Community Highlights: Meet Erin Barker of Lily Rose Creations

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Barker.

Hi Erin, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory. 
I grew up in Spring Valley, moved around San Diego a few times during my twenties, and settled down in Chula Vista once I became a full-time teacher. I’ve been there ever since! 

I started my business while I was on maternity leave. I had severe post-partum depression and had an incredibly difficult time coming out of it. While home, I spent some time making things as gifts for others. It made me feel better to see someone’s face light up when they saw something personalized for them. For a while, it helped me cope with what I was going through. Eventually, I realized I had always enjoyed making and gifting items, but I wanted to do something more. 

I started my small handmade business with the intent of sharing a “little piece of happy” as I call it. I love to work with my hands, and I love to create. My small business revolves around listening to someone’s story and creating a piece specific to them that will forever bring them joy or comfort. I have shipped all over the country, and I love the idea that something I made is in someone’s home and makes them smile when they see it. 

I’ve always been someone who cries when others cry, who sees someone in pain and feels for them, who sees someone’s joy and celebrates them. As I’ve gotten older, it has become more important to me to do what I can to bring kindness and happiness to others’ lives. My entire motto for my life is “Be Kind.” 

I have had what some say is more than my fair share of hardship, and I firmly believe there is just too much hardship, too much pain, in this world, so I do what I can to counteract it. Every year I pick an organization and raise funds for it in the hopes that I can help just a little bit. Every year, I donate personalized items to my community so they can have a little piece of happy in a tough time. I have worked with women who have miscarried and want something to remember their baby by, dozens who have lost family members, parents celebrating new family members, and people who just want to celebrate life in general. No matter their story, my job is to listen first and hear what they need and then bring it to life. 

This small handmade business has led me down a path of helping others. I have branched out to run my own freelancing services so I can help local writers and small businesses grow and thrive in a time when they really need a boost. I know how hard it is to run a business, and I do what I can to ease the difficulties for other small businesses. I want to see them thrive and help my community grow. 

I have also started a new community group to help others around me achieve their goals. I teach them how to break down their goals into small, attainable steps. I celebrate their every win and success, no matter how small, and I absolutely love it. 

Seeing others thrive fills my heart. Being kind and helping others find their “little piece of happy” inspires me to keep working on myself and growing so that I can continue to help others along the way. 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has definitely not been the smoothest of roads. More like a very cracked pavement that desperately needs repaving and repainting! 

I am an educator and full-time parent, so needless to say, the budget is tight! This means there have been a LOT of late nights after my daughter has gone to bed and a lot of early mornings before she gets up. For the first couple years of my daughter’s life, I would get up and work, and then go to my teaching job and work, and then come home and parent and work, and then put her to bed and work some more. 

I was constantly drained and tired, and my mental health was a mess. I had always struggled with depression, but after having my daughter and then quickly becoming a single parent, I began to have immense anxiety struggles as well. There were SO many days where I just wanted to give up and be done. I just kept telling myself, “Something’s gotta give.” 

And then came 2022. I was teaching full-time in my classroom, and I was absolutely exhausted by it. We all know the teaching world is difficult, to say the least. I was teaching, teaching an after-school program, teaching yoga once a week, working on an extra project for my district, working on my side hustles, and going to school full-time for a second bachelor’s degree. It was a very packed schedule, but I knew that finishing that degree would open so many doors for me and be worth it in the end. That was an incredibly long, very difficult year. Couple that up with going through a divorce and parenting alone, and boy, what a year (really a couple years)! 

I took that degree and followed it up with a copywriting certification, and now have clients that pay me to help their businesses grow, authors that pay me to edit their work, and all of it I get to do on my schedule. My time has freed up immensely so that I can be a better parent, better freelancer, and better small business owner. 

We’re more like a mostly paved, still unpainted road, but we’re getting there now! 

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about Lily Rose Creations?
Lily Rose Creations started as just a handmade business but has really grown to be something of an umbrella. I still do handmade items, but I don’t particularly have a specialty. Many people will bring me a picture of something or even just an idea of something, and I work with them until we have a design they love. Sometimes it’s clothing, sometimes it’s decor, sometimes it’s just an image. 

I’m best known, and I think this is what sets me apart from others, for knowing “how to do it all.” I often get the question: “Do you know how to make ____?” And my answer is either a firm “Yes” or a firm “Not yet, but I’ll learn for you.” I have learned to wood burn, woodwork, crochet, design websites, draw logos, use epoxy, refinish furniture, sew, and so much more. I really love helping someone’s vision come to life. 

The question of “Do you know how…” has pushed me to branch out even further. As a small business, I know there are parts of it that just aren’t fun to do. I personally don’t love the posting on social media and that side of things, but I have found that I really love doing that for other small businesses. It has led me to obtain other certifications so that I can help local businesses as well. I love that I can provide a physical item or lend a hand in helping them grow their own businesses. Copywriting and editing for local authors and businesses has allowed me to expand how I help my community, and I think that’s a big piece that sets me apart as well. 

I am most proud of the contributions I have made to my community. Every year, at least once a year, sometimes more, I choose an organization, or I ask for suggestions of organizations, and I donate a percentage of my sales. I have donated to organizations like The Trevor Project and the NAACP among others. During the holiday season, I personally know money gets tight. Parents and families want to get gifts and food and all things joyful, but it can be hard when budgets are stretched thin. Four years ago, I decided to offer completely personalized and custom ornaments for local community members who just needed a “little piece of happy” for the holidays. I have done it every year since, and every year the number I donate grows. I love doing this, and I am very proud of the little I can contribute to my local community. 

What do you like and dislike about the city?
I like that there is a place for everyone in San Diego. No matter what you are into and enjoy doing, there is somewhere to do it and someone to do it with. We are, of course, so close to the mountains and the beaches and the desert, so there is all of that to do, but we are also surrounded by restaurants from all over the world. There are a wide variety of activities to do for all ages. I know, by myself, I love to find a good coffee shop to write in or a new lunch spot to try. With my daughter, we hit up the beach and the zoo very frequently. With friends, we find new restaurants or places to go dancing. There really is just something for everyone. 

I’m not sure what I like least! This is the place people want to live, right? 

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lily.rose.creations93/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lilyrosecreations93
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-barker-2bb0b4232/