Meet Jesenia and Chris Pena of Siestas For Fiestas in Santa Clarita

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jesenia and Chris Pena.

Jesenia and Chris, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
In 2015, we quit our jobs and moved to Cancun for an adventure. While living there we started attending a church that provides Christmas meals to families living in poverty. We were so moved by this project and wanted to find a way to help. We found this material that we fell in love with. It was colorful, bright and lightweight.

We decided to add a fun trim and make blankets. For each blanket sold, we’d provide a family with a Christmas meal. We started with 16 blankets and sold out right away. That is when we realized this could be something bigger. We had growing pains with sourcing the material and finding a good manufacturer. We’ve also had great opportunities such as our feature in Sunset Magazine. We’ve expanded to selling more beach products such as hammocks, bags and tees. A portion of all items we sell help us reach our goal of ending poverty in Cancun, Mexico.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We source material ourselves in Mexico. We spend a couple days visiting several shops in hopes of finding the material in the quantities we need. There is never a guarantee that we will find the patterns and colors that have been popular. This is a challenge with our wholesale accounts because we can’t restock the same blankets.

Another struggle we’ve had is finding a good manufacturer. Neither of us know anything about sewing or making a product. We just knew we wanted to make something beautiful that people would love and would help us feed families. We went through a few different manufacturers before finding one we love. We had ones that didn’t deliver on time or that made our product completely wrong causing us to lose inventory. Thankfully our current manufacturer is amazing. They are located in Los Angeles and believe in paying fair wages to their employees which is very important to us.

Siestas For Fiestas – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are a boutique blanket company that gives back. For each blanket sold, we provide a Christmas meal to a family living in poverty in Cancun, Mexico. Our blankets are made of material we source in Mexico. It’s called Cambaya and is super colorful and lightweight, making it the perfect size to fit in your beach bags.

We are most proud of the difference we are able to make when we sell our product. It’s such a privilege to make a product we love and also know that it’s making Christmas brighter for these families.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Last December, we were in Cancun during Christmas and got to be part of preparing the meals and feeding the families. There are many times we question ourselves and if this business is going to work. We’ve had some hard days so this moment was very emotional. We got to see these families receive a bucket full of food for them to take home to their families. They joy on their faces is priceless. It’s so worth all the hard work that goes into running a business.

Pricing:

• Siesta Blankets $58
• Coconut Tote Bags $10
• Hammocks from Tulum $52
• Siesta Mini Blankets $40

Contact Info:

• Address: 24262 Walnut St. #3
  Newhall, CA 91321
• Website: www.siestasforfiestas.com
• Email: hola@siestasforfiestas.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/siestasforfiestas/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/siestasforfiestas/

 
Image Credit:
Meghan O’Sullivan Photography
Mariel Hannah Photo

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