Meet Gina Perez

We recently connected with Gina Perez and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Gina, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I have been developing the ability to be resilient for many years. I even suggest that it started in childhood. I attribute three factors to this essential quality. First, I am fortunate to have a large extended family that has supported me throughout my life and role-modeled what it looks like to bounce back from failure and misfortune. Second, I have a lengthy career as a high school, college, and professional athlete. Sports gave me the opportunity to lose. While that may sound odd, I believe that this aided in developing my resilience. It gave me the experience of learning how to move forward even when you put your best foot forth and still technically lose according to the scoreboard. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I am surrounded by a fantastic network of people. I am in a relationship that is loving and supportive. My most trusted friends are reliable and caring. Without them, I imagine I would feel isolated and alone, which does not enhance or encourage resilience.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I was born and raised in San Antonio. A product of being raised by a family village in a culturally diverse city. Common for the 80’s, I was a latch-key kid from a split home, but my Mom and Dad were always involved in my life. Both parents were hard-working, and I definitely got the lesson in hard work and the entrepreneurial spirit from them. Good grades and the golden rule was the outlined playbook shown to me at a very early age. It was also apparent that I had gifted athletic skills and a brain to go along with it. Playing sports as a young child and into my teenage years enhanced many of my natural abilities, including healthy competition, the ability to learn as much from losing as from winning, and how to engage in a team environment. As an adult, I was afforded the opportunity to attend Texas A&M University, where I lettered in softball and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business. The use of the internet was just beginning to take off, and the world was on the edge of a social media revolution. After playing softball professionally for three years in Florida, I transitioned into the corporate world, where I spent 20 years developing, enhancing, and then sustaining the e-commerce business of an international sporting goods retailer. I pivoted from sporting goods after 17 years into a CPG snack food brand for the next 4 years. For all intents and purposes, I was what I thought to be deemed ‘successful.’ Promotions and pay increases were my main measuring stick. No complaints, but I realized that there was something still missing for me. I was not completely fulfilled. I also wanted to give back in a meaningful way. After having a conversation one evening, a lifelong desire to start my own business was reinvigorated. My entrepreneurial spirit was in full swing. Now the questions of “In what context?” and “How do I actually go about this?” took hold.

For as long as I can remember, I have loved animals. While cats have an equal part of my heart, I have a strong affinity for dogs. As I dropped deeply into these questions, it became increasingly clear to me that my love of animals and my entrepreneurial mind could find a space together. So, for 3-4 months at the end of 2019, I did research, did the business development legwork, and started establishing my brand and brand assets. There were many nights where I only got 2-3 hours of sleep as I did all this after coming home from my full-time job. Just as that work schedule started to take a toll, my partner and I mapped out the “when and how” of leaving my corporate career to start my own company. Three weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic, I officially left my corporate job and embarked on the journey of starting my own company. Little did I know that the whole country and the world would shut down in a matter of a few months. I really thought I had made a mistake. But as fate would have it…the pandemic was not detrimental to my business. Thankfully my research had concluded that the pet industry was very tolerant of recessions, and the pandemic was similar to that… so what happened in the next year was that people started to order products online more than ever before… and… they adopted pets.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three qualities that are most impactful on my journey are resilience, courage and a sense of purpose. Resilience is something that I have found can be improved through relationship with people and my relationship with failure. It is important to acknowledge that we don’t “win” every time, but there is an opportunity to deepen our experiences every time we engage in life fully. Regarding courage and a sense of purpose, I would suggest that people who are early in their journey gain as much experience as they can, continue to network and take time to lean into what you are passionate about. That passion will carry you through the more challenging times.

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
I grew up in a split-family home. My parents divorced at a young age, but they each taught me so much. My dad demonstrated that hard work and being relatable to people is foundational. My mom also demonstrated a strong work ethic and never shied away from challenges or things that “women shouldn’t do” because they are women. As in most Hispanic families, you are brought up by a village of aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings…the proverbial “village”. My village was a big part of my upbringing and is still my support system to this day.
My childhood was filled with support and opportunity to experience ways to learn, grow, and contribute.

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Texas Pet Company

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