We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Betsey Santana a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Betsey, thank you so much for agreeing to open up about a sensitive and personal topic like being fired or laid-off. Unfortunately, there has been a rise in layoffs recently and so your insight and experience with overcoming being let go is relevant to so many in the community.
Well, when the pandemic hit in 2020, I was a Corporate Event Planning Manager in the hotel industry. The hotel was one who got hit due to travel, and then events where cancelled by the minute. So I was sent home and the my husband and I learned that that kids could not attend school.
The night prior, I went to bed as a full time EPM, with a very hectic schedule on top of event planning. I had a routine of getting my kids ready for school, get myself to work, leaving work in the middle of my day for therapy sessions. Clocking out at 5:00pm to pick up the kids and come home to a nice hot meal, thanks to my husband! One day, we woke up to learn that we are forced to stay home and figure out life-for as long as…. we didn’t know. But at the moment, I knew that my life just slammed it’s breaks and I knew “time” was going to test me. I am a very proactive and productive individual and I hate to waste time. BUT, having all this time yet with my kids at home, was going to be interesting. So I decided to make them a part of this. They made me overcome all of this and because of them, I chose to stay motivated and keep my positive mind set.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I, Betsey aka myself and my daughter Giselle, started this small business during the pandemic. Our purpose was to bring out our “creativity and curiosity” during an uncertainty. We wanted to make the best of a situation. A situation where everything was taken away from us, however “valuable time” was given to us. One day we talked about starting a small yet fun business, because she had just turned eleven years old at the time. My goal was to teach “us both” because I had no clue. But teach us how to start something, out of nothing. We both are very crafty human beings and we thought candles would be nice. Little did we know about the different waxes and how toxic they where, so we decided to do our research and focus on waxes, then that lead us to learn about fragrance oils, then jumped in to eco-friendly. We then made it our mission and our branding: HANDMADE | NATURAL | SUSTAINABLE | REUSABLE
Here we are three years later and we are still standing with our small business. Our Collection has grown to candles, bath salts, salts scrubs, bath bombs, soap, body oils, herbal baths, linen sprays and diffusers. We have participated in many Markets in the Bay Area and Sacramento Area. We learned to built and run a website where we offer all of our handmade products. We currently own a Brick and Mortar in Folsom, CA. I say we are still standing because I will be transparent. We are still learning, the summer was crazy and did hurt our small business. But we continue to remind ourselves that struggle is essential for growth and we have learned so much. Together, my daughter and I have learned so much and that is the worth so much.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I think, that our positive mind set really made us leap. It was a strange time for everyone and motivation was something that could’ve been easily lost. Losing jobs, losing school, losing your family and friends, losing your daily routines. All this can make you feel helpless, stressed, depressed and so much more. I mean we had some qualities and our basic skills, but did we have the knowledge in this specific area? In business, marketing, finance, accounting, inventory or web designing. We had no clue!! (HAHA) But the positivity and the time that was given to us, truly allowed us to jump in and learn what we need to get us started.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
My mother who was a single mother of three at a very young age worked two jobs at a time. She worked day and night to provide for us, although she struggled, her attitude and mindset remained positive at all times. She constantly reminded us that in life we have to work for what we want, there will be struggles, but struggles are essential for growth. And that always stuck to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.betseygiselleco.com
- Instagram: @betseygiselleco
Image Credits
Image Credit: Betsey Santana
