\u201cHawke\u2019s Bay has so much potential, but the nightlife scene has been slowly fading over time,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to help bring that energy back, creating events where people can connect, enjoy themselves, and actually have something to look forward to again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barbarouses\u2019 connection to life after hours goes back to her late teens, when she worked at Hastings bars, before building a banking career.<\/p>\n
She stepped back from hospitality, but the pull of the industry never really left.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always loved the nightlife side of things as well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I\u2019m not in mum mode, you\u2019ll usually find me out in that environment. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t need to drink to have a good time, I just genuinely love the atmosphere, the music, and the energy of it all.\u201d<\/p>\n
These days, her life is a balancing act between late-night events and early-morning parenting of her son, Roman, 5, and daughter Maria, 2.<\/p>\n
On event nights, her parents and sisters step in with bath time, bedtime and childcare, while she heads out to run the show.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve been super helpful for me to pursue what I want to do. I just couldn\u2019t do it without them,\u201d Barbarouses said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Thursday, I went out and didn\u2019t come home \u2018til about 3am in the morning – to then having to get up at 6am to get them all ready for school.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said becoming a solo mother reshaped how she viewed work and the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just wasn\u2019t going to work with me being at the bank \u2018til 5.30pm. There was no flexibility for me to go part-time there … and that was a blessing in disguise,\u201d Barbarouses said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to think about the future for my children, what that looks like, and also pursue something that I love to do. So, I just thought, \u2018right, let\u2019s do it\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the move felt risky at first, it quickly became clear she had made the right call.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very nerve-racking at the beginning, given that I\u2019ve only ever worked and had that stability, so now I was sort of free floating.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a mother first, and that\u2019ll always come first, and then whatever I do after that is essentially bringing everybody together and doing what I love as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexia Barbarouses balances organising events with parenting her son, Roman, 5, and her daughter, Maria, 2.<\/p>\n
Now, her new routine is built around late nights and packed dancefloors, but the behind-the-scenes is far less glamorous.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are hours of meetings, prep work, decorations, creating content and posters, editing, organising buses, wristbands, pick-up points, merch, securing support and sponsorships,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a real hands-on process to build this from the ground up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barbarouses works alongside a small group of DJs \u2013 including Shane Hawkins, known as DJ Hurricane \u2013 and collaborators, with support from a network of businesses helping deliver everything from transport to equipment and promotion.<\/p>\n
Shane Hawkins, known as DJ Hurricane, and Alexia Barbarouses at one of the night events she has organised in Hawke’s Bay.<\/p>\n
She says her long-term dream is to one day own a nightclub in Hawke\u2019s Bay.<\/p>\n
For now, she is focused on keeping the momentum going and changing what a night out in the Bay can look like.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt every event I\u2019m on the mic, reminding people that without the people, there is no nightlife. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf people don\u2019t show up and support it, it simply doesn\u2019t exist.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barbarouses is now preparing another event on April 18 at the Boat Ramp in Napier, with bigger plans in the works for summer 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all get caught up in life with work, kids, relationships and everything. It can start to feel a bit repetitive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to create something that gives people a reason to step away from that, even just for a night. It\u2019s about that \u2018you only live once\u2019 mindset and leaving your worries behind and just enjoying the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited about what we\u2019re building and where it can go.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHawke\u2019s Bay has so much potential, but the nightlife scene has been slowly fading over time,\u201d she said.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73530,916,191572,1561,8834,2082,1976,6178,111,139,55083,11550,69,3111,31783,59353,213,40749,61],"class_list":{"0":"post-364411","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-alexia","9":"tag-banking","10":"tag-barbarouses","11":"tag-bay","12":"tag-big","13":"tag-for","14":"tag-hawkes","15":"tag-mother","16":"tag-new-zealand","17":"tag-newzealand","18":"tag-nightlife","19":"tag-nights","20":"tag-nz","21":"tag-out","22":"tag-revive","23":"tag-solo","24":"tag-sports","25":"tag-swaps","26":"tag-to"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}