Meet Claudia Zelaya Iturregui | Founder at Mi Petit Pois

We had the good fortune of connecting with Claudia Zelaya Iturregui and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Claudia, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Prior to giving birth, I had taken a step back from my career as a registered behavioral technician for children with autism. I had become a full-time mom dedicated toward taking an active role in the very early stages of my son’s development. As one might expect, I had a decent amount of time to think about what my future would look like and whether I wanted to continue down the path that I was on. I decided that I was interested in pivoting toward something that I could manage from home and that would not impact my ability to be with my son as much as possible.

Now, what that would end up being in practice I had no idea, but I was open to considering my options as they sprung up. Eventually, it came about as such. I had spent months stocking up on clothing for my son both prior to his birth and immediately after, finding diamonds in the rough where they were. I was never quite enamored with the selection of clothes that you would find in retailers here in the United States. In my head, I always imagined dressing my children in the same type of hand-knit, artisanal style clothing that I was dressed in when I was a baby. The craftsmanship, however, was just not readily available here. By coincidence, I went to Madrid for a brief trip with my family and there I was surprised beyond belief. All of the clothing that I had been looking for: quilted, hand-knit, and 100% cotton was the norm for smaller mom-and-pop shops and, even, some of the larger retailers. I bought more than a few pieces and returned to Miami completely satisfied with my fresh new haul for our soon-to-be impeccably dressed son.

Soon thereafter I thought, I wondered how difficult it would be to partner with some of these brands and help bring their products here to the US. After all, there had to be moms just like me who sought out these heirloom style pieces to dress their kids, especially for more formal events. I reached out to them, established contacts and built trust over months until they were comfortable working directly with me. That’s how Mi Petit Pois (https://mipetitpois.com/) came to be!

What should our readers know about your business?
My business, Mi Petit Pois, is an online clothing boutique for babies and toddlers. We specialize in clothing that is handmade, uses sustainable materials, and is classically styled. In many ways, we carry luxury baby attire that is perfect for special occasions and also appropriate for everyday wear. Our clothes contains heavy usage of hand-knitted and quilted accents that will make your baby standout. We’re always running deals, sales on our site to make our products more accessible so always feel free to stay tuned. We leverage Instagram (@mipetitpois) as our primary distribution point via content creation. We love to maintain engagement with our community and let them in on any special deals or giveaways.

Getting to where we are today has entailed managing the natural volatility one might expect with an ecommerce business. There are days where our posts rocket ship and lead to extremely high engagement from our community and other third-parties, while other days what we believe to be quality posts and deals fall flat. This is the nature of a business though, consumers can be fickle. It’s your job as a business owner to meet them where they want to be met and deliver additional value. We strive to do that every day.

There are so many lessons that I’ve been able to take away from running Mi Petit Pois full-time. First and foremost, remain persistent. When running a business, nothing will work the way it’s originally intended to. Creating high-quality content, providing impressive deals, partnering with reputable brands have a high-degree of correlation with your businesses performance but it is not the end-all-be-all. It’s important to note that none of these things, if one offs, will contribute materially to your business. You NEED to remain consistent and persistent. Keep your head down and focus on the big picture. Not every post is going to be a homerun, but if you curate, test, and iterate based on what’s working, it will be eventually.

I want the world, digital and real, to know that Mi Petit Pois is committed to sourcing the very best baby and toddler clothing across reputable European brands that focus on heirloom, artisanal quality. Clothes that can be worn and re-worn without issue, clothes that can be handed down to the next generation because they are timeless.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If I had a friend visiting me from out of town, the first place I’d take them to is our neighborhood grocery store, the Golden Hog. It’s a beautiful little store that serves high-quality foods with even better ingredients. Their sandwiches are also to die for! For dinner, I’d introduce them to my favorite neighborhood spot, a restaurant called Ayesha in Key Biscayne. Don’t skip out on the cheese naan, it’s the best in Miami. Finally to hang out, I would simply walk them around Key Biscayne. There are so many shops, restaurants in the area, it’s no wonder most people can spend weeks without leaving the island.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Of course, it takes a village! Mi Petit Pois wouldn’t be possible without the patience, attentiveness, and constant support of my husband and our families. Without them, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to manage the day-to-day operations of my business, let alone source new products, manage our inventory, and ideate on new partnership opportunities. Running a business of one is not for the weak, and having a steadfast support network backing you makes the different priorities of life seem less overwhelming. Thank you guys!

Website: https://mipetitpois.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mipetitpois/

Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/claudia-m-iturregui-zelaya-038292140

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Mi-Petit-Pois/61573189464464/#