Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Rojas.
Hi Sara, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
It is very exciting to share a fraction of my story and how facing fears made me make one of the most important decisions in my life. In Mexico, I grew up in a family of merchants and hard-working people. My father worked for many years here in the USA while my mother started different businesses in Mexico (which over time were difficult to maintain due to low sales and closed) but also some members of my family had a pottery workshop, like my aunt who made plates and cups…
At the age of 20 and after giving up college, I decided to move with my parents to Brenham Texas from Mexico; without knowing what to do, without knowing English and without a goal, I found out that I was pregnant. So it was time to look for a job.
I worked for 2 weeks as a dishwasher in a Tex-Mex restaurant from which I was fired (probably because I didn’t understand what they were saying and I was VERY slow)
After that and a motivational talk with my mom about taking risks to win, I went to ask for a job where they only hired as waitresses, I talked with a person without knowing that he was the boss and I told him that my English was bad and I had never worked as a waitress… Anyway, he hired me.
After 2 years I realized that I could not be part of a job for my whole life, that I had more things to share with people, especially after many negative comments about Hispanic people from a few customers at my last two jobs.
I went through many ideas that did not turn out to be very good; so I got tired of dealing with the “popular of the moment” things and I thought: “What if I sell something traditional that reminds Mexican people of their country? Because I missed Mexico a lot, so what better than crafts made by my family and friends?!
… so, I did!
I brought my first box of hand-painted cups, they were my first small pieces from Mexico, (This is where the name of the Facebook page I created in 2016 was born) “A little piece of Mexico” and just after 2 or 3 months of sharing posts and trying to sell my products one by one in Downtown Brenham, to each business around. Within a few weeks, friends started contacting me to buy my little cups, then they asked for pots, then plates and finally, we got 3 big orders of custom mugs! Just days after, we attended our first market in Brenham, where we had a huge sale! That means more money to get MORE boxes of different stuff.
It is there that I understood that anything would be great as long as you work on it and as much as your effort.
Officially I started my own business making something I love: bringing a little bit of my culture to my friends and family here so they can remember traditions and a part of Mexico.
Our family started working on new unique pieces painted and made 100% by hand, every month we received new pieces to offer until it was too much work and I couldn’t divide myself anymore between being a mom, working as a waitress and selling at festivals. It was time to collect all my tips to rent a space and finally open our first small store.
But God and my parents had better plans! They found a commercial place a few blocks from downtown in Brenham FOR SALE! and with the tips of 2 and a half years, we closed a contract to buy the property! It was a very old, dirty and destroyed place but it was MINE!
I quit my job, brought more boxes of Talavera and we repaired the old “new” store during my free time without knowing anything about business and learning a little more English, we asked friends and the internet how to start the process of a business in the USA.
It was a difficult process, but we decided to open our store in 2020!!
Just a week before everyone shut down thanks to COVID-19. 😢
So we had no choice but to temporarily close our doors because… who would buy pots in a time of pandemic??
It was sad to think that I paid all my savings into new merchandise. My family in Mexico hoped that I would sell a lot so they could have more work. I have my daughter that needed to eat and I had just signed a loan with the bank for the new property.
Had to do something so I decided to start selling tamales and meet with people to pick up them up inside the Talavera store.
Incredible as it may seem, people decided to support us and bought something small from the store too, shared their purchase on Facebook and suddenly, we had people making an appointment to visit the store… IN THE MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC. I have always said, if we survive such a difficult season, without a doubt our store is meant to be.
As the weeks went by we already had a couple of people at the same time making appointments on the weekends, so I decided to talk to a friend (Daniela) who does traditional Mexican embroidery accessories in Puebla to create a new and functional accessory. We started selling Mexican hand-embroidered face masks 😷
In our first order, we sold 100+ face masks!! All the ones we order to have for the rest of the month in one day! So more people came because they saw someone on the street with them (the face masks) in the end, we sold 3000+ face masks in 6 months!! And with this our store became known and the same began to happen with each new product that we put in the store.
We no longer sell 3,000+ masks or pots in 6 months, but without a doubt the support of people in difficult times made us see that people really appreciate our work and that they are interested in learning about our history and how we make our products.
That is why we owe our growth to the people who have been there since day 1 and the new clients who are interested in our work, all of them including those who have even visited our workshop in Guanajuato!
I love what I do, I look to my side and see my daughter learning that to be successful you have to write your own story and isn’t easy, but you choose how to live the hard times in life and how to enjoy the good ones! I will be forever thankful for the community for the support and all my family and friends that make our Talavera and accessories every day to help us bring more small pieces of Mexico 🇲🇽
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Getting to where I am now have already been difficult, facing motherhood at a very young age, moving to a totally different country with a different language and no business knowledge.
Not everyone sees us well when we arrive representing a different culture or country
We have had festivals or markets in which we sell absolutely nothing
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
For me, it is very important to let people know that the pottery that I sell is not just a product that we bring and offer to people.
Our Talavera is made by our family, it is painted and made 100% by hand, especially for each of our clients.
Each pattern is made with dedication and love and we are happy to be a family business where between friends and family, we manage the process of bringing our crafts, we create them, package them and sell them from our hands to yours.
My goal in my business is to be able to bring a little piece of our culture to your home, where we continue to preserve traditions, where we can see a piece and it brings back memories.
Because we have customers who, without being Mexican, when they see our store, it reminds them of family memories, a vacation, a party, and even a family member who is no longer with them, but who used to have a Talavera collection.
Now, thanks to the support of the people, we have been able to reach more local restaurants with our personalized products and wholesale s to reach more people.
Once again, I am blessed to be able to share a little piece of Mexico with all those who support us, to be able to sell products made by my family and to be able to go further by sharing stories and memories.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I love the variety of cultures, the diversity of people, businesses and new things that you can discover in the city. Each space makes you wrap yourself inside its own atmosphere
Actually, there is nothing that I dislike as such, thanks to my work I have allowed myself to get to know the city and its people a little more. I think it’s very special.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://a-little-piece-of-mexico.square.site/
- Instagram: Instagram.com/littlepieceofmx
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/littlepiecemx/
