Meet Monica Avila

 

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Monica Avila a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Monica , we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

I was in my mid 20s when I found my confidence and self-esteem. For me, what shifted my confidence was having my first daughter.

Before becoming a mom, I presented as an extrovert but internally, I was 100% introverted. I grew up with two older brothers who always had the spot light because they were able to achieve some really amazing athletic achievements so when the focus would be on me I essentially faked.

During my pregnancy, more specifically when I found out I was having a girls I started being more aware of how I judged myself. I had always been very hard on myself when it came to my appearance. I grew up during the time where being crazy thin was in and despite being a big athlete myself I wasn’t anywhere close to the “ideal body type”. After I found out that I was having a girl I was flooded with all the negative narratives I gave myself growing up. I remember at that time thinking how can I make my daughter now have the same outcome as me. How do I get her to be more confident in herself and have great self-esteem earlier than me?

After I had my daughter I started being more aware of the way I talked about myself and my body when I was around her. I spoke more kindly towards my appearance and was more forgiving. After some time, I realized that I started to actually believe what I was saying. I believed that all of my new stretch marks were beautiful, my body needed to grow and stretch to make room for my daughter. I believed that my hair, even though it’s now thin, hold more curl and wisdom than it did before I had her. My skin, even though it’s not as firm as it used to be, is the skin that she loved caressing while she fell asleep in my arms.

I now have two daughters and feel so lucky that I get to teach them how to tap into this tool to help with their confidence and self-esteem. I see how that small shift in mindset I made 9 years ago has blossomed into a having two amazing confident children who shower their loved ones and friends with beautiful compliments and help them gain more confidence.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am the owner and designer of Luna and Leche Maternity, a clothing brand that focuses on breastfeeding and pumping friendly styles.

I realized shortly after having my first baby that there was a huge gap in the maternity industry. Most of the focus is on mom during pregnancy and there aren’t too many options for after pregnancy. I wanted to create a maternity brand that is so versatile that you can wear almost all of our pieces during pregnancy, postpartum and beyond. There’s a lot of thought and intention that goes into every piece.

The majority of our tops are breastfeeding and pumping friendly which was really important to me. I wanted to be sure our postpartum moms stay seen and taken care of. During both of my pregnancies, I had a really hard time finding cute, fashionable and affordable tops that I can easily feed my babies in, so I make sure to prioritize that in each collection.

We have a new collection coming out later this month (July) that I’m really excited about. I have sourced this beautiful lace and am pairing it with pieces that I’m hand dying and sewing myself. The collection is called Wildflowers and she’s a beauty. Think Alice in Wonderland Tea meets a wild garden.

I’m excited to announce that we will also be a few live events this year throughout California titled Moms and Mocktails. Each event will be slightly different but with the same intention; to connect moms and meet your new BFF while asking all the weird and uncomfortable questions about pregnancy, breastfeeding, pumping and motherhood. Our first event will be in the Central Valley August 24, followed by San Francisco September 14th and Los Angeles October 24th.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I was fortunate enough to realize that I had wanted to work in the fashion industry since I was in high school. After high school I went to fashion school in SF and received my BFA and grew to where I am now. I 100% realize that not everyone’s journey moves like that but it’s important to me to highlight that.

What really helped me propel me and my business forward was realizing what was stopping me from growing my business, long story short, it was me and my thoughts.

For a long time Luna and Leche Maternity was just a thought, for about 4/5 years actually. I realized that I was tired of putting money in my bosses pockets and wanted all of my skills to benefit me 100%.

My first big step was to get myself legally protected. It was a long process because I filed during the pandemic but about a year later I legally owned Luna and Leche Maternity.

My second big step was to see where I needed help with accountability. After realizing this I went on the search to find free groups that virtually met up once a week and we held each other accountable and pushed each other to reach the goals that we made.

The third big step I took was to stop being shy about my company and constantly talk about it, even if I felt annoying and on repeat at times. How are people going to know my company exists if I am not talking a bout it? This was a hard step to overcome and I’m still working on it but the more I do it the better I get at bringing it up.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

Yes, always! Especially now that I will be doing more in-person events.

I ideally would love to work with brands or people who have the same goal as me, to help mothers thrive in motherhood. I also love talking about the fashion industry and motherhood, I can talk your ear off on both subjects if you let me, haha.

I absolutely love working with other brands who help moms thrive because us mom, especially new mom need that. We need all the help we can get.

I lived in LA (Long Beach) when I had both my girls, my closest relative was one of my brothers and my sister-in-law and they lived an hour away. I wasn’t surrounded by a huge mom community right off the back, I didn’t even have any mom friends, so I had to go out and find one. I want to be that lifeline for other moms who need it like I did.

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