We recently connected with Claudia Pineda and have shared our conversation below.

Claudia , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?

My first event was exciting yet somewhat chaotic. We were part of a little boy who was son of parents in the music industry and there was A LOT going on. I’ve always prepared ahead of time for anything so setting up was pretty easy: I remember we did customized dinosaur canvas and set up for hat designing as well. About half an hour for the party to begin and I would see soft play vendors,
Snack vendors, favors barely setting up. This made me feel anxious and I wondered wow maybe they’ve been in business long enough to be able to set up this “late” – for me it felt late but they managed to pull through! The party had a great turnout and our entertainment activities were full stations! Definitely felt satisfying making that first buck seeing kids leaving so happy and talking away about our activities.

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 am Claudia Pineda, Latina Mompreneur of “Once Upon a Craft!” A small business created for all kids entertainment activities. As a mom I along with my children found ourselves crafting and creating every day! I started by putting my own children’s parties together (not really thinking to do this professionally at first) and incorporating activities we would come up with at home. As a result I would always receive extraordinary compliments along with our guests asking if they could have my party planner’s information; well it was ME! From that day on with love, dedication and persistence I’ve had the opportunity to bring happiness to many families through unique activities for their children’s parties.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

Receiving constant compliments for my own children’s parties is how it all started. I began doing a few events here and there not really thinking it would develop into a full time business. A lot has been word of mouth where “oh I attended this party and my child was so happy with the entertainment activities “… and like that little by little I was booking events.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Exceptional service, trust and service execution has earn Once Upon a Craft its reputation. From slime making, canvas painting, building a stuffed animal or even bringing a professional Lucha Libre ring with professional wrestlers for a wrestling match managed by one of the top 3 wrestling promoters in the world (because yes we did that) -Once Upon a Craft will give you an event to remember! I enjoy creating, I enjoy uniqueness,
I enjoy taking it to the next level!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onceuponacraft2023/profilecard/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
• Other: Instagram: onceuponacraft2023
  email: [email protected]