Meet Adriana Montoya | Owner/Baker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Adriana Montoya and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Adriana, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
My thought process took about 6-8 months driving behind the wheel without listening to music. It was the moment I was able to really think to myself and figure out saying “okay I want to get into this, where do I start”. I had originally started making dog treats for my aunts dogs back in 2018 saying i wanted to start a business, but at the time i wasn’t sure how to market them. that idea of mine drifted because well life happens. there are many store bought treats that contain preservatives that are really bad for our dogs in the long run. So I wanted to create treats that were not only cute but also healthy. I didn’t want to create generic treats I wanted to do something that I’ve never seen before and by having that mindset I was able to incorporate my Hispanic background into my business! I started to think about all the bakery items that I ate growing up and to this day, which is Pan Dulce.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I am a Hispanic dog bakery, i specialize in baking Pan Dulce for dogs! So conchas, puerquitos, Galletas, carita feliz. I also make other Mexican inspired treats like mazapan, churros, fresas con crema, flan! Everything is dog friendly and a fun way to introduce your dog to the Hispanic culture! what I believe sets me aside from other businesses is my creativity, I don’t look around to see what everyone else is doing I just do what I find exciting and have built a community that gets excited with me! The thing I’ve most proud of is my community, growing up I’ve always felt that i cared more about animals than the people around me and now I feel I’ve finally begun to surround myself with people who care just as much as I do. Social media definitely plays a huge roll in where I am today, as well as the consistency. I believed in my business and all it took was me finding my right audience to believe with me. It was definitely not easy, in the early stages I would drive for Amazon flex, so I would wake up at 2am, drive to a warehouse in corona with my 2 year old asleep in her car seat, and deliver packages till 8 am then I’d come home create content for my business and then go drive for instacart in order to pay my bills. Even on the days when I doubted myself the most I still continued to consistently post content. one night I felt as if I had hit a wall, my business wasn’t heading anywhere, my daughter was getting older and I couldn’t keep driving around with her in the back seat bored because I needed to figure out a way to make money. So I uploaded a video on tiktok like I do every day, put my phone on do not disturb, and began applying for 9-5 jobs. My phone automatically turns off do not disturb mode around 6 am, so the following morning around 7 am my phone was going nuts! I thought to my self “dang, who’s calling me so early?!” I check my phone 700 orders already placed on my online store! The video I had posted less than 12 hours ago was already at 800k views! That one video brought in $26,000 in two days and opened up an insane amount of doors and opportunities for my business! So now anytime I find myself talking to someone who owns a small business and they are stuck in not knowing how to keep going, I tell them my experience because all I did was believe in my idea.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
A week long trip! Man, well I’m a big foodie, so we will definitely be hitting up some of my favorite spots to eat! There is a place called “Claire’s at the museum “ located along the Long Beach Shore, such a beautiful ocean view brunch spot and the food is always delicious! Fat sals in Hollywood, a bit difficult to get to at times because of traffic, but is so worth it! I’m also big on supporting local street vendors, so you can never go wrong with some tacos el culichi located off Atlantic in Compton!
we will also be checking out night market to go walk around! Some of my favorites are unidos community events, angel city market la, and the 714 market

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to dedicate this shoutout to my mom, Gabriela, she is a big part of my business, running a lot of back end work while still working her full time job. She stays up with me until 4 am in the morning at times just to make sure I at least have an hour or 2 of sleep before an event. I am just extremely grateful for her.

Website: https://Lapawnaderia.store

Instagram: La_pawnaderia

Other: Tiktok: La_pawnaderia

Image Credits
The photo of me , image credit: Janette Villafana