Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alejandra Avila. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Alejandra thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

When I was 23 years old I got my first dog. We’re a dog family, so I was fortunate to grow up with dogs, and I was very excited to finally get one of my own. From the moment I met her at the rescue, it was love at first sight. She cuddled up on my chest and I knew she was my puppy. Every month I started taking pictures of her as she was growing, and I celebrated her birthday every year. Some people thought it was absolutely ridiculous, and maybe it was to them, but I knew somehow that Maya knew it was a special day that was all about her.

In 2022 we welcomed our second dog Lenni into our family. She was dumped on the street and I fortunately found her, or rather, she found me. She was so incredibly small and had many health issues after being on the street for days. We knew her first birthday needed to be super special. She had survived so much.

When we were planning her big day, we quickly became overwhelmed by the lack of quality and aesthetic in the generic decorations we kept finding. We went from wanting to throw our dog a big celebration to just feeling defeated. Instead of buying cheap, generic things off the internet, we decided to make the entire day about her and she had the best time.
But we kept thinking about it, and I told my now-fiancé Aaron: why can’t there be a place where you get everything you need and it’s not tacky or cheap? I thought for sure something like that had to exist. We were surprised to find that it didn’t.

By the time Lenni turned two, we had fully developed our product and were selling in person at dog events across Los Angeles. Seeing people react to our product was surreal. Now we celebrate our dogs every year and help many other people do the same, with just a click of a button.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Alejandra, and I’m the co-founder of PartyAnimal, a premium dog birthday celebration brand based in Los Angeles. I’m a Mexican immigrant who grew up thinking I was going to law school, so becoming an entrepreneur and building a product from scratch was never part of the plan. But it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me!

PartyAnimal started from a very genuine need. Aaron and I are completely obsessed with our dogs, and when we wanted to celebrate our dog Lenni’s first birthday, we quickly realized there was nowhere to turn. There was no one place to get everything you needed, and the quality of what was out there just didn’t match the love we wanted to put into the day. We thought if we had this problem, other dog parents probably did too — so we decided to build exactly what we had been looking for.

Every single thing we make is handmade, with quality at the center of every part of our product. We set out to create the most complete party pack on the market, and what makes us truly unique is that everything is fully personalized for your dog. We’re the only brand offering that. We know how much our customers love their dogs because we feel the same way about ours, and we design everything with that in mind.

I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built. I came into this with no product background whatsoever and have learned so many new skills along the way. But more than anything, I’m proud that we put something on the market that is carefully curated, made with real care and love, and designed to help people create memories with their dogs that will last a lifetime. That means everything to me.

Through this journey we have also had the opportunity to help dog rescues. All of our dogs are rescues and we can’t imagine life without them. We’re so grateful for the rescues that gave them a second chance and made our lives complete. So when we founded PartyAnimal, we knew from the start that we wanted to give back. We work with rescues to highlight dogs by throwing them their very own personalized celebration, and we donate 10% of all proceeds to further their efforts. We want every dog to be celebrated!

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

Yes, we make our product completely in house and from scratch! Every single party pack we make is made for that specific dog.

When we started PartyAnimal, I had no prior experience in product development. Every skill I have came from building this. It started with a very clear vision of what I wanted the final product to look like and working backwards from there. I knew I wanted everything to be personalized and that embroidery was going to be a big part of it. I also knew I wanted the bandana to have a specific look and feel, so I learned to sew and created molds for the specific sizes we offer. Dogs come in all shapes and sizes, not all smalls are the same and not all larges are the same, so we had to build something that truly fits every dog.

We started by sourcing all of our supplies in small quantities from vendors throughout Los Angeles. Downtown LA was an amazing source of inspiration for me. Without that community, it would have been incredibly hard to move as fast as I did and learn as much as I did.

Making a product from scratch was so much fun but also really challenging. There were a lot of mistakes along the way. We spent a lot of time and money on things we ended up not using or needing, like certain fabrics and machinery. But that’s exactly what led our product to become what it is today.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Something I’ve had to unlearn is the habit of downplaying my own accomplishments. I’ve never been someone who naturally brags about what I’ve accomplished, what I’ve built, or the skills I’ve developed. It just doesn’t come easily to me. My fiancé and co-founder Aaron has been instrumental in helping me work through this. He constantly reminds me of how much I have learned and built, and that it deserves to be recognized.

Sometimes it’s still hard to receive praise. But as a woman and as an immigrant, particularly in this moment in time, I’ve come to believe it’s incredibly important to acknowledge what I’ve accomplished. It’s something I work on every day.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://getpartyanimal.com/
• Instagram: @getpartyanimal
• Other: Tiktok: @getpartyanimal / Dog birthday FAQ: https://getpartyanimal.com/blogs/dog-birthday-faq