We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Eileen Carino Erin Salinas. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Eileen Carino below.
Eileen Carino, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
We have often been asked if working with family is the hardest part of the business. To us, the hardest part was coming up with our business name. Erin and I spent days bouncing names and ideas off of each other, but could not come up with a name that really resonated how we felt about this journey we were embarking on. Soon after, we enlisted the help of our spouses and children and challenged them to name our business., even promising an extra allowance to the child whose idea we choose. There were a few viable choices, however they were all already taken when we tried to register them. Then one night while having dinner, our mom suggested that instead of trying to be the most creative just be personal. Since all of our names started with an E we can use that as inspiration. Then I thought, it’s not our first names that have a story, but rather our middle names. My sister is Erin “Crystal” Salinas, Crystal comes from Crystal Gayle, my dad’s favorite singer at the time. I am, Eileen “Rose” Carino. Rose was the name of my dad’s ex-girlfriend and the one responsible for bringing our parents together. Finally, my brother is Eric “Noel” Carino. Noel is the name of our father. And that is how our company name was born. But to ensure that our customers know that we sell women’s clothing and accessories the name was finessed to “Crystal Rose Noelle.”
Eileen Carino, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
The journey began when my then 8 year old daughter, Lillian, started making jewelry. Years later, Erin, ordered 8 tennis inspired earring/bracelet /necklace sets to gift her team and the response was overwhelming. Lillian began to receive orders and eventually sold her jewelries at the tennis shop of our local country club. She expressed interest in expanding her business by doing pop-up shops and markets, however due to extra curricular activities, her schedule would not allow it. That’s when I came across Painted Tree Boutiques. This retail concept gives entrepreneurs a chance to open a shop with minimal overhead while allowing them to keep their 9-5 jobs. Business owners would be required to design, merchandise and market their rented spaces and Painted Tree’s hired team would assist customers with their purchases. To fill in space and to expand our offerings, we included women’s’ clothing, gifts and small accessories in addition to Lillian’s jewelries. My background in purchasing/retail management, Erin’s expertise in networking/social marketing and Lillian’s product creativity helped to create our shop Crystal Rose Noelle. Since our grand opening on November 1, 2023, we have expanded to a second space and plan to open in additional locations.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
2 months after opening our father was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. We had to juggle our full-time jobs, business, family and caring for our father all at the same time. When he passed away in March, we were not in the emotional mind set to run or care for a business, but knew that we had to persevere for our father. He never wanted to be a burden on his family and did not want his sickness to change our path. We were fortunate that our father was able to see our shop open before he passed.
How’d you meet your business partner?
The team behind Crystal Rose Noelle consists of two main owners, sisters Eileen and Erin, and many supporting members. The members include jewelry creator Lillian (Eileen’s daughter), construction Mark and Antonio (our husbands), models Cristina and Rachel (our adopted sister and sister in law) Ecommerce Marketers Eric and Jennifer (brother and sister in law) and finally social media creators and merchandisers Isaiah, Cole, Kylie, Noah and Declan (Erin’s sons and our niece/nephew). This team is the epitome of a true family business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.crystalrosenoelle.com
- Instagram: crystal.rose.noelle
- Facebook: Crystal Rose Noelle
- Other: linktr.ee/crystalrosenoelle
TikTok- @crystalrosenoelle
Image Credits
Cristina Briboneria, Isaiah Salinas, Rachel Broughton