Meet Cintia Saravia | Visual Merchandiser and Pet Fashionista

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

Hi Cintia, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Working as a visual merchandiser for the past 8 years has given me the opportunity to learn about commercial branding and merchandising. In my line of work, we are able to use our creativity in order to bring a mood board to life. Whether it be changing out whole department’s rooms in order to create a more seasonal-appropriate trend or commercial changes in the windows and mannequins. I have learned to pickup on fashion trends and have an eye for selecting key items that will catch our customers’ interest. I have also always been an animal lover my entire life. I knew one of my goals was to work or have a career working with animals someday. As a cat mom to 4 cats, I knew I wanted to integrate my 9-5 with my passion of being around animals. One night, out of the blue, I caught myself scrolling through a website that sources pet merchandise. Initially I thought, how cute would these look on my cats! And secondly, how am I able to share these products with the pet community. Therefore launching Pretty Kitty Pet Accessories to the world.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Pretty Kitty Pet Accessories is a small Latina owned business which sells pet apparel and accessories. What sets us apart from others is that we strive to be an all inclusive pet brand. We carry an array of sizes, from tiny paws to large dogs. One time we sold a sweater to a goat! That was exciting. Diving into the unknown with starting a business will come with ups and downs. Pretty Kitty started with launching in a consignment store and vending on the weekends. To be honest, I didn’t know what I was doing, one thing I knew for sure is that people would fall in love with the brand and we would take off from there. I remember our first vending event like it was yesterday. We arrived to the event I remember taking the best product I had on hand to sell, which at that time was Halloween so I had pet costumes, pet jackets, pet accessories, headwear, funny hats, Halloween dresses and sweaters. I remember being super proud of our displays in our little tent and was excited about who our first customer was going to be. There was traffic at the event, but none of the traffic was shopping at Pretty Kitty. Customers would walk in and say is this for babies or for pets and we would say it’s for pets and they say oh I thought it was for kids. One of the challenges Pretty Kitty encountered was distinguishing our shop from a kid shop. And at this point in our business, which was early on, we did not have a logo. I knew I wanted in my logo to be a cat specifically my cat Chiquis who is a gray cat who I adopted off of OfferUp. Also, dark colored cats like gray cats, black cats are the last kitties to be adopted or rescued. I know it’s important to include my cat Chiquita in order to represent all the dark colored cats in the world, who are also pretty kitties. knew my goal was to have a distinguished logo which customers could see and say that’s pretty kitty. They sell pet accessories. This is when they came up with the idea of adding a wig on the logo. The whole mood of the logo was inspired by our muse Trixie Mattel from the wig to the colors to the font of the logo. It’s all been a Trixie inspiration. Most importantly, we want the world to know that when you shop Pretty Kitty not only are you supporting a small business, you are also shopping for a cause. A portion of all proceeds goes to Cali and Friends Rescue, who are a nonprofit organization that rescues cats and kittens from feral populations, bottle-feeds abandoned kittens, provides compassion care to the sick and injured. Also, taming and placing the feral cats that can be friendly enough to find homes up for adoption. They also trap, spay and neuter release cats that cannot be tamed. They rely heavily on donations to fund their rescue operations, including donations from their own pockets. I hold Cali and friends Rescue dear to my heart because that’s where I adopted my special cat Diego Aguilar, whose mother was abandoned while pregnant at a school and gave birth to five kitties two days after she was rescued by Cali and Friends Rescue. We can’t forget about the animal shelters, that’s why when you donate an item to an animal shelter, for example: food, toys, blankets, treats, floor pads, towels. You receive 15% off your entire purchase when you shop at Pretty Kitty. My personal goal with pretty kitty is to take off as a business, generate enough revenue to have my own non profit cat rescue, funded by the business.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
It definitely depends what friend or family I am hanging out with that’s going to determine our itinerary. if we are looking for something quiet and tranquil to get away from the hustle and bustle of life, I would definitely recommend booking an Airbnb at Joshua tree. A property that has views, jacuzzi, pool, a fun interior design, isolated from neighbors and pet friendly. If it’s something close by, it has to be Balboa Peninsula Park in Newport Beach. Nothing compares to walking the Balboa Pier to Ruby’s Diner for some fries, Balboa Bakery and Deli donuts for Ice Cream and catching the sunset at the wedge while watching the bodysurfers. Now, if we’re talking about a girls trip, we are heading south to San Diego for some food, drinks, dancing and drag queens. Union Kitchen and Tap Gaslamp for food, False Idol for drinks, dancing at Mr. Tempo Cantina and catching a show at Lips Restaurant in San Diego.

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 definitely would not be where am I today if it were not for my Argentinian immigrant mother, Marta. Not only did my mom immigrate to the states 36 years ago with the hopes of pursing the American dream, but she crossed while carrying me. Since day one my mom has been mine and my siblings biggest supporter, mentor and encouragement. Immigrating to a country where you are not able to work if you do not have a citizenship will push you to learn other trades in order to provide for your family. My mom learned how to sew back in Argentina from my grandmother who was a seamstress. Having this talent gave her the opportunity to open up her own bridal shop back in the city of Long Beach. From then on out, she would gain experience as an: telemarketer, package deliveries, party coordinator, florist, cake decorator and driving school instructor, cleaned houses to currently having her own pet grooming Mobil business, “Leos Mobil Pet Grooming” which launched during the pandemic. Not only was her business a success, she was able to partner with my sister who was also laid off during the pandemic as an HR representative. My sister would shadow my mom and take online pet grooming classes, while learning hands on experience at Leo’s Mobil Pet Grooming. The opportunity to learn the in n outs of the pet grooming business, allowed my sister to venture out and start her own mobile pet grooming called Fresh Paws Mobil Spa. My sister Priscilla, is now the owner of 2 mobile grooming buses and is quickly expanding the business. Having two strong, will-powered business women in my life, gave me the courage to start my own my own small business. I owe my success to my mom whose mantra has always been: Si no tengo trabajo, me hago uno.” Which translates to “ If I don’t have a job, I’ll make my own.” I owe my support to my sister, Priscilla, who has never settled for less and has showed with perseverance, you are able accomplish your dreams. To my husband, Nacho, who is the backbone of our business, thank you for supporting me during the process of what we didn’t know would become a small business we have grown to love and cherish. All the days of giving up our weekends to show up for back to back events, plus working our 9-5 will pay off one day. Love you. And lastly I want to thank all the Pretty Kitties who support and keep on supporting this small business, we appreciate the quirky stories you share with us about your furr children, allowing us to put funny hats on them for photos, thank you to all our Pretty Kitty models for sharing your personality with style. We appreciate every single last one of you.

Instagram: Prettykitty_petaccessories

Image Credits
Instagram @animalia.tichuphotography Name: Animalia Ti Chu Photography