Meet Elizabeth Amador | Educator, Apparel Designer, & Craft Lover

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

Hi Elizabeth, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I’ve always had the desire to have my own business. I tried a few businesses along the way but it did not work out. I realized I was missing being creative and the importance of how being creative made me feel fulfilled.

I have a degree in fashion design but I only worked in the fashion industry for one day! I also have a degree in educational administration and have been working in education for 22 years.

I wanted to combine my fashion design skills with my background in education so I decided to try making spirit wear and custom apparel. Combining both worlds has given me a great sense of pride and enjoyment.

I have also combined my love for crafting, creating, and teaching and host craft workshops with my boyfriend’s sister. We host public and private parties.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve worked in elementary education for 22 years. I was a teacher, instructional coach, vice principal, principal, and instructional specialist. In 2022, I decided to take a break from being a school administrator after 6 years as a vice principal and 1 year as a principal. I felt that it was the best thing I could do for self-care and was craving a better work-life balance. I ended up taking a Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA) job and was able to manage work and have time to explore my creative side.

I wanted to combine my fashion design skills with my love for working in education. I started making my own school spirit wear T-shirts for myself, friends, and co-workers and they were a hit. I officially opened Boutique Ellie in October 2022. I then started asking some of my former colleagues if I could try out some designs with their school logos and this is how my spirit wear brand began.

In 2024, I took a year off of working in education to help build and establish my business. This was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I noticed that spirit wear at the elementary school level was often pretty plain and simple. I decided to try to move away from this and make my designs fun and visually interesting. I started working with a school and provided an online store for parents to purchase spirit wear online and have it delivered to the school. However, I soon realized that if I wanted to scale my business to multiple schools and sports teams, I could not run a one woman business. I was creating designs, taking orders, purchasing clothing blanks, sending designs to be professionally printed, pressing the designs on the shirts, packaging the items, dropping off deliveries, and everything else to manage the day to day operations . I remember one evening feeling so overwhelmed. I was in my living room looking at a mound of clothing and began crying because I had so many orders to press and thought to myself, I love the designing part but not the production part.

I started researching to find production partners and this took a while as I tried a few different ones. Ultimately, I’ve decided to work with a production partner who will produce and ship items for me. I’m also working with a second production partner for bulk orders. It took me months to get to be able to make these big decisions and tons of trial and error.

My year off from working in education has come to an end as I’m currently looking to get back to work for the 2025 school year. However, I’m excited for the next step in growing my business which is working with multiple schools and sports teams at one time by creating online spirit stores and having the items produced and shipped by my production partner. This will allow me to focus more on what I love which is creating designs and connecting with people. I’m looking forward to what the future holds and sharing my story, brand, and designs with the world.

Another part of my business includes hosting craft workshops/parties. This has helped me combine my love for teaching, crafting, and being creative. I’ve been lucky to share this part of my business with Emma, my boyfriend’s sister. Our skill sets complement each other very well. We have had success hosting public and private parties and hope to continue to grow our network. If you’re looking for something unique to do to celebrate an occasion, our crafting workshops are the best! We combine hands-on creative activities that are fun and all you need to do is show up and enjoy since all materials are provided.

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?
I really enjoy live music! Here are some great places to eat and listen to live at the same time.

Vibrato Grill – Live Jazz Music – Los Angeles, CA

Spaghettini – Live Music – Seal Beach, CA

Isla Cuban-Latin Kitchen & Rum Bar – Live Spanish Music – La Palma, CA

Luna Bistro & Cafe – Live Music – Long Beach, CA

For a unique immersive experience try Cosm Los Angeles – The Dome Area in Inglewood, CA. You can watch a show or sporting event and it feels like you a part of the action.

I would host craft parties! We would paint planters and plant succulents. We would make purse charms, earrings, and bracelets. Finally, we’d design T-shirts and hats as well.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
It has taken a village to get me to where I am. I am so fortunate to have many people cheering me on and supporting my efforts.

There are several people I’d like to give a shoutout to since they’ve helped me in many ways.

My biggest supporter, Jesse my boyfriend, for his countless hours of free labor. Whether it’s pressing T-shirts, setting up at a vendor market, picking something up from the store, or helping me brainstorm new ideas, his support has been priceless!

My friends and family have been wonderful in purchasing custom apparel from me to help celebrate the special moments in life.

My networking group, Preferred Networking Solutions – South Bay Pros Chapter is a group of fellow business owners who have been such a wonderful cheering squad. They have purchased apparel and items to brand their business and have provided leads to help me continue to grow.

Finally, the organization SCORE and my mentor Dee. The workshops and 1:1 mentoring sessions have provided me the knowledge needed to continue to grow my business.

Website: https://BoutiqueEllieDesigns.com

Instagram: ShopBoutiqueEllieDesigns