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

Alright, Gabriela thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

How I came up with my business is easily one of the number one question I get. My mom and I started sewing when I was pregnant with my first baby in 2018,
We made baby products and had no luck selling anything. I started an Etsy account and had one sale in 12 months. It was heartbreaking and I was a stay at home mom just trying to earn a little extra income to afford some fun things for my daughter, Alexandria.

I quickly gave up on this idea and I looked into other options to make extra money

Then 2020 came and a year that will never be forgotten, by the whole world, and by our family for multiple reasons.

Covid outbreak forced everyone to stay home and if you HAD to go out you HAD to wear a mask.

Our local hospital and essential businesses couldn’t find masks anywhere and were begging local sewers to sew for them.

My mom started making 30-40 masks a day to donate to the local hospital and nursing homes

This went on for 2-3 weeks and I finally said “that’s enough you have donated plenty, let’s start selling them on Etsy and see if we can make some money back to pay yourself back for the fabric you bought”

Day one – 1 sale
Day two – 5 sales
Day three – 12 sales
Day four – 25 sales

And it grew.

And grew

And within a week and a half we were sewing full time. I hired a babysitter to watch my now two girls a 1.5 year old Alexandria and 6 month old Ava.
Then we hired 3 more people and bought sewing machines and off we went.

Selling at our peak 1,400 masks a day and sewing out of my moms living room.

Little Lady A was born and thriving quickly.

We made masks that were not only affordable, soft, and comfortable. We also offered different thicknesses and layers of masks to accommodate different needs.

This started our business.

Now we have the momentum on etsy and reviews to back us up, this allowed us to venture into new ideas and sell other things like personalized blankets, towels, stuffed animals, and logos for companies.

Gabriela, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hello!!! My name is Gabriela but I mostly go by Gabby.

I am 29 years old I love with my husband, two daughters Alexandria 4.5 years old and Ava 3 years old, and 3 dogs. I love to dress my girls in unique and matching things, personalized items, and handmade!
My girls stay home with me all day while my husband works a full time job, they are in the studio with me on the daily and their playroom is within 10 feet of me working.

Once starting to sew a whole world of ideas came to mind, I enjoy editing digitally and this allowed embroidery to come naturally to me.

Growing up my dad had a very strong work ethic and was self employed since I was born. He taught us to work at a very young age and so this gave me great vision to start my own business and be able to keep up with the fast paced seasons with Little Lady A. Our busy seasons are Easter, summer, and Christmas!

Machine Embroidery is fast paced like my personality, we go hand in hand, running 4-7 machines at a time, and packing and shipping all my orders solely is a great achievement each day and I’m very proud of the art that I get to create

What sets me apart in embroidery is this: I do all the work myself. I call the shots, I get to take on a project large or small scale and do it to the best of my ability. I meet clients in my home and they see a real life version of their project before it’s ever stitched. They get to be my right hand when we’re going through the designing process so that we can bring their vision to life!

Ultimately it’s their branding and logo that I get to stitch and help their business grow. In doing that, mine grows too. It’s a partnership in a small sort of way.

My favorite product to make is custom baby blankets. Knowing that my product is one of the first things that a new family or new baby gets to use is so special and sweet to me.
In some small way I’m part of the welcoming committee for new babies all over the world.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think my reputation grew fairly quickly with honesty in my business, being extremely friendly and putting customers first in all situations, showing my customers work that is prestige and also being clear with them what I can and cannot do. A strong work ethic, short turn around times, and real expectations are all very important to growing a business. I have been grateful to be involved in a local church and accept Jesus as my savior and with that and reading the Bible I have been able to see that change the way my business is run! My goal in working is not solely that I do well but that I am doing my work and glorifying and honoring the Lord who ultimately gave me this business and has helped it succeed.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Definitely word of mouth that has been the biggest for me. Companies who love my work are very quick to tell other companies about me. I also find that putting my logo and label on anything I can has been helpful, and a perfect source of advertising for new clients!

Contact Info:

• Website: Littleladya.com
• Instagram: @little_lady_a_
• Facebook: Little lady a