A couple weeks ago, Lea Kone came to us with a great idea we’d been wanting to do for a while — featuring every day Rochesterians. Follow along during Lea’s six week series that introduces you to a new face in a different Rochester neighborhood each week.

“I’m sure a lot of people have really well decorated houses, spend their weekends doing projects and hanging at home with their nice furniture — that matches. That’s not me. I’d rather be out doing things, exploring, having a good time.” That’s Alyssa Belasco’s philosophy and she’s sticking to it.
I’d only met Alyssa a handful of times before I interviewed her last week at Boulder Coffee on Alexander, but she is someone that I secretly want to be one of my best friends. Like a lot of people these days, I mostly know Alyssa through Facebook (and Instagram), so my understanding of her life is primarily based on the idealization of Alyssa as a being some sort of Zooey Deschanel meets Carrie Bradshaw meets a younger version of one of the ladies on Ab Fab. Or in one single word: awesome. She could definitely have her own sitcom or reality show following the weekly accounts of her frequent parking tickets, fender benders, strange things her dog Biggins ate and the crazy comments her neighbors the “Polka Twins” (who apparently bear a strong resemblance to Patty and Selma of the Simpsons) shout at her from across the fence.

Alyssa bought her first home in the North Winton Village about 7 years ago after renting a handful of apartments in the Cobbs Hill and Park Avenue neighborhoods. She now lives with her boyfriend, Bill, and their two dogs: Biggins (a 100+ pound Yellow Lab) and Ollie (a 4 pound Yorkie). She’s proud to be a “100% Forever Rochesterian” who grew up in Hilton prior to attending college at SUNY Brockport.

Why has she stayed? She loves that Rochester provides everything that a big city does: music, fashion, restaurants and countless festivals; but everything is on a smaller scale and is more accessible. Alyssa is a great example of a Rochesterian who believes in what the city has to offer and truly takes advantage of it.

What is she up to on the average week besides her day job as a Marketing Coordinator at the Highlands at Pittsford? Answer: a whole lot. Following her daily bootcamp sessions at Cross Fit Webster or yoga at Breathe, Alyssa is often in search of the best fashion finds, vegetarian eats and tasty cocktails that Rochester has to offer.

Her neighborhood standbys are Balsam Bagels, the Wintonaire and Ellisons Bar & Grill – but not the Winfield, which she equates to being the Paychex employee version of Cheer’s (disclaimer: Alyssa formerly worked at Paychex and is entitled to this opinion).

Her around-town favorites: Vegan Buffalo Wings and the infamous CLT (smoked coconut, lettuce & tomato) at Tap & Mallet; French 75s and Moscow Mules at Cheshire; Migas and Buffalo Cauliflower at the Owl House (where she dines at least once a week), brunch at Voula’s Greek Sweets, great music and great beer at Abilene (where she celebrated her 30th birthday); Brighton, South Wedge and Rochester Public Markets (especially the Food Truck Rodeos).

Shopping: Her favorite local shops are Peppermint (she frequents so often that the owner, Tanvi, now texts her when new stock comes in) and Even Odd Creative a local, but primarily online boutique that features handcrafted, upcycled fashion items. She discovered them via Etsy, but shops there in person during their single open time once a month in conjunction with First Fridays. Alyssa sports one of their small clutches made out of recycled inner tubes. Their tagline alone says it all, “If you want a boring, cookie-cutter bag off an assembly line in China, get off this site and go to the mall, because you won’t get one from us.” Love them.

Her guilty pleasure is Vegetarian Poutine from Le Petit Poutine.

And her hidden treasure is Joey’s, which is on Main Street near Richmond Street and just like any good hidden treasure requires you to get buzzed in.

All in a day’s fun: In an effort to explore all that a different neighborhood has to offer, Alyssa and her friends created their own private South Wedge food & shopping crawl dubbed “Wedgucation.” This South Ave jaunt includes stops at Open Face for their black bean sandwich, cheese sampling at the Little Bleu Cheese Shop, shopping at Thread, drinks at Beale Street and Lux Lounge, ice-cream (salted caramel) at Hedonist, and even a little grocery shopping at Mise En Place. “I love to mosey around Rochester.”

In addition to her daily adventures exploring Rochester, Alyssa is known for her work promoting fundraising events in the Rochester area. Her family’s foundation, The Belasco Family Foundation, started Jazz on the Pond five years ago to raise scholarship funds for the Jazz Program at the Eastman School of Music. In addition, Alyssa has been volunteering with the annual Rochester Fashion Week’s Boutique Crawl coming up again this October.

Then when Alyssa’s friend’s mother was diagnosed with colon cancer last summer, she knew that she needed to do something to help. Not finding much in the Rochester area for colon cancer fundraising, Alyssa contacted the Gastroenterology department at Strong Hospital who were sponsoring the Strollin’ for the Colon 5K event this past April in Geneseo. Alyssa quickly got involved garnering support and participation, but then inspired to do something more directly to help her friend’s mother, Alyssa helped launch an event called “Bottom’s Up for Barb” which raised more than $10,000 to supplement medical and other expenses incurred from loss of work during treatment. Her current cause is the upcoming charity event: Hops For Hope 5K and Festival featuring Sticky Lips BBQ and Custom Brew Crafters on August 24th benefitting the American Cancer Society B. Thomas Golisano Hope Lodge Hospitality House. This important program helps aid families who are dealing with a loved one undergoing cancer treatments in area hospitals who are in need of support. Find more information or sign up for the race here (PDF Alert!)

Alyssa is one busy lady, but if you see her out walking Ollie and Biggins, sweating it out in bootcamp, devouring Migas at the Owl House or see her Camry misparked on your street, be sure to wave, say hi and get to know her a little more. I promise you won’t regret it! Follow all of Alyssa’s adventures at: http://awesomelyalyss.blogspot.com/

Read other featured People in Our Neighborhoods:
Week Two: Frank of Monroe Village
Week Three: Stephen of NOTA