We recently connected with Brenda Martinez and have shared our conversation below.

Brenda, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Glo in Style really comes from my mother’s name, which is Gloria. The business was created together with my niece who is also named after my mother. “ Little Glo” as I like to call her, wanted to sell the jewelry she was crafting. I wanted her to begin to have an avenue to begin selling her handcrafted work and so then I came up with “Glo in Style” which not only represents her but also my mother and older sister also named Gloria. The name was created to not only represent and recognized the Glorias in the family but also as a way to describe the merchandise sold and when wearing or utilizing our brand, you will “glow” in this case “Glo” in style.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am currently in my eighteenth year in education. A big portion of our merchandise is creating and selling focal pens. As an educator, I have always had a very big selection of writing utensils. I believe a pen is a wonderful instrument that allows us to write our daily stories in all of the tasks that we do, and in every thing we sign and every note we take. This is part of my daily job as an Assistant Principal. I was purchasing pens from a small business owner located outside of Texas. I realized that I too wanted to create my own merchandise. My 14 year old niece Gloria, at the time was creating handcrafted jewelry to help her come up revenue for her art supplies and upcoming expenses in color-guard. As she comes from a single mother household, I wanted to help her have a platform to go to events and sell the jewelry she was making. We then put our ideas to work and decided to start our small business.
We make focal pens and handcrafted jewelry along with other Mexican inspired accessories such as mercado bags, keychains, etc. I absolutely love celebrating life with color, so in our booth, at events you will see our vibrant pink along with many colors as we want our customers to “Glo in Style” with our colorful products.
Our business is focused on allowing our customers to take home a piece of colorful happiness that they can wear or something they can use to bring joy to their day. A small portion of our sales is also donated to helping families or students in the school that I employed at. Our goal is to also donate a small portion to battered women shelters as we want to help other women in need. We currently do not have a location but we focus on shipping from home from any online sales and attending markets as a vendor for special events in the DFW Metroplex area. I am proud of not only helping my younger niece discover her potential as a young entrepreneur, but also having a purpose for our business that focuses on bringing joy and helping others.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

We are a small business that is slowly growing. We are working on marketing on social media, through events and word of mouth. I think the most effective strategy with growing clientele has been developing relationships with people that purchase our products. We strive to be more than a transaction, but as they using our products and “tag” us on social media platforms, it allows us to see their daily stories and keep in touch with our customers.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

My 14 year old niece is my business partner as she was the inspiration behind the crafting done with her jewelry and our accessories. However, we do not always do this alone, as her mother Maria and my wonderful husband Joe also help make the business happen when we prepare for an event. This is a family event, as we come together and put the work in to prepare for upcoming events and markets. This means additional work and late nights after our regular daily jobs. It takes a lot of work and patience to prepare for a show as we set up and break down. Many times not making the sales that would cover our vendor fees but in the end we know we have to keep working at it and are committed to making our business grow.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @gloinstyle
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559175090969&mibextid=kFxxJD
• Other: https://gloinstyle.etsy.com/