We had the good fortune of connecting with Denise Elias and Dawn Pasacreta and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Denise & Dawn, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?

When Denise Elias started throwing jewelry parties in her home in the early 2000’s she discovered what she thought was just a fun night with the girls was actually a business in the making. Weekly parties turned into daily drop ins from friends that were in gift crisis and just needed that perfect something “right now”! The demand became such that she just knew that the next logical step was to open a real store. Enter Dawn Pasacreta, friends who met because their boys became best friends since the first day of Kindergarten (both now in college). Dawn would help out with the jewelry parties and as talks started about “what if there was a real store…?” Dawn didn’t think twice, with her background in fashion merchandising and having worked at Macy’s and Nordstrom she knew this idea of a store front would be a huge success. Denise, a first generation Cuban American comes from a family of small business owners. As an immigrant from Cuba, Denise’s parents taught her the importance of having her own female run business. With an eye for fashion, exquisite detail and a clear understanding of what women want, LOLA New York was born.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
If a friend told me “hey I have a party to go to can you help me with an outfit” I wouldn’t give it a second thought. Our specialty is picking out the very best and helping you with any products, from the accessories to the clothes you wear. We shop so you don’t have to, and we hear from customers over and over again that this simple act on our end is so needed because not everyone finds those tasks so easy. When they say you should always think about a job where you do what you love, it’s so true. Dressing women to feel their most beautiful is our passion and we do it with pride and it shows when a customer sends us a picture of themselves in an outfit they got from us. Shopping upcoming trends, that part is easy, now how much too buy was a bit of trial and error in the beginning but you figure that out real soon. Hard work and loving what you do will always lead you down the path you want and for us we really are enjoying the journey.

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.
First stop LOLA NY, our friends from out of town always want to support our business and its fun showing them the store and of course they get a Friends & Family discount! Next door we have a Brazilian Coffee Shop, Araras Coffee & More. The coffee is amazing along with their cheese bread, we enjoy those treats daily! Being a small business we love to support other local businesses. One of our favorites is Burrata, an easy crowd pleaser. Their Neapolitan style restaurant serves delicious pizza out of a wood fired oven. Add a great bottle of wine and you have a perfect night out. Located down the way from our second location in Tuckahoe. We can end the night at another local favorite, Ice Cream Social, a new ice cream parlor that opened up in White Plains by two local White Plains ladies who saw a niche and just followed their hearts, sound familiar?!!!

Also being so close to NYC its easy to just zip in and out for a good time, we love everything about NYC, the restaurants, museums and of course the shopping!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

First and foremost our families, when we started this business our kids were young. Both stay at home moms, which in itself is a full-time job then a start up business to add to the chaos. We were so excited with the thought of where we could take this idea our adrenaline just kicked in and we never looked back. Many hours spent finding the space, designing the space and then filling it. We felt strong that our store would be in the town that we lived, White Plains, NY a tiny city in Westchester County 30 minutes north of NYC. The people here are wonderful, the city welcomed us with open arms. Our customers who started out as friends attending our jewelry parties not only showed up on opening day but they spread the word and have shopped with us since day one. Our staff is an incremental part of our success. Their dedication to the store and our customers is what keeps our business thriving. That pure love and loyalty has grown our business into what it is today, we now own two LOLA’s. Our other location is in a neighboring town in Tuckahoe, NY.

Website: www.lolany.com

Instagram: @the_lolany

Twitter: @the_lolany

Facebook: @lolanyboutique

Image Credits
Luis Antonio Ruiz @larufoto

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