Meet Brittany Mi’Chelle of BarFriending Mobile

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittany Mi’Chelle.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
As a youth, I took an immense amount of pride in growing up in a community that embraced diversity and inclusivity. I was born in Atlanta, GA (Grady Baby) the youngest of two and the only girl. In a lot of ways, being from Metro Atlanta has always been sensed in my spirit by people from all over the world. I can even recall one moment where a passerby stopped me at random in Toronto, Canada and asked ‘Are you from Atlanta?’ I laughed and confirmed. And now, years later, I’ve realized that I’ve always carried the essence of the city with me, wherever I went. It was the culture of the city that I embodied. That’s the magic of being a native, as rare as it has become.

As Atlanta transitions in the new Hollywood, I’ve tirelessly been working to carry out what has been and continues to be a life’s dream— representing my city in a way that my kids would one day be proud of. Looking back on it, I’ve always been this extroverted personality that loved attention and making people smile. I remember presenting the morning announcements in elementary school and being so proud of having my voice heard throughout the entire school first thing every morning. Regardless of where I was, or what organization I joined, I loved to be completely involved in making things better and being in charge of the change.

From captain of the cheerleading squad to planning a cross-country march with the Atlanta Local Organizing Committee, I’ve always taken pride in leadership. While I was a journalism major at Georgia State University, I worked for our school newspaper and also help charter a mentorship organization. I joined Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated and became apart of an organization much larger than myself. I became surrounded by dozens of strong women who too had similar ambitions of impacting the community as I did. After graduating college, I found myself working for a Tech marketing company that paid well, but inside I felt dead and purposeless. I had spent so much of my life being outspoken and free, and in charge, that working in a cubicle felt like suffocation.

After two years, I decided to quit the corporate life and take my chances as an entrepreneur and began free-lance writing and on- set production work. The first year was one of the hardest years of my life, not knowing how my next bill would get paid, or exactly how much my next check would be was an anxiety-stricken life. I wanted to be free from the restraints of corporate America, but still be able to survive in capitalist America. It wasn’t until I met my now mentor Cameron Hairston, that I began to truly seize opportunities and gain a broader perspective on all that I was capable of doing with my life.

Cameron and his wife Jamila own a technical company, Cloud Tech Academy and took me in as their mentee and showed me how to capitalize on earning multiple streams of income. They not only taught me how to obtain a remote career in technology, but they also showed me what it really took to be an entrepreneur and maximize my time. I’ve been able to obtain a remote tech position that allows me the flexibility to travel the world while running several businesses simultaneously. Since quitting my job and braving through the storm of entrepreneurship, I am now able to watch my brands blossom in ways that’ll positively impact the city of Atlanta through credible news sourcing and innovative community-based platforms.

As a means of community connection, I’ve created a monthly trivia event entitled “Are You an ATLien,” which was originally designed to highlight the most profound histories of Atlanta while learning to embrace and preserve the culture of the city. This event has bloomed into a breeding ground for different creatives and entrepreneurs in the city to connect and collaborate in the future. Hosting this event has allowed me to utilize my broadcast experience and be the outspoken personality that I was meant to be in front of friends and strangers. I am also the proud co-owner of an all-female production company, BAC Alley Moguls, LLC.

Where we work to bring to life uplifting stories of Atlanta influencers and interview artists and with similar aspirations of change. It is because of BAC Alley Moguls that I was honored with the opportunity to produce multiple commercials for ESSENCE and Ford Motor Company as well as be featured in a major online publication AJ+ on what it meant to be black in Stone Mountain. My most major accomplishment to date is my mobile bartending company BarFriending, we specialize in great cocktails and even better service. I’ve gone from hating my job to being the owner of multiple successful businesses, and I am grateful.

At this moment in my life, I am completely happy and open to new opportunities that’ll lead to a better future for this world and my city.

Has it been a smooth road?
A smooth road? Do those roads really even exist? LOL, My road to entrepreneurship has been everything but smooth, it actually feels like I’ve been driving off road in a 4×4 along the coast during the rainy season and at any moment if I’m not careful, I could fall off the edge. When I decided to quit my job, I had a roommate, a car note, crazy credit card debt and about $3,000 to my name.

Initially, I didn’t think it would be that long for me to make money again, but life soon hit me, and when the security of my bi-monthly checks stopped coming, I was forced to adopt a new practice that would encompass much more than strictly seeking a dollar, I had to learn how to become a better, more balancedwoman altogether.

The biggest struggles for me was not only overcoming the lack of steady income but the internal feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt that plagues every young entrepreneur mental at the beginning of their journey. It’s in those moments that life tests your dedication and commitment to your dreams.

I began working on myself in a new way, one that dealt with strengthening my mind, body and spirit all while continuously finding a way to profit from my purpose. I spent a lot of time writing, reading, meditating, practicing yoga and learning how to be comfortable with who I am. This soon led to redefining clarity in my purpose and helped me learn how to better handle this crazy journey called life.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the BarFriending Mobile LLC. story. Tell us more about the business.
Although I am the owner of multiple businesses, BarFriending is currently my biggest success. BarFriending is a mobile bartending staffing company that I own along with my best friend, Erika Thomas. Erika and I both been hustlers since our younger days, always looking for the best way to make a dollar without having to work our fingers to the bones.

In college, our friends would always tease us and say that they didn’t know anybody who had as many jobs as we did. If it was legal, you name it, we’ve probably done it. Being that Atlanta is a city with amazing nightlife, bartending and waitressing was the quickest most flexible way for us to make money while we were in school.

In the nightlife industry, you get a chance to meet a lot of different people, and those people eventually turned into a connection to something bigger. But the hours are brutal and your time is still not really your own. We went from bartending to clubs, to representing major liquor brands and completely overseeing on-site activations.

Although we were making really good money, we soon learned that if we continued to focus our energy into growing other brands that we would never be able to start our own. About a year ago, BarFriending was born. Our motto is “BarFriending- Where Strangers become friends over cocktails.” We specialize in creating unforgettable experiences for not only our guests but our clients as well.

We want to be able to provide amazing cocktails that’ll keep guests coming back for more! Since our inception in 2017, we’ve hosted private parties for guests such as super producer William Packer, listening party for music sensation Skye Morales and Grand Hustle Artist Translee. We were even granted the opportunity to host an exclusive fundraiser event for governor-elect Stacey Abrams, all within our first year.

As a company, I am most proud of the strong connections we’ve been able to gain with our clients who’ve enjoyed our services enough to refer us to their circle of friends. In fact, we recently staffed a homecoming event for Georgia State University which meant a lot to us as alumni. Being able to work with my best friend has been an extreme pleasure. I’m the “mouth,” and she’s the “money.” I get the business, and she gets us the funds, perfect balance. We want to be able to dispel the stereotypes that black women can’t work together, or that black businesses fail because of terrible customer service.

One of the qualities that set Barfriending apart from other bartending businesses is the professionalism we show to each client. We work hard to tailor each event specifically to the customers’ needs and expect them all to be happy with our services. We truly believe that keeping our clients demands just as much skill as winning one. Happy clients call back, and so far, business has been abundant, and we are very grateful.

We soon hope to staff large events such as festivals and concerts, we even have next years Mayors Ball on our wish list, let’s pray Mayor Bottoms reads this and hires us! (Hey Soror) Opportunities have been endless, and the future of our company is limitless.

How do you, personally, define success? What’re your criteria, the markers you’re looking out for, etc?
It’s actually pretty ironic that you asked what “markers” I look for when measuring success because there are actually five criterions that I use to measure whether or not something has the potential of bringing me closer to success. The first being peace.
1. Peace -If it brings me peace that must mean its divine for me to be a part of.

2. Purpose- I feel that life is too short to participate in activities that lack purpose. When reading about the greats, their story always begins with finding their purpose and only partaking in purposeful causes. I aim for the same type of success.

3. Passion- It’s always easier to involve yourself with things you’re passionate about. If there is passion there then it hardly feels like work. As I strive for success I aim to remain focused on ideas that I am passionate about.

4. Progress- As an entrepreneur, I soon learned that if I didn’t continue to work on bettering myself than I was doing my businesses a disservice because I wasn’t allowing myself to grow and get better with each client. Progression is a natural part of life, I want to always be better tomorrow than I was yesterday.

5. Profit – Although money isn’t everything, in the physical world, it means a lot. I feel as though the better I become at perfecting the first four of my criterion, the more profit will come my way.

When it’s all said and done I want to be able to look back at the person I was and be proud of her and be able to say I did it all in good character and morality. I want to be known as the girl that defied societal limitations and was able to live multiple lives in her one lifetime. One of my favorite quotes comes from Andre 3000, he says “the world’s a stage and everybody gots to play their part” I believe that I am now the portraying the character that I was created to play. Once I get to the point where I am completely happy with all that I have at the present moment then I’ll know I’ve reached success.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.barfriending.com
• Phone: 740.561.3806
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @barfriending, @b_classic101, @areyouanatlientrivia
• Facebook: Brittany Mi’Chelle
• Twitter: B_classic101

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