Meet Jasmine Gonzalez Anna Look | Founders of The Pot Mamas Social Club

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jasmine Gonzalez Anna Look and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jasmine Gonzalez, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Well, the world was imploding (aka The year was 2020) and we were tragically bored with our selection of available creative outlets in our community. We are both ceramic artists and wanted to get into selling our work locally. There was a variety of local markets advertising as “artisan” markets but were underwhelmingly locally represented and lacked originality in the sea of mass-produced wares. We have a wide variety of bargain shopping in Lompoc, which adds its own value to the community. Still, we lacked a market centered around locally crafted goods made by the artists that lived in and around our city of Art & Flowers. We figured that If we felt the disconnect, that meant our peers in the community did as well. We desired a place to come together with other artists and enthusiasts to showcase and celebrate the talent hidden in our little windy valley. In a genuine effort to “be the change” we created a social club intending to unite our community in art and lifestyle.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

When we started Pot Mamas Social Club, we dreamed of opening up a pottery collective, but humbled by reality and grounded in understanding, we knew that to get there, was going to be a personal investment as much as a financial one. In 2020, with not much to go out and do, we were able to funnel our ‘social life’ spending money on investing in our dream of this business. Our growth is dependent on investing, networking, and building local positive brand awareness within our community. We focused our investments in our first year on throwing outdoor art markets and introducing ourselves to the other artists in our town. We just wanted to have fun and bring people together again in a safe way after quarantine and found outdoor markets to be the perfect and approachable start.

While we currently enjoy working with the various facilities and businesses within our community to host these events, our brand’s future lies within the eventual acquisition of our own creative space. Markets have been a great way for us to build this brand awareness and start saving for that dream space, a creative community hub for our town.

There were two main risks we faced when starting this venture; combining two individuals into a partnership and overcoming the social anxiety to put ourselves out there into the community.

Starting a business partnership was an inherent risk but one we were willing to take as friends. We make a great team and have great communication skills that assist in our working relationship. We can always come to an agreement with our business because we have the same end goals and while our strategies to get there may occasionally vary, our individual interest in being “right” never holds us back. We always communicate, compromise and move forward to our goal.

Putting ourselves out there in the community to create something was our biggest risk together because it required a lot of vulnerability. We just tried to be as authentically ourselves as possible and were very lucky to have been welcomed in by the awesome Lompoc art community. We have a motto, “Weirdos Unite” and have found a lot of acceptance in being our authentically strange artist selves and encouraging others to join us. There is such fulfillment in a community of people sharing that side of themselves.

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.
As we said, it’s all about Community. People want to support brands with similar values to their own, so brands are measured not by their words, but by their actions. For every market we host, we donate to a local organization or cause. By investing back into our community, we can continue to support the established groups that have acted as pillars of the art scene within Lompoc. Some of the organizations we have contributed to include: The Lompoc Valley Art Association, the Lompoc Valley Arts Council, the Lompoc Museum, and the Lompoc Theatre Project. Be sure to check them out if you are in town!

We love working with and frequenting, Cold Coast Brewing Company, Eye on I, Food Truck Friday (located in Southside Lompoc weekly and features a variety of food trucks), Southside Coffee, Capulin, Cypress Gallery, Blooming Energy, Awaken Cardio Kickboxing, Elevate 805 Lompoc, Fortified Tattoo, PCH Wine Bar, and honestly so much more.
We freaking love Lompoc and there is so much great stuff just hidden in plain sight.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The Lompoc Valley Art Association, the Lompoc Valley Arts Council, the Lompoc Museum, the Lompoc Theatre Project, Flying 90 (Photographer from our promo shots), Elevate 805 Lompoc, Eye on I Restaurant, Cold Coast Brewing Company, Four Brothers Wine Co, and all of the local artists we have showcased at our past and future markets.

Website: www.thepotmamas.com

Instagram: @pot.mamas

Facebook: @thepotmamas

Image Credits
Flying 90 Max Janatsch