Pieces de mi Alma

This year, the Welcoming Center partnered with Philadelphia Parks and Recreation and Philadelphia Department of Commerce to bring minority and women owned venders to the annual Christmas Village. As an immigrant and a woman, just being a vendor was very empowering for me. Being a mother to five small children, sometimes it doesn’t matter what we say, it’s what we do that speaks the most to them. With my business, Pieces di Mi Alma, I make and sell handmade and imported goods that are meaningful to me and my culture.

I find joy in making things and the way I use materials and objects. I use a lot of recycled material and upcycle old, worn-out pieces. I work with a lot of found objects and refinish furniture—combining the old with the new.  

In the past years, I’ve really struggled. On top of being a fulltime mom, being an outsider can feel lonely. With my last child, I suffered from postpartum depression. There were so many factors that came into play that made it very difficult for me to reach out for help. I didn’t know how to ask or where to start.

When I first started crafting, I felt that fixing old things—broken things, ugly things—it was my own way of healing myself because I sometimes felt broken and not worth anything. I wanted to show that there was still beauty in things that have been cast aside. And that’s been my model. In fact, my original business name was Serenity Lotus Designs because the lotus flower grows from the mud. That dark mud is where I was. But beauty and life are still possible from that place.

In the beginning, I didn’t have any long-term vision of what I was doing. I just did a little bit of everything and explored things I thought I might be good at. It became a hobby. And as I look back, I believe it was a thing I did to help myself. It was a way to spend time with myself and it helped with the depression that I had been experiencing. It wasn’t until a friend told me “Hey, you should do this for real,” that my outlook started to change.

Creating my Facebook page to sell my things was really that spark that made everything else happen. Because of this page, I found the Mercado de Latinas, a local market made up of Latin women vendors. I was hesitant to get involved. But the idea captured me, and I invested more and more in the idea. I thought “Let’s do this!”

Selling at this local market was how I got connected to The Welcoming Center. That’s when I embarked on a 3-month journey through their Business Training Course. After that, I was committed to the idea of being an entrepreneur. Taking this workshop gave me a much fuller picture about what it would take to start a business. It’s not just about making things. I needed to understand the financial component and learn strategies for running a business. I thought, “Oh my goodness. I can do this. Even as an immigrant, I can do this. I can make this work.” That was a new feeling for me. 

More recently, I’ve started importing goods from Mexico. My mother goes to small towns in Mexico where the income is generated by the woman. They are the ones who are doing the work and these goods are their livelihood. It's a way to carry their traditions forward. Mexican culture is very traditional, and these pieces are a part of who we are. It also means that I can provide unique items that I love and don't often see here in the states.

 Besides being an incredible resource for information, the program at The Welcoming Center is supportive and connects you to a larger community. I don't really have enough words to say how they have supported me in my goals. Especially being at the Christmas Village this year, it was very liberating and empowering to be there as an immigrant woman.

 I have two girls and it’s exciting for them to see me doing something that I love and something that is important to me. I remember one time I was really busy, and I got short with my daughter, and I said to her “Oh my goodness, what are you going to remember about me?  She said to me, “I’m going to remember that you are a strong woman who started your own business.” So that is what I keep my focus on; that is what keeps pushing me forward. It has been a rewarding struggle so far and a very beautiful journey.