanted to deliver it in an unfiltered, realistic view with a dash of humor (and sometimes obscenities.) The driving force for starting my own business was that I could be my own boss, work around my two daughters’ school and social calendars, and still be a present wife and mom above all else! And when you love what you do for work, the rest of your life ends up being much more enjoyable too!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
What keeps me busy professionally is coming up with creative, new content to keep my readers engaged. I may showcase a ton of beauty, kid, decorating, and cooking tips on gracebeautyandfbombs.com, but I’ll share my failures too. There are a million lifestyle blogs out there, but the majority of them have an angle. They’re hitting you with sponsored products nonstop, or every photo is so heavily filtered, that it all starts to look the same. I follow a lot of wonderful bloggers and influencers on Instagram, and it’s almost comical that you see them all pitching the same crap on the same day of the week. So I keep busy trying to stay on-trend with what interests my readers without having an ulterior motive to what I am sharing. And between creating content, taking photos, making pins on Pinterest, creating reels on Instagram, videos on YouTube, and posts on Facebook, I stay pretty busy!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my friend were visiting Denver, there are a few things we’d absolutely have to do. For their first day in town, we’d head to the Highlands and grab dinner at Avanti Food and Beverage. They’re a food hall with a ton of variety, so even the pickiest eater will find something to enjoy! Then we’d hit up some boutiques to shop and then go to a rooftop bar like the View House or Linger for a drink. The next day would be an outdoorsy adventure – either to Garden of the Gods to hike around, or to hike the incline in Colorado Springs.

Next would be a visit to my old stomping grounds in Boulder which would have to include pizza at Cosmo’s (their spicy ranch dressing gives me life!) We’d walk around the campus, and head to Pearl Street to take in all the street performers and beautiful weirdness that only Boulder has to offer. Or if the Buffs are playing, of course we’d go to the game!

We’d also have to take in a Rockies, Avs, Broncos, or Nuggets game, depending on what time of year it was. Then I’d say we could head west to Breckenridge, which is one of my favorite mountain towns.  And of course peppered in all of those days would be time spent with our friends and family just hanging out and enjoying each other’s company.

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?
There are so many people that deserve recognition but I owe so much to my mom. She has worked hard her entire life but has always done it with a smile, and set that example for me and my brother. When I was younger, I could talk to her about ANYTHING. I never felt judged and she was always my “safe place”. I strive to be that for my kids too. I could tell her things most teenage girls would sooner die than share with a parent. (Like if I had a crush on a boy who didn’t know I existed, or if a friend was being mean and I couldn’t figure out why.) And of course that made it so much easier to talk to her about heavier things as I got older. When my teenage years hit, I’d go to her for advice on boyfriends, work, school stress, and everything in between. And she was my biggest cheerleader. She worked as a retail manager with crazy hours, but she never missed a band concert, a performance, or a game. As an adult, I still rely on her. And since we’ve always been close, I can ask her the most embarrassing things and know I won’t be judged. From advice on birth control pills, to how to combat wrinkles, to how to get my kids to stop arguing, you name the question, I’ve asked my mom’s advice on it. Having such an open relationship with her gave me self-confidence and faith that even if I fucked up, she’d still be in my corner. And there is so much freedom in that! She is one in a million, and I consider myself very lucky to have a mom like her. If I am half the mom to my kids that she is to me, then they’ll turn out just fine.

Website: gracebeautyandfbombs.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gracebeautyandfbombs/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susie-lynn-058654a/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gracebeautyandfbombs/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLOdbSPF1pGbOs3LEh4GEJA