We were lucky to catch up with Arianna Soto recently and have shared our conversation below.
Arianna, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
I am Arianna Soto, sole owner and creator of Boho Wicca LLC. When I was 23 I found out I had three tumors in my right breast that were growing rapidly. Needless to say this was a scary and unsure time for myself. After a few doctors appointments, I reluctantly scheduled a surgery to get two of the three which were most concerning to the doctors removed. After doing so, I went through a long process of recovering. I couldn’t do much because of the pain and was extremely self conscience now because of the large scar I had from the surgery.
Throughout my recovery time in bed, I would read “body positivity,” columns I’d come across on the Internet, manifesting articles and spirituality books (all of which I was hoping would bring me some comfort and a sense of ease). One of the columns I had come across made mention of expressing how you were feeling through creating art that had intention behind it. I thought to myself, I’ve always loved to make things and I’m stuck at home for this long recovery period….why not order a couple things off of amazon and give it a go? What I thought would be something to occupy my time and take my mind off the pain I was enduring, ended up becoming what is now Boho Wicca. I began playing with resin, creating pieces that brought me joy and started sharing them with others, in hopes that it would do the same for them.
A few months went by and I began to get comfortable with myself again and out of a funk I had been drowning myself in because to me, I had this huge hideous reminder of a scary time in my life, one of which EVERYONE could see. I started to embrace my scar because it was now a symbol of my strength and the building blocks for something I loved to do. As you might have noticed, many of our pieces feature the female body, a dedication to the self love and appreciation I gained for my own during my time of recovery.
From intentional spiritual goods to everyday home items, Boho Wicca creates handmade pieces with love + intention, in hopes that they bring light and joy into anothers life as they did mine.
As of last august we took our journey to another level and created a Wellness Day Retreat, day filled with speakers & sessions for attendees to participate in, in hopes for them to begin their self care + wellness journey. Our event has grown into a community event occurring every 3 months that’s now sponsored by business in our community.
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
Around June of this year, I went back into my oncologists office and they found yet another tumor, at which time I was told I could do surgery or wait it out and see how things progress. I took the time to weigh my options and turned back to what healed me mentally the first time around- yoga, herbal blends, reiki, a huge mix of things. After a few weeks had passed, I thought of how peaceful it would be to fill a day with all of these things- then came the birth of our Wellness Day Retreat. I know there’s a community that would greatly appreciate the day I’ve been creating in my mind because I’d speak to these people weekly whether it was at a yoga class, on ig live or even at the markets I would vend at. A month later in July we announced the retreat and come August 20th, at our first ever event I planned and put together myself, we had a beautiful bunch of 35 like minded people ready to heal in a shared space with one another. Some cried, many smiled and even shared their stories with one another. We continue to do these event every 3 months in hopes of reaching a bigger crowd to eventually make them an event that goes to different states, not just the greater Orlando area.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
Boho Wicca was funded from my own savings account. I took all I had from there and took a leap of faith. It’s extremely rewarding to see what I’ve been able to build on my own not just from the items I create and sell but also the event I was able to create for our community.
Contact Info:
- Website: Bohowicca.com
- Instagram: Boho.Wicca