La Petite Issue 18 | Page 103

"After 2 years of many mistakes and a few triumphs, I am now living my all time dream of creating manufactured clothing with my own illustrations." I had just joined Instagram and a whole new world had opened up to me. I really started to feel normal by being part of a world that celebrated being different, by connecting with mothers who really loved being moms and being part of a community where aesthetics were important was a gift. This is where I started to feel like my hours of Pinteresting, Etsying, and Internet researching for the perfect pair of leggings didn’t seem so ludicrous. Being instantly connected to thousands of creative people was just unreal and absolutely priceless. It was a free education into how artists are actually creating and making a living all on their own and all from their art. It made me feel that anything was possible. So, I decided to teach myself how to screenprint tshirts. After 2 years of many mistakes and a few triumphs, I am now living my all time dream of creating manufactured clothing with my own illustrations. I still need to pinch myself sometimes and realize how far this brand has come in such a short time, but I don’t think this would have ever been a reality for me without seeing others who came before me doing what I wanted to do and making it “look” easy enough for me to believe I could do it too. Q: What is the inspiration behind the brand name? When I started Hugo Loves Tiki, we were living in my mother’s basement raising our first son, Hugo. He was 1 at the time. My mom rescues animals and