Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Randi Perez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Randi, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Creating a name for my small business was definitely not as easy as I was thinking it would be. I went back and forth with different names, looked at other small shops to see how their names came to be, asked family and friends for their opinions. I worried that something I picked might be too generic, boring, obvious, or similar to someone else’s shop name. Finally, I stopped overthinking the process and just made a list of words that described me or were important to me. With that list, I narrowed it down to Happy Randi Magic. “Happy” represented my demeanor, most people that know me know that I am a pretty happy, sometimes overly excited, person and I always try to make others happy too. “Randi” is my nickname, what I’ve been called my whole life, and how I introduce myself. “Magic” was a word that encompassed a lot of feelings for me. I love all things Disney, love going to all the Disney parks (fun fact I’ve been to all the Disney parks around the world), love watching my kids grow up and be excited about all things Disney. All of these experiences and memories are so special and “magical” it was a way for me to incorporate it into what I love doing – creating little pieces of magic for people.

Randi, 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?

My name is Randi Perez, I was born and raised in Long Beach, California, graduated from Cal State Long Beach and moved to San Francisco in 2014. My degree is in Engineering and I am currently a full time engineer at a tech company here in the bay area. Throughout my life I have always loved crafting from cross stitching, journaling, paper crafts, making presents and more. It wasn’t until the pandemic that I learned how to sew, mainly because people were making the cutest masks and I couldn’t continue to buy more. I learned to sew masks for my family and friends, then gradually worked my way into different pouch patterns then eventually challenging myself to try slightly bigger and more complicated items like hip packs and bags. During this time I was also playing with resin and learning to make trays, magnets, popsockets and keychains. In 2020 my husband and I also had our first baby so I decided to stick to one hobby, and chose sewing. I met a lot of people and made many friends in the Instagram community connecting with many small shops that encouraged me to open up my own small shop. After talking with my husband and thinking about all the work that would be needed to go into running a small business I decided to test the waters. My first step was signing up to do an in person popup event, which a friend recommended, that was located in Sacramento. After being so nervous and anxious for my first popup event, by the end I was so excited and already thinking about the next! I loved the atmosphere, connecting and meeting with other vendors/small shops and meeting so many people. It was an amazing feeling having people stop by my table and of course every purchase I did a happy dance! Since then the journey has been a slow and steady one, since having my 2nd baby in 2023, it has been a little slower in figuring out that work-life-hobby balance, but it’s getting there.

My passion for Disney is definitely reflected in a lot of the items I make, whether it be the Disney fabric or the hip packs and bags to wear on your next Disney adventure! I do also love anime and Sanrio and have recently had more design options for those as well. I love to work with fabric and vinyls, my best sellers are definitely items I make using clear vinyls since they are a sturdy material and see through!

I take a lot of pride in being able to make such fun and unique items for friends, family and customers. I’m most proud of putting myself out there, creating a small shop and selling items I’ve put a lot of heart into making. I strive to make items as perfect as I can, but of course nothings perfect, and none of my items are either. Seeing people use and wear my items brings me the most joy and is the reason I continue to keep my small shop going. I also love making new friends in this community and this space and always happy to talk to people – about anything!

The hope I have for HappyRandiMagic is to continue to grow and make more magical products for people. I would love to reach more people in the community and share the items I make with people all over. I always welcome feedback and suggestions from customers or people just checking out my shop! I am just a 1 person shop and that probably won’t change for awhile, but I love being able to do this and that my family supports me in every way! I truly appreciate all the support my shop has gotten over the years – through every follow, like, share, and purchase – no gesture is too small and I’ll never take that for granted.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

There have been 2 times I’ve had to make a pivot while running HappyRandiMagic and that was when I’ve had my 2 children. Outside of my full time job and having a newborn doesn’t leave a lot of free time on the table to manage a small shop. When I had my son in 202o, I was a first time mom, not knowing what to expect I decided to step away from my shop for a few months or until I felt comfortable enough to resume. I needed to take time to figure out what was best for me and my family and what was important to me, so I took a step back and decided to focus on family, Once I was able to get into a good routine with the family I was able to slowly start taking back on small shop activities. Then once I had gotten into a good groove, in 2023 I had my daughter, which again threw in a wrench of a new dynamic – a toddler and newborn. I again took a step back, but this also came at a good time. More and more small shops have popped up in the last year and more in person popups have been widely available across the bay area meaning there was a lot more options for people to go to now. This was a good time to reflect on what makes the most sense going forward for my shop – such as stick to an online shop, do bigger popup events only. With the time that I have, what allows me the best option for me to connect with my customers and sell merchandise without taking up too much time from my family. Though I’m still figuring this out, I think it’s good to have times in your life that force you to stop and reflect, decide if change is necessary, and to remind yourself to be happy in what you are doing.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Getting a consistent set of clients, returning and new can be hard and something I still struggle with today. Having a good following and social media presence I feel is a key part in driving your content to be seen and get potential new customers. I have struggled with being consistent on social media – posting and interacting for my shop. I have done quite a few popups around the bay area and have found that going to the same popup events in the same area definitely help with returning customers and trying new popups in new areas can help with finding new ones. I love the interaction I get with being able to meet and connect with people in person so I have found this to be my most successful in getting new people to notice my shop.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/HappyRandiMagic
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happyrandimagic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/happyrandimagic