When it comes to design, Entrepreneur Maria Isabel Barrero has found her space. Maria was born in Columbia but has lived in Little Rock, Arkansas, for over five years. She came to the United States to study but ended up getting married and having a daughter. Once her daughter started daycare, Maria decided to start working again.
Maria has worked as an architect and interior designer for over twenty years. Her passion is focusing on designing spaces from its conceptualization to its completion.
“I’m passionate about designing spaces because our environments are the most influential aspects of our lives.” Maria shared. Maria believes that the spaces that we live in have an influence on our lives and the way we live. Her interest is to design and create better habitats that promote well-being and connect people and their spaces.
She is the founder and director of Spaces2Love, an architecture firm that focuses on designing spaces that improve lifestyle and well-being.
Maria has always had an entrepreneurial spirit and believes in the power of dreams. Her dream is what led her to create Spaces2Love. Maria needed to redirect her professional practice as a designer, project manager, and manufacturer. Instead of designing objects and items in multiple projects, Maria wanted to learn how to use her skills differently to become a better entrepreneur.
Getting Spaces2Love where it is today has not always been easy for Maria. She started the journey by meeting with a mentor, and her life began to change. During the process, Maria started understanding how to connect personally in her home to help others do the same.
Maria experienced some of the most significant transformations in her life during the last five years. She moved to another country, married, started a family, and devoted herself to a new lifestyle and business. “It became clear that my heartfelt purpose was to support people to use their spaces from the heart as a vehicle of connection for themselves and their families,” Maria stated.
A practice Maria defines as house coaching combines interior design with life coaching tools to establish a nourishing and fulfilling connection between people and their spaces. Maria uses people’s hearts as a compass to make physical changes to promote happiness and help her customers feel connected in their spaces.
In 2022, Maria started working with Communities Unlimited, Senior Management Consultant, Dale Rutherford, on the e-Wealth Health Program. This program specializes in working alongside an entrepreneur or small business owner over several months to a year to help improve management skills while increasing the business’s profitability for capital readiness and owner wealth building. Dale worked with Spaces2Love and assisted Maria with understanding and managing her finances in another way.
Dale showed Maria how to provide supplemental income to achieve a minimal family income threshold, establishing emergency savings, savings to purchase a first home, and a retirement plan.
“I believe that this program has helped me establish the basic structure to understand and manage finances better to build wealth.” I had a basic goal and dream, and this program gave me actionable steps to realize my dream. My daughter needs to see that she can fulfill her dreams, also. She can be a mother, housewife, and entrepreneur who is driven by success.” Maria added.
Spaces2Love offers customers a place to find paintings, furniture, and objects created to bring art, beauty, magic, and vibrant atmospheres to customer’s spaces.
Maria will continue to use her background and what she has learned from Communities Unlimited to continue building the Spaces that she and her customers Love and make Spaces2Love a success well into the future.
