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

Hi Veronica, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

It was fall of 2020 when my girlfriends and I connected over a business idea in my living room. By then the pandemic had taken its toll on each of us, overloading us with new responsibilities and roles, like suddenly playing teacher to our second-grader and an at-home care nurse the very next day. As much as we love our families and the roles we play in their lives, we collectively knew playing the Jack of All Trades at home was not sustainable; we had reached a new level of unrealistic expectations that we had all tried our best to meet. The truth is, Latinas carry a lot on their shoulders. We are the at-home CEO’s making financial decisions for our families, the event planners, the chefs in the kitchen, the keepers of peace and somehow manage to keep clean couches for you to sit on. Latinas do it all, and many times very little for ourselves. At least that has been the case for us. Latinas are now redefining what it means to be Latina on our own terms- and we are allowing more of ourselves to be in that new definition. Latinas want more for themselves and we want the home-responsibilities to be rescaled more fairly. We want access to education, we want to try a new career, we want to give in to the idea of starting a business of our own. My friends and I realized that while all of this is good, Latinas are doing all of this alone. Particularly where we live, in the midwest, Latinas are spread throughout the region and many of us with no other Latinas in sight. We landed on creating a lifestyle brand as a way to unify the community and as a way to keep us stylish as we each continue to chase our dreams. paraMi has become a space that keeps our creative spirits going and has become a connector for Latinas throughout the region. We have big plans for paraMi- we dream to become the brand for Latinas and allies in the midwest. One that grows and develops along with their customers. It is our mission to keep our customers close, we love engaging with them and learning about the things they are working on. Over the past 18 months we’ve met incredible women who are working hard and want to be seen, paraMi allows us to be seen.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

We love creating apparel and home goods items for our customers. Bringing cultural representation to the marketplace is something we really get excited about. Through our apparel line, our customers can find items for the workplace or school campus just as well as relaxed looks for a night at home. Our home goods line is small right now but with big plans for new products in early 2023. This year we introduced a fashion-focused newsletter that provides our customers with tips and advice on things she cares about such as skin care during the colder weather and ways to maximize her wardrobe by encouraging her to try new looks. Signing up to our newsletter through our website www.kclatina.com or following our Instagram @parami.us is the best way to stay connect and aware of new product introductions. We are thrilled for what 2023 has in store for us as we aim to connect with Latinas in Oklahoma, Iowa and Nebraska.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

We had to really unlearn the perfection mindset. When we first started we wanted all things to be perfect and many times action was held off due to anxiety of not meeting the expectations. It took some time for us to realize that things are never perfect and that waiting to reach perfection can mean opportunities are lost. We now create items with more confidence and have developed an ever-growing, evergreen mindset that allows our creativity to really flow.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

paraMi is currently our side-hustle. Our company is very young and we cannot yet employ our team. Our company is literally being built with sweat, tears and a lot of hard work on the weekends. I told you Latinas do it all!! Our dream is to grow our company to employ ourselves and other Latinas, artists and creators.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kclatina.com
• Instagram: @parami.us
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kclatina/

Image Credits
photo credit: courtesy of paraMi LLC