Meet July’s Woman of the Month, Lynsie Blau.

From rustic to glam, this Texas woman uses the lessons of her past to run a beautiful event venue here in town. Both BRIK Venue and The Ostreum are often populated with glowing couples as they embark on their new married adventures as well as the emphatic hustle and bustle of big events. This purveyor of wedding nights grew up on a ranch in West Texas and Lynsie credits her upbringing for creating the inner-compass that helps her to navigate through both business and adult life.

Seven years ago, Lynsie arrived in Fort Worth excited to begin her teaching career and coach basketball at a local high school. This life-long ball player had just come off of a six year run at the collegiate level. After all of this coaching it was surprising, but Lynsie was yearning to get into Wedding + Event planning as soon as possible. “For years I bounced back and forth between event and coaching jobs,” Lynsie said, “After two years of teaching in Fort Worth, I finally found the courage to follow my true dream career and I opened BRIK Special Event Venue.”

This gorgeously tall boss lady could talk all things ‘venue” all day long. Outside of basketball, one of her first jobs after college was as an assistant wedding planner. “I remember going to all of these amazing venues and instinctively noting the features I liked and didn’t like,” Lynsie recalls. She specifically remembers working one particular event that changed everything. After finding herself completely exhausted from running around and once she was able to sit down to catch her breath, she saw a woman glide across the room, survey the wedding to make sure everything looked in order, then glide right back out – cool as a cucumber. “I thought, ‘who was that and what does she do?’ She owned the venue,” Lynsie said, “There I was, stressed and sweating and exhausted, but finally knowing what I was ultimately going to do with my career.”

Here is what she’ll tell you – as much as she loves the job and gliding across the room, her job involves a great deal of work that typically goes unnoticed. “When I first started, I knew what I wanted, had a complete business plan and went out hunting for the perfect location,” Lynsie said, “I had wanted to own and operate a venue for ten years before the right time and place aligned.”

There is so much that goes into running a successful venue – it is not just fancy chandeliers and plenty of parking. Her success is more than unlocking doors and turning on the lights. This owner works hard to make every day perfect for her couples’ “big day”. From brides to local vendors here in Fort Worth, it is very well known that Lynsie is not only one of the best, but one of the most reliable when it comes to the perfect event in her space. When you work with Lynsie you are not part of the masses – she knows your name, sees your vision, genuinely wants your day to be exactly what you’ve always dreamed of, and uses her space to make it happen.

BRIK hosts about 120 wedding and corporate events each year. “Opening BRIK helped me find my entrepreneurial spirit and since then I have opened another venue, The Ostreum, and have two other start-ups in the works,” Lynsie said. She has formed an incredible and reliable team that handles all the day to day operations of the venues. Every happy client, encouraging vendor, and shining review lets her team know they are on the right track and motivates them to move forward.

One of Lynsie’s favorite things about the business is the variety that comes with working at the venue. “Every day is different and every wedding is unique,” she said, “The wedding industry in Fort Worth is composed of truly stellar, wonderful people and I couldn’t be more proud of what we are doing here.” With such a reliable team operating the venues, Lynsie now spends the majority of her work days at her desk in her home in Fairmount with her sweet dog. She loves to travel as much as her schedule (and Coronavirus) will allow.

Lynsie’s favorite thing about Fort Worth is the big city yet small town feel. “I have moved around quite a bit in the last 20 years, never staying in one place for more than 2 years at a time,” she said “When I moved to Fort Worth, I knew this was where I wanted to be. I believe it is one of the main reasons I went forward with establishing a business here.”

Original is the word Lynsie uses to describe her business impact on Fort Worth. When Lynsie opened BRIK, it was one of the first few businesses located off South Main in the Near Southside. This hidden, rustic-romantic gem of a building is tucked back a couple blocks and was hidden from view by big trees on empty lots. Unused for about 12 years, the building was isolated and she often received several questions about the safety of the area. Now, just a few short years later, businesses on South Main and Bryan have exploded. “We have been credited as one of the businesses that saw the potential of the area before it formed…but honestly, it was just luck and the fact that I fell in love with a building,” Lynsie gushes.

With events and weddings in limbo right now, BRIK has shifted to accommodate the ever-changing environment. Do you have an idea for an event or want to see if you can have your intimate wedding at the BRIK? You can contact Lynsie and her team at hello@brikvenue.com and pearl@theostreum.com or by phone at 817-406-BRIK and 817-725-7711 (Ostreum).

To keep up with the status of each venue you can follow them on social media @brikvenue and @the_ostreum.