We recently connected with Nicole Peredo and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Nicole thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights 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.

As art is our family passion and business, back in 2019 we – myself and my mom – were already working teaching kids and adults fine arts like painting and drawing. However pottery was something we had recently added to the studio as more people had become interested on making utilitarian goods. Living in Laguna Beach we loved and appreciated the amount of art galleries and shows happening all the time but we saw a need for a space where people could create themselves. Although there was the community center in town, a pottery studio studio seemed the perfect endeavor for the perfect place! We had felt that if people were coming from all over to our small Mission Viejo art studio for kids, they would of course make the drive to beautiful Laguna Beach and thats how we started looking for spaces as a pop up in Laguna. Most uniquely we wanted this to be more than just a pottery studio, we wanted for it to be a direct reflection of the local community with pottery sold by local artists and classes offered for kids and adults; beginner focused and hobbyist encouraged. A creative home away from home. We opened and expanded to Costa Mesa with the same intention in mind and as the business grew we decided to grow with it and offer an even more niche version of what we have always wanted it to be which was a zen creative haven where we can introduce wellness into creation, so that is how we became a wellness and pottery studio!

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

We are family, women, and a minority owned business. We are proud latina artists, mother and daughter duo, that started without a business degree but with the passion for what we do and a bright idea that has lead the course true. Art has always been a part of my life as the daughter of my artistic mother Gabriela, and she found art in Mexico through adversity of studies and finding identity and solace being part of a big family. Art in our nuclear family has been a haven, a place to be creative and to find complete joy. As first generation, i saw my mom open an art studio in LA where i was born, to teach kids fine art medias. This was what she felt was her true passion in the art industry and made a big jump to start her own business. As an adult, her and I became a team and I learned how to teach. Since then from the original dream, I have converted it into what it is today and because of her initial bravery to open a studio when i was a child, I saw my ability to open and run a business of my own, ARTime BARRO the pottery studios. We provide classes for those starting off in ceramics kids and adults, a space for hobby artists who like to be a part of and use a studio space, and workshops focused on creating and wellness as well. We are proud of the communities we create within the spaces where like minded people interested in art, creating, and wellness can meet and come together. Anyone coming in feels and sees the love we have for ceramics and for the space and more than anything our brand is community and the importance of creating for the mind, heart and soul.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I have had to unlearn permanence. Who we are, what the business is, who we employee, what the community needs etc. are ever changing. I had to unlearn the stability of permanence because nothing is set in stone and from one moment to the next and so many things can change. We believe that the idea we came up with is and always will be cemented in history, who we are is limited to the present moment and the past teachings of life, and what the market needs is fixed and only good in that one corner of the world. But what about growth and expansion, what about resilience and evolution. I have had to learn to live in the unknown because growth is there. Yes stability is comfortable but it is also stagnant and if i wanted my business to be a success it has to be dynamic. There have been so many instances (it still happens everyday) where great ideas we had thought of no longer align with the current version of where we are at. Employees who we loved and appreciated took the next big step in their life. Or the basis of the business is no longer what we started it to be. But all these things are what make us climb another ring on the ladder. Some might think these rings are challenges coming incessantly one after the other, and trust me if your a business owner this feeling is a constant. But i had to unlearn the “why is this happening” and instead embrace “it is what it is, how can i move forward”. It has been so freeing to apply this lesson to all parts of my life but most importantly it has changed the way i run my business and i think that that has truly made ARTime BARRO a unique gem because it is ever evolving with me.

Any advice for managing a team?

Humility, empathy, and dynamic action. I have learned that besides the customers who invest in the business, the most important people are the ones who run it. The boots on the ground people that are there having customer interactions and providing services are the ones who should be highly favored and credited. As a business owner i must have humility if i am no longer there every day. Yes i might be the one who got the idea in the first place, started it fully on my own, and worked 7 days a week to get it up and running but once you have a team, you now work for them. I must make their work life operationally easier so that morale and consistency can stand high. And i must be humble enough to pass as another employee, to be able to gain confidence from them and be trusted enough to be told the positives and negatives of the business. And once told, i must not let things be taken personally rather constructively, and go into action mode to solve them. The best part of working with people is that they are people, there is personality and liveliness that customers feel and come back for. However with people come human problems and we must have empathy to be able to connect and understand each and every ones perspective. Building connections and asking questions are so important and checking in with each employee is needed to better manage that person and receive positive energy in the workplace. We are humans, working for other humans, and also teaching other humans, so the intentions of care and trust should always be there. Managing a team is a dance that takes intuition, care and trust and if you operate this way others will follow.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.artimebarro.com
• Instagram: @artimebarro
• Facebook: ARTime BARRO