We recently connected with NATALIA HASENKAMPF and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, NATALIA thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s talk about social media – do you manage your own or do you have someone or a company that handles it for you? Why did you make the choice you did?

I manage my social media accounts @travelwithtalia on Instagram and my @twirlliketalia on Tiktok. The reason why I like to manage it myself is because I like to be in control and I like to be the one responding to questions from my audience myself. I don’t like delegating tasks that are very personal in my opinion, like responding to my audience or engaging with my audience. For the time being, I am still able to manage it all myself even though it is a lot of work.

As for my clothing business and other account @cocopinasd, my husband and I hired someone to help us with posting on the feed but I still manage the inbox myself, as well as engaging on the account. Hiring someone who can organize the feed for us and help us with posting was a great decision and saves us so much time that we can use to work on new designs and other important things.

NATALIA, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started the Instagram account @travelwithtalia when I left my home in Germany and moved to Chicago in 2017. This is when I started to take Instagram more seriously and post more on it. After a while, my account started growing and I started to get more partnerships. What made my account special back then were the dresses I was wearing in my travel photos. That’s what made them stand out. This is when I fell in love with dresses which made me want to start my own clothing line. After losing my corporate job in finance during COVID and moving to San Diego, my husband and I decided to start our business and launched Coconuts and Pineapples in October 2022. What makes our brand special are the boho chic dresses, that really can be worn for any occasion. On a beach vacation, on a date night out, for a shopping day at the mall, or a brunch. We believe that our dresses are not just looking pretty but are also incredibly comfortable to wear. With our dresses, you can be sure that you are always picture-ready!

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

Yes, my husband and I launched our clothing line “Coconuts and Pineapples” in October 2022! We are currently manufacturing in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We chose Thailand because my husband’s family is from Thailand and we have a strong bond with Thailand. My husband, Johannes, did a lot of research until he found a manufacturer that aligns with the values of our company. We both have no fashion backgrounds but I have a background in Marketing, Social Media, and Economics and Johannes has a background in E-commerce, IT, and consulting. That knowledge helped us build a brand but we had to learn so many things from scratch which was super exciting. We are still just at the beginning of our journey, as our business is very young but we are excited about the future.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

I met Johannes when I was 17 and still in high school. We met online on a platform that was similar to Facebook but just more local. We have been together for 18 years now and have been married for over a year now and now also have a business together.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cocopina.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/cocopinasd
• Other: www.instagram.com/travelwithtalia