We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Amorette Crespo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Amorette below.

Amorette, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

I had a reputation for being a party girl in college. I went to a university that had a reputation for being a party school and being away from home for the first time in my life, I absolutely majored in partying. I paid for the consequences dearly, but it very much remained part of my identity, though in a more reformed & restrained manner, as I got older. When I started Party Girl Piñatas I’d been making my way through the LA party scene and was reclaiming my party girl persona.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I needed a microphone shaped pinata for my daughter’s Selena-themed 10th birthday party. I went down to the Pinata District in DTLA and couldn’t find one so I asked a couple shops if they could make it and they said they needed at least 2 weeks notice and it’d cost $75+. I had neither 2 weeks to spare or $75 in my budget for a pinata so I went back home, looked around and realized I had all the materials I needed to make a pinata myself. I ended up making two pinatas for this party and it didn’t feel too difficult of a task so I decided to make it a little side business.

What sets me apart from most other pinata makers, that I’ve seen so far, is a few things. First, I make smaller pinatas that can be shipped internationally without incurring too many extra costs. Through trial and error, I figured out what size pinata works best. I’ve been able to sell and ship pinatas to Puerto Rico, Hawaii, France and Germany.

In terms of design, I don’t focus on making cartoon character pinatas. There’s a market for that and it’s not what I enjoy doing, necessarily. My pinatas are mostly my own design, inspired by my daughter or something completely original that relates to what’s currently going on in pop culture. I can point to my Zoom Laptop Pinata, the Hot Cheetos Pinata, Selena Microphone pinata and Sunflower pinata as pinatas I looked for online and didn’t find, so from my own research it would seem I made all of those first.

I’m most proud of having my work recognized as being worthy of being exhibited in not one, but two museum exhibitions. I myself worked in museums for about 7 years and I never intended for my work to be seen as art, I didn’t even identify as an artist until a few months ago (thanks in part to my therapist). In 2021 I was invited to participate in Pinatas: The High Art of Celebration. I remember immediately bursting into tears when I read the email because it meant I was being seen and recognized as something I never even dreamed of achieving; an artist. The exhibition then traveled to the Mingei Museum at Balboa Park in 2022.

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?

I am currently in the midst of fulfilling an order where the odds are heavily stacked against me. But I can tell it’s definitely a turning point in my life and I’m excited to share it with you now.

A local well known artist reached out to me in early August and asked if I was interested in making 100 pinatas for a major, international brand she’s working with. I immediately said yes, because I felt this was exactly the push I needed to quit a job I hated and focus on pinatas full time. The brand shopped around and decided to go with me. I agreed to make them 100 pinatas, bigger than my usual sizes, in a teeny tiny time frame. I’ve never actually had to hire anyone to help me make pinatas before, though I’ve had help from my mom and daughter to fulfill some orders. However, this project required a staff of at least 4 people, including myself, plus the help of my mom and daughter. We are literally at this moment halfway through the orders. There have been so many hurdles, hoops, and obstacles I’ve had to jump through to fulfill this order. Though I’ve been making pinatas for 7 years, I’m still learning so much about the process but also now, the challenges of learning how to run my side hustle as a legitimate business.

My 2 bed/1 bath apartment is currently overflowing with cardboard, tissue paper and glue and although I’m working from 7am to 130am in my living room, I’m so hopeful because there’s so many successful businesses that start in garages and living room floors and that’s exactly where I am typing this from now.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I absolutely love this question because there’s so much good information I want to share. Jasmine Garnsworthy and Hala Taha have unknowingly been my business professors for the last 2 years. With the success I had during the pandemic, I really started to feel like pinatas could in-fact become a full time job but I wasn’t sure how to get there. Through my own google research and I think the podcast Her First 100k, I found both Jasmine and Hala and binged both of their podcasts from sun up to sundown and I learned SO much!!!! Female Founder World with Jasmine Garnsworthy not only answered a lot of the “how do I get started” questions I had but also inspired so many ideas for my business I had to keep a running list of potential ways to grow and scale my business. YAP with Hala Taha also answered a lot of questions I had but also gave me the confidence to take my business seriously. Both ladies give AMAZING interviews and I can’t believe their podcasts are free because they’re priceless to me.

As far as books go, I’ve read Profit First by Mike Michalowicz three times and Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss twice. Profit First answered some final questions I had about the financial aspect of running my own business and Never Split the Difference taught me how to negotiate and see the value in what I do and also help others understand that value.

I can’t predict what’s going to happen in a few weeks when my pinatas are out in the world, thanks to this international brand but whatever comes, Jasmine Garnsworthy, Hala Taha, Mike Michalowicz and Chris Voss are the professors who’ve given me the tools to take my business as far as I want to take it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://partygirlpinatas.com
• Instagram: @partygirlpinatas
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PartyGirlPinatas
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amorettecrespo/
• Other: TikTok: @PartyGirlPinatas

Image Credits

main image of me by Farah Sosa, all other photos are my own