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

Erin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

To fully answer this question, I have to go back in time and give some background on myself and my corporate career.

Growing up in Central New Jersey, I had an incredible sense of wanderlust from a very young age despite all of my family holidays being spent ‘down the shore’ at our local Jersey beaches. To satiate my taste for international travel, National Geographic was my magazine of choice and I used to tear out pages of beautiful far away countries and the various crafts that were made there as I promised myself one day I would get to see them. (fun fact- to this day, I still have that box with all those pages in it under my childhood bed!)
Fast forward from those childhood dreams, upon graduating college I started my career in Buying and eventually spent ~10 years traveling the world sourcing, designing, and merchandising products. In this role, I would travel extensively- China, India, Vietnam, or even domestically- and visit different factories; meeting their owners and workers to learn how things were made before buying their products for our stores.
After almost a decade doing this, I became increasingly disheartened to realize handmade crafts and the skilled artisans who made them were almost entirely replaced by sanitized mass production lines and disenchanted factory workers. This was certainly not the idyllic artisanal dream of my childhood National Geographic fantasies. Witnessing the environmental impact of this production was no better- and I frequently saw polluted streams and streets strewn with plastics and chemicals and massive abandoned factories dotting once beautiful countrysides. I didn’t see any end in sight to this endless cycle of cheap consumption and production and decided it was time for me to quit and put my own entrepreneurial skills to the test.
In December of 2022, I quit my corporate job and took a trip to Spain and Morocco with my best friend to get some fresh air. It was in Morocco that I became entranced with these beautiful handwoven rugs and the story of their all-female weaving which goes back hundreds if not thousands of years. As I went from rug store to rug store, I noticed all of the rugs were designed in traditional Moroccan style- mostly bold and primary color palettes, accented with tribal motifs, and made of wool that wasn’t always the highest quality. They were undeniably beautiful- but nothing that would fit in the look of my own home. After a few days of thinking this through, I saw the opportunity to merge the artisanal hand weaving and tradition of these rugs with my own Southern California aesthetic to craft Erin Talgo Trading and my collection of rugs you see today. It was overwhelming, but my corporate background in buying helped me start my journey of learning where these were made, who made them, and understand how to scale, design, and source these for a Western market.

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

What lead me to this industry was a journey that began with my love of travel and artisanal crafts coupled with the experiences I gained as Buyer in my corporate career. In my career I was fortunate to receive a first hand view of global manufacturing and production and also how to manage inventory, look at margins, and execute product development. I am forever grateful to the experience that my corporate career granted me.
In terms of the products and services I provide- simply put, I curate and design woven artwork from global craftswomen. I work 1:1 with clients, interior designers, or developers to design a rug for their space or to customize an my existing rug from my lines to fit their spaces. Given I work directly with the all female weaving team- the possibilities of my customizations are endless and I love the process from start to finish of meeting with a client, understanding their needs, and seeing the dream to come life on the loom through a truly artisanal practice.
Most importantly- I hope people understand the quality and the incredible story behind these rugs.
Our rugs are made from 100% hand spun, hand dyed lambswool. On average, it takes 3-4 women 4-6 weeks to weave an 8x10ft rug on a wooden or metal loom, expertly tying thousands of hand knots with our yarns. They will then wash and trim the rug, letting it dry in the arid Atlas Mountain sun. These could not be more different from the machine made, highly-synthetic, polypropylene-derived rugs that have infiltrated the marketplace today which will never biodegrade.
These rugs are also woven with the story of each person who plays a role in crafting them; beginning with the female weavers skilled through generations of artistry, to my own personal journey that began with a small childhood dream, and ending with their purchaser who will impart their own memories, shared meals & family holidays while on these beautiful creations.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

This is a personal story that I admit I am hesitant to share, but I hope it gives some light to other women who may be experiencing similar.
3 months after quitting my corporate job I became pregnant with my son James (its amazing what leaving corporate stress can do for you!). As I was intensely laying the framework for my business during this time, this threw a bit of a (happy) wrench in my plans for obvious reasons. I knew I had to immediately go to Morocco to ensure I had the right business partners and weavers or time would get away from me with the baby and I never would. My husband and I had a trip planned to Italy that we cancelled 1 week before departure and rescheduled everything to Morocco.
While meeting various weaving groups throughout the country, we traveled extensively and into extremely rural areas- unpaved roads, even completely off roading at some points. During this off road trip, I suffered a pregnancy complication due to the travel and was admitted to the ER, ending up on bedrest for over 2 weeks. Uncertainty over my health and the babies coupled with injections, countless ultrasounds and doctors appointments in a completely foreign land made for an incredibly difficult time. Our original 10 day Moroccan trip spanned over 3 weeks as a result of this situation.
As a silver lining to this time, I encountered numerous women in Morocco who helped me immensely. The warmth and compassion I received there gave me hope and I truly believe are part of the reason my beautiful and healthy son James is here today. When I finally returned home from Morocco, I continued under the care of doctors and kept the business going during bedrest for a good part of summer 2023.
I now call James my miracle baby who has been with me through all the ups and downs of my business. I signed my first retail partnership with Fred Segal Home in Los Angeles the week before I was induced with him and even took him to see the install of my rugs when 3 weeks post partum. He is my favorite coworker and as other working mamas know, the best distraction from a long day that exists.
Women are resilient and incredible – and its one of the reasons I am so proud that the Moroccan weavers who craft my rugs are from an all female team. I also partner with a charity called Free a Girl which saves women and children from s*x trafficking and a portion of proceeds from each rug sale is donated to them.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

My friends from the East Coast still make fun of me for this and say “LA has made me woo-woo” but I firmly believe in the power of manifestation and the importance of writing and speaking your dreams. Along this same line, the energy, mindset, and material you surround yourself is key. When starting my business, I listened to hundreds of podcasts by Jay Shetty and Oprah’s Super Soul Series. The episodes that stick out the most to me and have impacted me to this day are those with Brene Brown, Eckhart Tolle and other thought provoking leaders. The quote that comes to mind is from the episode Oprah did with Brene Brown, where Brene quotes Teddy Roosevelt – “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again… who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”

When I was on the verge of quitting my corporate job and second guessing myself daily, hesitant over what people would say, what if I failed, and all the other what ifs of life- I found myself coming back to that quote. I wrote it, I spoke it, I sat down and thought about what my journey in this business would look like; who would buy my rugs, what my impact would be, and how I would feel seeing this come into fruition. I still have a lot of work left to do to get the business where I want it to be, but I am proud to be daring greatly along this journey of mine,

Contact Info:

• Website: https://erintalgotrading.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erintalgotrading/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinmtalgo

Image Credits

Lauren Taylor Creative & Joe Bellissimo