Meet Cynthia Benzaquen | Children Clothing Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cynthia Benzaquen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cynthia, have you ever found yourself in a spot where you had to decide whether to give up or keep going? How did you make the choice?
Creating a brand is not an easy task. Especially when you start working on it and you are kind of lost on the industry and processess, While starting it, I must admit I felt I was climbing a very inclined hill. But once you start understanding how the business and the industry truly work, everything comes up easily..with a lot of work and effort, but much easier than when it first started. I must admit that there have been thousands of times in whichI stop and ask myself: “Is this worth it? Am I making an impact? Am I on the right path to being successful? After thinking for a few minutes, the answer to all this questions is YES! and I say to myself: stop overthinking this, you are making something great and this negatives vibes are not helping at all. The fact that makes me keep on going is that I know and I am positive that even if its hard and it takes a lot of time, I am making something that I am crazy passionate about and that in a future, hopefully a very near future, I will see positive results with this project. What makes me keep going is that I know that I am building something great, something beautiful and if I can inspire others to do something similar or simply to see little children wearing my designs.. then I know that every single second invested on my brand was worth it.

What should our readers know about your business?
Coquelicot is a girl’s dresses brand for girls between 3 months and 6 years. All our pieces are handmade in Spain with beautiful European fabrics and trims. Our designs are classic yet with a modern twist. We pay attention to every single detail and our quality is exceptional. I must say that it really makes me proud to have a brand that has been in business for almost four years, which people in the industry (especially in trade shows), recognize and ask for it. And what I look forward is to keep growing and to be a part of as many boutiques as possible around the world. Nothing feels better than seeing little girls around different cities wearing my designs. It wasn’t an easy road, I’ve invested a lot time and effort to this project, but definitely hard work pays off. There have been a lot of ups and downs, especially during these times of COVID, where trade shows have been cancelled, collections have been delayed and canceled. What keeps me going is realizing how awesome has been until then, and that this pandemic will end and everything will come to normal, obviously with a lot of effort and strategy. I want the world to see my brand as the brand that offer little kids beautiful handmade pieces with great quality and unique designs, but not only that, I want my brand to be recognized with the childhood innocence and essence and to always remember parents to dress their little ones like that, classic, innocent and according to their age.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Miami is the greatest city I know. It’s the perfect mixture of culture, party and also that sense of home I had in Venezuela. If I had to choose the perfect plan to do in Miami with friends, I would say going to any beach during the day, relax, eat something and have fun. After that I would go to one of my favorites restaurants such as Makoto, Mandolin Aegean Bistro, or La Mar and after that I would take them to any rooftop such as Astra, Sugar to have some drinks..

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?
I believe that my family, especially my mom and dad have been crucial on my success. At the beginning, my father was the one who motivated to start my brand, he helped me (and still he does), with everything he could. Since he had children clothing business in Venezuela, he was familiar with the business and he introduced me to the first people who helped me with my first collection. He’s always been there for support and motivation. Whenever he sees me down, he encourages me to keep going and he always say to me that businesses like this require a lot of effort, patience and dedication, and that no business has developed from night to morning. Also, I have to thanks my mom for ALWAYS being there unconditionally. At first, she started helping me with one thing on another, later on we spoke and we decided that we wanted to be business partners in this beautiful project. She’s been there with me in the ups and Dows, every trade show, every late night etc. Without a doubt, I am where I am, thanks to my parents.

Website: www.shopcoquelicot.com
Instagram: @shopcoquelicot
Linkedin: Cynthia Benzaquen
Facebook: ShopCoquelicot

Image Credits
Anabella Padula