Girl Therapy hosts Halloween bash

Welcome back to Good Day Live. I'm AJ Janibel. It is just after 12:30 on your Tuesday afternoon. We appreciate you taking some time to join us today. We are now joined live by Alyssa Montez. She is the creator of Girl Therapy, an awesome group organization work that Alyssa does throughout the community. It's super unique and provides a space for women to find community. Alyssa, So thanks so much for taking some time to join us. First off, tell me about, you know, the work that you do within the Seattle community. Yeah, so I am a local Seattle content creator. And about two years ago, I created Girl Therapy, which is my brand, where I host all women events four to six times a month. And no two events is the same. So whether I'm changing the venue or the theme, I offer really big going out events for the girls and then some more intentional events like self-defense classes or vision board making nights. kind of everything in between. So let's talk about that and the reason behind this because these events are specifically for women within the Seattle community and they kind of range from fun and friendship building to networking. You've been doing it for a few years now. How did you come up with this concept to focus on this group? Why did you think that was, you know, an area that you wanted to kind of spend your attention on? So I started Girl Therapy just by listening to my audience. I felt like I had built the online community of women. Um, but I was noticing that there was a gap in Seattle for not only people, like, I just feel like the Seattle freeze is so real. And I was listening to my audience, whether it was through the DMS or I was going on live in the comment sections and everyone was just like, how do we make friends in Seattle? How do we meet other women? And so I just decided that I wanted to fill that gap. And I felt like, um, bringing my online community to in person was the way to do that. Yeah. And listen, we're going to be able to pull up your actual social right now so people can see your Instagram pulled up. And what's cool is you do you create so many different events and they are week after week. So there's different options. There's different things that are going on. You have an event that is happening. I think it's this Friday, correct? Yes. My annual girl therapy Halloween event. So let's talk about that. what does that actually mean what does that look like who's invited um tell me all about it yeah so the event will be on friday the 30th from 9 p.m to 12 a.m um of course it's girls only we will have we have 400 tickets sold right now so it'll be between like four to five hundred women and we have all women vendors permanent jewelry two gems, mini tattoos, zodiac readings, um we'll have a women DJ and then the venue is also women owned so just a night to celebrate we're in women it's a costume party um so all the girls are welcome to come hang out and grab a drink we'll have custom drinks and um lots of fun stuff now tell me about that these events are specifically for women um why is that so important uh to kind of focus on that and make it only for women yeah um obviously women need community i think it's super important but more than that creating a safe space for women to have a space where their drinks aren't tampered with and they don't have to worry about someone you know putting their hand up their dress or taking their things so just creating those those spaces for women to have the freedom to just be and to just be a girl and to also you know build friendships and be around other women that are like-minded and have the same goal is kind of the key tell me about that because you've been doing it now for quite some time and you mentioned the Seattle Freeze and it's something that gets talked about and if you don't know what that means you don't know in the region it's tough for a lot of people who come here who don't have community already who maybe are trying to build that friendship base a lot of people always speak to the fact that it is hard to kind of get past those those barriers of just hi how are you once you create this community for the the women of Seattle and King County and really Western Washington what have you heard what have you heard from the folks who come out to your events or who keep coming out to your events yeah i hear so many stories from women who and i see so many girls who come alone because girl therapy is also extremely um solo girl friendly that was kind of the initial um the initial goal was to just get girls to come alone and to come build friendships but obviously not everyone's going to come alone so because of that i make sure that the events are extremely solo girl friendly and i see so many women who like girl therapy is innate to just be a girl and whatever that means for you whether you want to come and have a safe space to drink with your friends or to dance or to take photos. And so seeing so many girls come alone and be so nervous and then leave with so many friends has been so amazing to see. There are so many girl therapy regulars and so many women who really take on the mission and come to girl therapy time and time again, and then not only invite their friends, but see other girls come solo and welcome them to their table or to go take photos with them so I read dm after dm and see it in real life just so many women being able to connect with each other and I always say at every event like that's the point to just get women in a room together to celebrate each other to love each other to support each other and that looks different at every event but the goal and the mission is the same and um we've never strayed away from it so it's been so special to be able to see that especially in Seattle where the community is um like i said the seattle freeze is so real i think it is really hard to make friends here and to uh put yourself out there so to for girls to have a space that they can go to knowing that's the goal i think lets everyone come in with an open heart to meet each other and to know that it's a safe space to to make friends this event is so fun right because it's it's the day before halloween so it's halloween season i have the um the flyer posted up uh from your Instagram. I want to make sure I kind of tell everyone about it. So tickets are still available? Yes, we have limited tickets. They're going fast. We're almost sold out. But yes, and if we're not sold out, we'll sell them at the door. It'll be at Fremont Social. Do you know offhand how much tickets are going for? Yes. Right now, tickets are currently $15, which includes your entry fee you said one five right 15 yes 15 okay and so with that you have a live dj um drinks that are halloween themed and then you're going to have basically vendors so you go into the fremont social if you don't know what that looks like it is a big space with um one level that has a bar and an upstairs that has a bar and kind of an open air uh area for eating or dancing or drinking And so you're going to have people kind of spread out there probably with different booths, doing permanent jewelry, mini tattoos, tooth gems, zodiac readings, which are kind of like fun, a little seasonal, a photo booth. If people don't know what tooth gems are, they're kind of the new trendy thing that are popping out where it's like a little sparkle right on your tooth, right? Yes, exactly. So we have a lot of fun things and options for everybody. And all the vendors are, in this event, actually, all the vendors are girl therapy regulars. So I've had working with these vendors for almost one to two years that I've had girl therapy. And they're all local, small women-owned businesses. And then on top of all of that, you have a costume contest with a prize for the best look of the night. so first off what is the prize can you say or is it a secret the prize is a secret that's a good one i do a prize at all the big events we usually do a giveaway so i have something really special for this one i love halloween so it's only right that i do a really big giveaway oh that sounds fun i'm like a surprise um and then what is the vibe of these contests are you going spooky are you going original are you going unique how are you guys judging best contest or a costume rather we're gonna do a group decision and we're gonna have the girls choose if they want to participate in the um in the giveaway um everyone gets a free raffle ticket when they join so um and then we'll have a separate one we'll have two giveaways technically we'll have a giveaway for the raffle you get everyone gets a free raffle and gets to join one giveaway and then we'll have another giveaway for the costume contest which will do a group vote for that one okay cool and everyone's gonna prize and then again there are the times it is uh nine o'clock starting this upcoming friday in the fremont neighborhood of seattle specifically at fremont social it goes until midnight which is kind of late but also a little early so depending on when you go to bed that might be uh straight to bed after that or you can even head out and have some more fun in the neighborhood of fremont And it's everything there. With $15, you get access to a private event with music, drinks, Halloween-themed events, and an awesome community that Alyssa has been working to put together for years. I want to ask you, do you already know what comes after this Friday's event? Are you already planning the next Girl Therapy? yeah so i already have most of november plans my next event i have not launched yet so it's a little bit of a secret but it's going to be a women's only of course a women's only event and it's going to be a um smash room so um and a axe throwing event that's i have a bartender and a food truck there the last event you said i'm so sorry everyone let me put my face on camera the last thing you said is a book series right a book series what is the last thing you said smash room smash room is that like a rage room yeah rage room so you can get your anger out you can even uh the venue told me that if you wanted to do axe throwing you can bring a picture of your ex if that motivates you uh to hit the target and um yeah and like i said girl therapy just a space to celebrate women and do things together so i like to make every event original and a little bit different and and take things where uh it's a everyday experience or thing you can go do but now you're in a group of women and i think that that's what makes it special i want to ask you one quick question um what is it like there because i think some people might see this and you mentioned seattle freeze a few times i know you're saying that this is the anti-freeze of seattle but what can people expect because it is hard if you're if you're going by yourself if you don't have community already to show up to an event um and kind of put yourself out there can people come if they don't bring other friends can they feel like they can meet people um are this maybe more for like hey bring your group of girls and come out um what's the actual like atmosphere like at these girl therapy events yeah so one thing i can say about girl therapy is i think that all the girls who come really have the intention of making friends and being friendly so the environment is what I like to say is drunk girl in a bathroom that's the entire event experience everybody wants to make friends everybody wants to hang out everybody wants to get to know each other so it's a very fun welcoming space my biggest goal is to make it solo girl friendly so it's comfortable for everybody I know it can be really hard to put yourself out there and girl therapy is a space where you are it's a self-care night you're putting yourself out there you're putting yourself first whether it's like I said to come have a girl's night out or to come make friends um as the host I make it a point to try to spot out all the girls who come alone and go talk to them try to pair them with a friend take them over to another group um my worst fear is a girl coming solo and leaving solo so I try my very best that that does not happen but it's extremely girl friendly and um the biggest compliment I've gotten from all the venues and the vendors and all the girls is how sweet everybody is I think like I said everyone takes the mission of girl therapy so serious um and the event is just the space is always just a welcoming lively fun girls night out regardless if it's something small or something bigger like saturday's event or friday's events i have um the girl therapy instagram pulled up on the screen alissa is there places that people can reach out follow along for whether it's this event or upcoming events yes so all of my events are posted on the girl therapy seattle instagram page as well as my page Alyssa Montez um but if you are not familiar with Instagram or don't use Instagram I also post everything all the tickets are always through Eventbrite which also goes into more details on what's included in your ticket uh what vendors will be there the DJ the vibe um and any um attire that should be worn I try to I try to make the events as clear as possible so that um I know as a girl the our worst fear is like showing up by ourselves or showing up somewhere new and not knowing what to expect so i try to remove all those um all of those questions so you can find everything on the Eventbrite page awesome well alissa's uh specific halloween event is coming up this friday tickets are still available we appreciate you taking some time to talk to us as you are probably planning away this event and all the next ones coming up alissa thank you so much thank you and as i mentioned that event is this friday tickets are still available. They're going to have a DJ and a bunch of other fun stuff. Girl therapy, Alyssa doing the work building community for the folks within the Seattle community to kind of find friends and break that Seattle freeze.