Inspiring Conversations with Monica Serrano of Monarca Instruments & Tailor

Today we’d like to introduce you to Monica Serrano.

Hi Monica, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’m a first-generation Mexican American, born and raised in West Los Angeles, and the first in my family to earn a college degree. In 2012, I moved across the country to attend Bryant University, where I studied International Business and Finance. At the time, I could have never imagined that everything I was learning—from business and supply chain to fashion and luxury service—would eventually lead me back to my own culture in a completely unexpected way.

After graduating, I returned home to Los Angeles and began my career in supply chain. I had always been drawn to fashion, and in 2019, I was fortunate to join Louis Vuitton as a buyer within its supply chain organization. Around the same time, I began working on weekends with a luxury styling firm in Los Angeles, eventually moving into an operations management role.

Those years shaped the way I understand business and service. In the luxury world, every detail matters—quality, presentation, communication, deadlines, consistency, and the ability to find a solution when something doesn’t go according to plan. But one of the most important things I learned was that true luxury isn’t simply about price. It’s about how you make someone feel and the value you provide them.

Meanwhile, a completely different part of my life was shaping my future.

In 2016, I met my now-husband, Osvaldo Mendoza, while he was touring with the world-renowned Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán. Although I grew up Mexican American and mariachi music had always been around me, I didn’t truly understand its depth, discipline, history, or artistry.

Osvaldo changed that completely.

He is a third-generation mariachi musician from a family with an incredible musical legacy. His father performed as a trumpeter alongside Vicente Fernández for more than 30 years, and Osvaldo himself has performed on major stages around the world, including the United Nations in Switzerland and alongside artists such as Luis Miguel.

Through him, his family, and the experiences I was fortunate enough to witness, I began seeing mariachi through an entirely different lens. I saw the years of training behind the music, the craftsmanship behind the instruments and attire, and the responsibility these artists carry in preserving such an important part of Mexican culture.

When Osvaldo and I married in 2021, he began building his own ensemble in Los Angeles, Osvaldo Mendoza y su Mariachi Cielito Lindo. As I became more immersed in the industry, I started paying attention not only to the artistry, but also to the business surrounding it.

I kept hearing the same frustrations: instruments that looked beautiful but didn’t deliver the expected sound or comfort, difficulty finding properly fitted mariachi suits, inconsistent quality, missed deadlines, and a general lack of professional service.

And that’s where my professional world and my personal world collided.

I kept thinking about everything I had learned throughout my career and asking myself:

Why shouldn’t mariachi musicians receive the same level of service, attention to detail, craftsmanship, and respect that I had seen provided to some of the world’s most discerning luxury clients?

That question became Monarca.

In 2022, I decided to turn that idea into a business. I knew what I could bring to the industry through my background in international business, supply chain, operations, fashion, styling, and luxury service. I also knew that if I wanted to build Monarca correctly, I needed to respect the industry enough to learn from someone who had lived it his entire life.

Osvaldo’s support and expertise became invaluable. His generational knowledge and extensive professional experience gave me insight into what musicians actually need from their instruments, attire, and accessories, while my own experience gave me the foundation to turn those needs into a brand, a product offering, and a customer experience.

That is how I founded Monarca Instruments & Tailor.

From the beginning, my vision was bigger than selling instruments and suits. I wanted to create an experience and help elevate the standard of service surrounding the mariachi industry.

Today, our instruments are handcrafted in Guadalajara, Jalisco, with an emphasis on quality, sound, craftsmanship, and comfort. Our mariachi suits are custom-made, and one of my favorite parts of what I do is working directly with musicians to create something that represents their personality and artistry.

But what means the most to me isn’t simply what we sell. It’s how we treat people.

Whether someone is an internationally recognized artist, a lifelong working mariachi, a student purchasing their first professional instrument, or a parent investing in their child’s first traje, they receive the same respect and attention from us. There is no hierarchy in the way we treat our clients.

To me, premium service isn’t about exclusivity. It’s about making people feel valued.

Mariachi musicians carry forward generations of Mexican history and culture. Their instruments are their voices, their attire represents tradition and pride, and their music accompanies families through some of the most meaningful moments of their lives. I want the experience of purchasing the tools of that artistry to reflect the value of what they do.

Looking back, Monarca Instruments & Tailor is really the intersection of two worlds I never expected would come together: the mariachi world I came to know and deeply respect through my husband and his family, and the world of business, fashion, operations, and luxury service that shaped me professionally.

I took what I learned from both and built something for a community I deeply respect.

For me, Monarca Instruments & Tailor is bigger than instruments and suits. It’s about honoring the artist, elevating the industry, and giving mariachi the quality, service, and respect it deserves.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Smooth? Definitely not—and I wouldn’t change that.

I launched Monarca Instruments & Tailor during one of the most transformative seasons of my life. I became a first-time mother in 2023, and shortly after becoming pregnant with my second child in 2024, I was laid off from my job. Suddenly, I was navigating motherhood, raising two babies under two, and building a company—all at the same time.

But I don’t look back at those experiences as obstacles. I look at them as lessons, and every one of them has watered this business and helped it grow.

Building Monarca largely on my own meant I couldn’t simply delegate every challenge that came my way. I had to learn the business from the inside out. I’ve personally worked across nearly every part of the company—from operations, purchasing, product development, and vendor relationships to logistics, customer service, quality control, marketing, branding, accounting, and even packaging orders.

Today, I consider that one of my greatest advantages.

I know my business. I know my products. I know my clients. I understand what happens from the moment an idea is developed to the moment a finished product reaches an artist’s hands. When something isn’t working, I can identify it, adjust, and move forward. That level of involvement has made me a much stronger and more intentional business owner.
My corporate career taught me systems, structure, professionalism, and accountability. Entrepreneurship has taught me something different: how to build when the perfect resources aren’t available, how to make decisions with confidence, how to trust my instincts, and how to turn limitations into opportunities to become more creative and resourceful.

Motherhood has strengthened those qualities even further. Raising two young children while building Monarca has made me incredibly disciplined with my time and very clear about my priorities. It has also made this journey more meaningful because my children are growing up watching both of their parents build something of their own—their father through his musical career and me through Monarca Instruments & Tailor .

They’re not simply hearing us talk about hard work, culture, entrepreneurship, and creating something of your own. They’re watching it happen.

When I look back at the woman who had to figure all of this out, I don’t feel sorry for her. I admire her.

If you had asked me five years ago where I thought I would be today, this wouldn’t have been my answer. I never imagined I would be a mother of two and an entrepreneur building a company rooted in a part of my Mexican culture that I had once understood so little about.

But that’s one of the greatest lessons this journey has given me: sometimes the life you never planned for becomes the one that shows you exactly what you’re capable of.

I’m still learning, still growing, and still building—and I think that’s the exciting part.

Monarca wasn’t built despite the challenges. In many ways, it grew because of them. Every lesson has made me sharper, more resourceful, more disciplined, and more certain about the kind of woman, mother, and business owner I want to become.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
When people hear words like “premium” or “luxury,” they sometimes associate them with exclusivity. At Monarca Instruments & Tailor, I see it differently.

Premium describes our standard, not the status of our customer.

We specialize in handcrafted mariachi instruments, custom-made mariachi attire, and accessories designed specifically for the needs of musicians. Our instruments are handcrafted in Guadalajara, Jalisco, with an emphasis on sound, quality, balance, comfort, and craftsmanship. Our suits are made to order, and I work closely with clients on everything from fit and measurements to colors, embroidery, botonadura, moños, and the details that make each piece personal to the artist.
But the product is only one part of the Monarca experience.

Whether we’re working with an internationally recognized artist, a professional mariachi, an institution investing in its ensemble, a student purchasing their first serious instrument, or parents ordering their child’s first traje, our standard doesn’t change. Every client deserves clear communication, attention to detail, honesty, quality, and respect.

I want someone to open their instrument case and feel confident about what’s inside. I want a musician to put on their custom suit, look in the mirror, and feel ready before they ever play the first note. When parents purchase that first instrument or traje for their child, I want them to know that we understand how meaningful that moment is. And when an established professional trusts Monarca with the tools of their livelihood, we understand the responsibility that comes with that as well.

That’s what I want Monarca to be known for: creating value beyond the transaction.

Of course, I want our products to be beautiful. I want exceptional craftsmanship, dependable delivery, transparent communication, and continuous improvement. But ultimately, I want Monarca to contribute to something larger.
Mariachi musicians are preserving and performing a cultural tradition that has been passed down through generations. There should be tremendous pride in the instruments they carry, the attire they wear, and the profession they represent.
That’s what I want people to understand about Monarca: we aren’t trying to change mariachi. We’re honoring what already makes it extraordinary while raising the standard of everything surrounding it.

As Monarca grows, my goal is for the name to become synonymous with craftsmanship, professionalism, trust, and cultural pride—without ever losing the personal relationship with and respect for the artist that inspired me to build it in the first place.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I absolutely consider myself a risk-taker—but a calculated one.

Starting Monarca Instruments & Tailor was a risk. Building a business in an industry that was new to me while becoming a new mother was a risk. At the same time, my husband was building his own musical career, so we were choosing a path that was far less conventional—and certainly less predictable—than the one we could have taken.

But that’s also what makes this chapter of my life so exciting. I made the decision to bet on myself.

I’ve never viewed risk as being reckless. To me, taking a risk means doing your homework, understanding what you’re stepping into, believing in what you’re building, and then being willing to put in the work required to give yourself the best possible chance of succeeding.

I’m disciplined in the way I approach things. I research, analyze, ask questions, pay attention to numbers, and learn from people who know things I don’t. I don’t expect myself to have every answer, but I trust myself to find one.

Entrepreneurship has strengthened that trust tremendously.

I’ve learned to say this confidently: I know what I bring to the table.

I’m educated. I’m resourceful. I’m disciplined. When I don’t know something, I learn it. When something doesn’t work, I adjust. And when I make a mistake, I take the lesson and use it to become better.

I’ve come to believe that extraordinary results usually require an extraordinary level of commitment. It’s easy to admire someone’s outcome; what we don’t always see is everything that happened before it—the discipline, uncomfortable decisions, patience, mistakes, early mornings, late nights, and the willingness to keep showing up when there is no immediate reward.

That’s what risk-taking has taught me: you have to be willing to believe in something before you have the evidence that it’s going to work. And sometimes, that “something” is yourself.

Motherhood has made that perspective even stronger. My children don’t make me less willing to take risks; they make me more intentional about which risks are worth taking. I want them to grow up watching a mother who wasn’t afraid to build something of her own, even when a more conventional path may have been easier or more predictable.

I want them to understand that security has value, but so does ownership. That discipline creates options. That you can be incredibly grateful for what you have while still being ambitious about where you’re going. And that sometimes the biggest risk is never finding out what you’re capable of because you were too afraid to try.

If someone reading this has an idea they can’t stop thinking about, I would never tell them to blindly take a leap. Educate yourself. Ask questions. Learn your industry. Understand the risk. Build the discipline required to support your ambition.
But don’t spend your entire life waiting to feel 100% ready, because that day may never come.

I certainly didn’t have everything figured out when I founded Monarca, and I still don’t have every answer today. I’m still learning, building, and evolving. But I’ve stopped confusing “I haven’t done this before” with “I’m not capable of doing this.”
There’s a huge difference.

I don’t know exactly what Monarca Instruments & Tailor will look like ten years from now, but I know the standard I’m building it with, the work I’m willing to put behind it, and the woman I’m becoming in the process.

And if another woman, another mother, another first-generation professional, or simply someone with a dream they can’t stop thinking about reads my story and thinks, maybe I can bet on myself too, then sharing my story was worth it.
Taking risks hasn’t made me question what I’m capable of. It’s helped me discover it—and I hope my story encourages someone else to discover what they’re capable of, too.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://instrumentosmonarca.com/
• Instagram: monarcaco.official