We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tati Reina a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tati, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I have always known I wanted to pursue a creative path. Ever since I could remember I was always crafting, drawing, painting, making some form of art. Although there was a time when I was applying for college that I considered becoming a doctor because my dad was one, my love for art lured me into studying art and design. When I learned that I could do this for a living or at least study it in school there was no turning back. I was hooked. Being raised in Puerto Rico and Boston, I was always drawn to bold bright colors of the Caribbean. I always had a hard time adjusting to life in the north east as I found everything was so bleak and boring. I was ALWAYS the kid in school with the bright, tropical colors and patterns. Always sticking out like a sore thumb. This aesthetic is something that I have carried with me to this day. I have a hard time with white walls and black attire. My mom never let me wear black saying, “I would have the rest of my life to wear black”. Yet, even though I am now a full adult, black has not crept into my wardrobe and probably wont for the foreseeable future. My love for color and pattern has inspired and translated into my art and designs MuchoMucho.

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

I am a bold colorful wild woman who loves MuchoMucho sparkles, beads, color, pattern and making art.

I decided to create MuchoMucho Beads as an exercise in self expression and to keep myself creative. When I began, I had a full time job that was not very inspiring or exciting. I needed to feel ALIVE again and thought of what I had in my house, loved to do, and didn’t require a huge investment of time and money…..BEADS! I had MuchoMucho beads from the many creative lives I have lived and who doesn’t love jewelry!

I wanted to make something accessible for everyone that if you see it, you love it MuchoMucho, you are not freaked out by the price tag, you can actually have it! I wanted to create that experience of when you buy something that makes you and your wallet feel good. Something unique and one of a kind that does not come from a big box store.

The idea is that you can layer, mix and match and have fun with styling. Each piece is made by me with MuchoMucho Love in Los Angeles.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Aside from making money and surviving, my main objective is to have MuchoMucho fun! Keep things light. It is art making. I want what I do to inspire. To bring a smile to peoples faces. We live in such a complicated world, that I want what I do to make people feel good and remember there is beauty all around us in many forms and that everyone can have it not just the few that may have more means.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

The best thing anyone can do to support local artists and communities, is to shop local. As tempting as it is to shop big box stores and commerce platforms and the convenience of it, if you can pivot and spend some of that money back into the community, you do not realize what a huge impact that can have for people like myself. Every sale counts MuchoMucho. Like most of us, I struggle with the temptation but try my best when and where I can to support my fellow artists.

Every time I do a weekend sale in LA, I always end up shopping or trading with my fellow vendors, hence cancelling out any profit I make HA! (I might have a shopping addiction but that is for another time, wink wink) The world needs artists to keep us thinking out of the box and to add MuchoMucho sazon to our lives! All I can say is, as a consumer you have a lot of choices and if you can spend the extra time and money to shop local your decisions and actions are directly helping your communities for the better and keeping them alive. The silver lining is that you know the source that made it, making your shopping experiences more personal and intimate!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://muchomuchobeads.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/muchomuchobeads/

Image Credits

Kyle Johnson