Episode 175: From Sketching Her Son To Partnering With Pottery Barn | Vana Chupp | Founder, Vana Chupp Studio
Vana Chupp didn’t set out to start a business. She was a stay-at-home mom with a background in architecture and a passion for capturing moments through silhouette sketches of her son. What began as a creative outlet on Etsy has grown into a thriving lifestyle brand featured at Pottery Barn Kids. Vana talks with Kara about building a business on her own terms, redefining success after burnout, and what it means to grow at a pace that actually fits your life. She shares how her Greek upbringing shaped her values, why she and her architect husband now work side by side, and what’s next for the studio she once considered shutting down.
“There isn’t a normal for entrepreneurs. Every person has their own way of running their own business. To be powerful means to know what you want and how to achieve it.”
-
-
Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters:
00:00 From architecture to entrepreneurship
01:00 The early days of Etsy and silhouette sketches
03:45 How motherhood shaped Vana’s business goals
05:00 Rebranding from Le Papier Studio to Vana Chupp Studio
06:30 Infusing architecture into heirloom jewelry and portraits
08:00 Running a family business with her husband
09:30 Juggling mom life and entrepreneurship
11:15 Scaling slowly vs. chasing rapid growth
13:45 Hiring her first full-time employees
15:00 Getting a business coach and embracing slow growth
17:00 Naming the business after herself
18:30 Relocating to Richmond and hitting reset
20:45 Honoring creativity and intuition in business
22:00 How being born in Greece shaped her entrepreneurial values
24:00 Navigating family expectations around career
26:00 Building a brand that supports work-life alignment
28:15 Finding support through mastermind communities
30:00 Redefining power, legacy, and leadership
32:30 Local impact and giving back through the business
35:15 What makes a good life according to Vana
37:30 Celebrating the Pottery Barn Kids partnership
39:45 Advice for other entrepreneurs and moms
42:00 Where to follow and support Vana Chupp Studio
I played around with the idea of closing down the business and going back to architecture. And I have these, like I joke, I have every five or 10 years, I have these moments where I have to be really still and just silence myself and see what do I wanna do for the next whatever, five or x amount of years.
And. Then I just had this realization that as long as I love what I'm doing, I'll do these.
That's Vana Chupp and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast.
Hey guys, I'm Kara Duffy, a business coach and entrepreneur on a mission to help you live your most extraordinary life by showing you anything really is possible. People who have mastered freedom, e success, who are living their best and most ridiculous lives and are making an impact in this world, are often people you've never heard of until now.
There is so much pressure to quickly. Scale and grow a business. But that's not why myself or many other business owners, including today's guest, made the leap to be entrepreneurs. Running your own business is an opportunity to align all of your commitments and your passion such that you're generating an income to support yourself and make the impact you really want.
It's about time and location freedom and you being in charge. Not your job. Today's guest, Vana Chupp of Vana Chupp Studios is a great example of how choosing the speed of your business to align with your priorities is not only a smart choice, but also leads to an amazingly successful business. The most recent example for her being that her products are now available at Pottery Barn Kids.
Welcome to the Powerful Ladies Podcast. Thank you for having me. It's so good to be here. Let's jump right in by telling everyone, listening your name, where you are in the world, and what you're up to.
Great. My name is Vana Chupp and I am the founder and CEO of Vana Chupp Studio. We are a lifestyle boutique brand that transforms our customers, treasured people, and moments captured in photographs into one of a kind heirloom quality jewelry, portraits, accessories that are destined to become treasured heirlooms and be passed down to the next generations.
We are located in Richmond, Virginia. We are a team of six as of right now, probably adding a few more in a couple of days, and we sell all our products online through our e-commerce site. We do sell in person by appointment only, and as of the last couple of months we are also found on Pottery Barn Kids full collection of our products.
And you've had such an interesting journey with your business. You started, I believe, doing silhouettes. Yeah. Traditional paper silhouettes. Exactly. Yeah. Started on
Etsy in 2008. I was a stay-at-home mom. My boy at the time, our firstborn was three years old and I had done silhouettes since his birth really.
I am a trained architect by trade and I found silhouette. Really captivating and creative way to just document his growth. And so I would sketch his silhouettes monthly and just see how he's ever changing features, facial features would change and would be documented in a creative art form, so to speak.
So I started, so to speak, the business on Etsy. It was not really, I had no plans. It was just a little shop. To sell stationary and fine art, mainly silhouettes. And at the time they were not even custom. They were just, silhouette theme artwork. But quickly it got a lot of moms like myself picked up the idea and they logged hired me to create custom silhouettes of their little ones.
Yeah, it was strictly a paper business. We used to it used to be called Le Papier Studio, which means paper in French. And that's that's, we were known with that name up until 2021. And what made you pivot the company name? Yeah, we had our line of product had changed quite a bit. We are I would say that we are a 90% jewelry and accessories company right now.
We still do portraits. They're like what we were known for in the beginning, but, so it ran its course and it was a little bit confusing and hard to say for our customers and, also just rebranding. We got a new brand we wanted to create this idea of open the doors to the future and see what fits in store for us for the next 10 plus years.
You also do these really beautiful home portraits. Yeah. And so I love that you've tied in your architecture past into this business as well. And people love those. And the home ornaments correct. Correct. Yeah. So those, we
joke with our team I used to be the creator, like the maker in the beginning, and I miss that now that I've stepped into the role of leading them and being the CEO of the business.
I miss those moments where I get to actually work with our customers directly to capture a memory or just a memory of their. First home or last home. And so those are the two products that I still have my hand on. Although I'm training a team member to take over the custom home ornaments.
But yeah, those are, my passion. It really connects me back to architecture and what, my background is. So it's still something that I'm really passionate about.
Would 8-year-old you have imagined that you were the founder of a lifestyle brand?
Probably not. If you were to talk to my parents they always had, these stories of me.
They knew that I would be doing something creative in my life. Even when I was probably as young as 10 years old, they'd say that I had, I'd always sketch house drawings and, so they knew I'd be going into some sort of creative industry, but I never in a million years thought that would be, what I would be doing.
Like I said earlier, I. Started the, I, I graduated with a master's in architecture. I worked for a couple of years and I didn't think that I would be using that, to create my, the business that we have today. But really everything that I learned along the way, the sensibilities, like the sense of style and everything, our products the eye for what we put out there links back.
So probably not my 8-year-old would have not thought that I would be doing these.
And I correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that your husband is your chief operations. He is on the,
during the day, yeah. He's also an architect. We met in architecture school and about a year ago we made that decision that, we've always wanted to own something together and just, be creative. Creatively involved into something. And since his business, he's been there since the start of it, it just made sense at the point to, for him to come along and just help us put some organization behind the scenes with our team and also quote unquote try to be our CFO in learning.
We do have an accountant that does our accounting, that has helped. He's been a great help with our growing team.
How do you balance you guys, you met in architecture school and now you're working together. How do you, has it always been really easy to collaborate together or is it something that you have to manage, family hat on versus business hat on?
What does that look like for the two of you?
Yeah, so when we met, we actually worked together in architecture school. We are he was a ta, a teacher assistant, and I helped in the library, the architectural library. So we worked together. That's how we met. We actually ended up working at a company together.
But it is quite different, just working. School or in a company and then owning your own business and just trying to balance life and business. He is always been really understanding. We like support and, support one another in whatever it is. I, we have great conversations about architecture and, things that frustrate him or excite him and vice versa. He's like a great sounding board for me. He's the calmer, one of the two of us. I'm very passionate, very, when I get passionate, I, you probably have noticed I have an accent. I wasn't boarding these countries, so that comes out and, but. All in all, it's just I think the two of us work really well together.
When he came on board our team, that really, honestly, they're like is this a good thing? Like we don't want you guys to just leave and breathe your business. And it was a really great decision for us. Our, like I said, we work well together. Our boys have been in these they've seen me work from home for 14 years, so to them it's not, and they're older now, so we have a little bit more flexibility with, putting in a five hour weekend if we need to talk about a project or work on something for the business.
They totally understand. Yeah. I say would work well.
Good. And I think I even saw that your eldest son is sometimes helping too. He does. Yeah. He's the same son,
I guess the oldest that his silhouette used to grace the, the logo of our business up until a couple years ago. So he takes pride on it.
He definitely knows it's, it's a family business. It's not gonna take on the family business. He has other aspirations, but he he's a teenager looking for extra cash and so he'd do anything. So he's been part of it. So he knows the ins and out and, at this point he's I'll do whatever.
I'll draw silhouettes, I'll, package boxes. So yeah.
What has surprised you about being not just an entrepreneur, but a mompreneur? Oh, that's such a good
question. I would say that, when. The two being a mom and entrepreneur, that kind of happened to me at the same time.
I, I was a mom first and then I started this business wanting to be home and wanting to raise my, first born son, not taking him to daycare. So just wanting to experience those moments with him because our, both, our families don't live near us. And so I think I had to be really good at time management.
Earlier on. Because I knew that I could only work when he was in daycare. Not daycare, taking naps or, preschool and just getting really good at like time management. Also, I grew the business organically. With them seven years after him, our second son came about.
And so my always, my priority has been motherhood. And just doing that role really well. And then just having the business kind of support my passions and desires. But it has never really taken priority up until probably the last six years where they became slowly independent and they can help each other and, and then COVID hit, so we're all home. And, but yeah, I'd say that the two have really supported the other, like being a mother has really helped me fine tune like what I really wanna get from this business. And then also the business has helped that.
Yeah. It must be, it's, I'm sure it's nice to have that balance of having the outlet and having the time freedom, space freedom.
I think so many people when they jump into starting a business, they get, it's so easy to get distracted by the noise that you see out in the world about are you doubling your business? Is it scaling? Is it growing? And as a coach, I always have to tell people to like, calm down. There's so much power in having a slow, organic growing business that.
Just fits you perfectly. Like we don't need to build this, crazy 10 Xing tech company and just to be able to call ourselves an entrepreneur or business owner, how did you have to, was the pace chosen or was the pace? You're like, no, this is just what fits for where we are right now.
That's a kind of a
great question. So it was both up until I would say 2017, it was chosen. I, my goals were just to keep going, keep on going, and if it made me happy and it made our customers happy, if it captured the stories and helped tell those stories, then I would continue to do it. And then it wasn't until I hired my first full-time employees in 2017, then it became like I'm not just doing these as a passion of mine.
Now I'm like responsible to create a, an income to bring in work for these. Two women. And I could feel that urge to do a little bit more hire PR firm, just do ed and this and that. So then I would say from 2017 up until last year, I was in like high growth mode.
We did, quadruple every year. Like it kept growing and growing. Of course COVID helped and it helped us because moms were home and, producing the internet so they could spend a little bit more on themselves. But it wasn't until almost like the end of last year and the beginning of this year where I actually hired a business coach because I found myself like the joy of it had been taken away from me. Being creatively inspired and just putting that at the center of the business had always been what the driving force for me. I always said if I don't love it anymore, even though that sounds selfish, then I said, if I don't find joy anymore, that's gonna translate into like how I, show up for others.
Absolutely. And it's not, yeah. And it's not gonna help anybody. And I learned to be okay with. It's not going small, but just slowing down. If in that moment in time, I felt that this is the right decision for me. So our team is at, a good size right now. We did lose a few people and I think it was, just meant to be, I'm a firm believer that, you are where you're supposed to be and you need to embrace that.
So right now we are, I wouldn't say. We're still growing, but it's just a different kind of growth. We have systems in place. We are, I'm not seeking growth. Growth is coming to us. It's mainly through word of mouth. Our customers who come in year after year to add on to their pieces. I feel like these feels good.
These feels where we need to be. I don't know where we're gonna be in five years, but right now we're, where we need to be.
Yeah. And I love that you had the. Self-awareness to know how much, the business is centered around you. Even when we build a team. And now the name is this, it's named after you now, right?
Yeah. So it's it's a big shift and I know so many entrepreneurs, myself included, when your name is on the company, it's different. And so many of us avoid it for as long as possible.
So it was so hard when we came up with names, with the branding company that helped us, we threw out so many possibilities and we landed on that and they're, they're like, you should do it.
It's, and I had this pit in my stomach that I'm like, first of all, I don't wanna be the spokesperson. I don't, everything now is tied to that name. But I think it has proven to be like the best thing ever because I started this business selfishly to fulfill me just to be home with my oldest.
And then it grew to the point that. We wouldn't be here without being able to serve our community. And the community is the core of what we do. But then I also realized that if I don't take care of me and our team, then there is no business. There is no serving others. Yeah. So we've come full circle and now we're.
Spending a lot of time in honing in and what we want our business to look like. How is it making us feel? What do we wanna be known? What's our legacy? So I think it's a privilege to be, in this path, 14 years, from the beginning I would've had no idea that this is where we would be, but it's been a wonderful ride, really.
And just to be here, I yeah, I don't take it for granted a single day.
In addition to starting business, then having a second son. You guys also moved with your business. How did moving from I believe Illinois or Indiana? It was Illinois. Illinois. How did it go having to move the whole business, not just your family?
Yeah, across the country
it actually helped us because, up until then we moved here because of Aaron's my husband's job, he really wanted to work in meaningful architecture working in older buildings, and Virginia is famous for that. And so we moved here, just testing the waters out and seeing, oh, we'll do it for five years.
And everything that we've known as like a married couple and with our kids was in Chicago, Illinois, all our friends and family. Close friends were there, so it was like really starting off like new, and so there was. It was both terrifying, but it was also really exciting because it's like a new way to just do things.
And I had, played around with the idea of closing down the business and going back to architecture. And I had these I joke, I have every five or 10 years, I have these moments, but I have to be really still and just silence myself and see what do I wanna do for the next whatever, five or x amount of years.
And at that time was really. The pool was really strong that I wanted to go back into architecture and then. I just had this realization that as long as I love what I'm doing, I'll do these. So then I changed, a heart came again, and at the time our youngest was three, so I also wanted, it was repeating, the same cycle with Nicholas.
I'm like I was home when. He was little, so I wanna be home for our other son too. So I just decided to go with the flow another time. And not really have any big goals or dreams and just let it go. So that was 2015. And so for about two years there, I think it was just, we were learning our way around Richmond and just making new friends and.
Just something in that, like being still and quiet and just being in that moment, not really pushing anything that felt unnatural really helped me to focus or where I wanted to go next. And I hired my, the other two employees at the time, which were full-time here in Richmond. And my son was like school age, my youngest, so he could, I had a little bit more freedom with my time.
And I just like organically started doing the next thing and, so I would say it's been a good move for us and we love it here. It's a great place to raise a family.
I got to drive through recently 'cause my parents moved just north of Raleigh. Oh yeah. Not far. Not far. Yeah.
But so many people I know who have gotten to live in Richmond for any period of time, they're always saying things like, I couldn't believe how much I loved it. Or We miss being there. It's not a city. I think that gets enough credit for everything that it has to offer from a culture perspective and just how many people from all over the US and the world end up in Richmond.
It's definitely a transplant city.
Like when we moved here, there were like our little community where we lived, there were people from capital One and all sorts of businesses that had moved here from other places. So in that perspective, I felt oh, okay. Like I have my group of people who kinda have, share that story of not being from here.
But we always joke, if you're not born in Richmond, you're never from Richmond. And that's very, yeah, it's a very strong sense of like pride that if you're from here, you are from here forever. And we joke with our sons, I'm like, I tell my youngest that even though you're free, you'll never be a rich ian.
You're never, it's oh,
yeah. How has how has being born outside of the US and coming here impacted your story and your entrepreneurial journey?
Yeah, that's a great question. I. Have I come from a strong family of strong women and very passionate women. All three of us were three girls and we're all three are entrepreneurs. Two of 'em are still in Greece and I'm here. And we growing up, our parents did some side business, although my father was in the educational industry.
So he was a teacher. And my mom was an economist. Early on, they installed in us, like the idea of serving others. And it doesn't matter if you're serving your neighbor or your cousin or your friend, you just, that's what you do. And sometimes our detriment. But, so coming here, I came here for college, to finish architecture school.
I had no idea that, these path would be put in front of me. But it has. It's been really interesting. I. It has allowed me to create a life for our family that, would've probably, even though, Greece is a developed country, it's much different than here. My sisters are entrepreneurs that they do struggle.
It's we share our struggles and how you never get a break from your business and all of that. But it has allowed me to create the life that we want, to be able to work when I feel like, not when I feel like it, but, take a break if I.
Felt like it, take my boys and go for 15 days to Greece and visit family. And it's, I have such a deep appreciation and because of that, when we go back, like we always, it's very different, right? We, I've been here for 22 years, so half of my life, more than half my life.
So when I go back my parents still think that I'm an architect, even though I've been in business for four years here, and I'm like, that's something that, I left behind years ago. Like you cannot. That I've only practiced for five years. And, but to them it's they're very they have this big pride of what you went to school for and, this is your business, that's great, but that's what you are.
It's that kind of mindset. But, of course they're, they're proud of me for, having these successful business and creating a brand that it's loved by so many. But yeah, part of them just wish that I was also an architect,
it's always, what people love on us for is always really interesting and it always speaks so much to them.
Exactly. Yeah. It's when they visit.
When they visit sometimes. And I, we spoke about the house illustrations and ornaments. And I don't do many of house illustrations 'cause they're time consuming and I pocket them in during the year when I'm not super busy. But if they see me do that, they're like so happy.
They're like, what you're meant to be. Kinda but don't you see these other things that are shipping out? And they're yes. Those can be done like by other people, but this is what you're meant to be. So it's sweet. It's very it's very tender, but I'm like, yeah.
And then there's all of
this. Yeah. Yeah. It's I find it so fascinating 'cause I've had people on this podcast who have talked about how their family or friends are still. Either, saying, when are you gonna get a real job? They're like, I've been in business for 20 years. This what do you mean a real job?
Yeah. And then other people whose family's like a part of a business now or they built it with family members. But I'll never forget having a woman on this podcast who said, I've been in business for 15 years and my family has still never bought anything I've made. And she's one day it will happen, and that when that day comes, I'm gonna celebrate it as my biggest victory ever.
That's so true. Wow.
Yeah. Yeah. And they, yeah.
Sorry, go ahead. I, no I was just saying now having a son that is about to a rising senior and going to college in year I can see my parents' perspective, we we joke that, both my husband and I, we met in architecture school where architects, he wants to study engineering.
My parents are like, sure, he doesn't wanna do architecture like you guys. I'm like, it's not a family business. It's like what we met, but it's not like he's not aspired to do that. He's just, he's gonna carve his own path and he is gonna go to school for that. And that doesn't work out.
Like we're in full support that he can do whatever, brings him joy in. He loves is as, as long as he has a passion for it. And so that, okay, it must be a way that things are done where you live because he is very different. You just go to school for what you go and then you just, continue on that path.
You don't get off that path.
Yes. There's a lot less freedom to explore other options in other countries. Yeah. Yep. When you look at the journey you've been on. Who are some of the women who have supported you along the way, either as mentors or cheerleaders or just san like breaks for sanity.
Yeah, definitely
like women entrepreneurs, like people that I've met along the way of these entrepreneurial journey. And people that sometimes one might consider competition. I've never seen them as such. I always, as they say, community over competition. I always see whatever I know and the knowledge that I have, it's shareable.
It's here for everybody to partake, and the collective of us, it's much stronger than just, us doing it all alone. Recently I joined a mastermind group. It's the product boss business. So it's we're in this mastermind with women from different industries that my own marketing pacifiers, like just all sorts of businesses and just to see their stories and how it came to be like, some of them like me, did not have dreams of becoming entrepreneurs. It just happened along the way. And some of 'em were very driven and every story is just sewing.
Inspirational. So inspiring to me because all of 'em have that idea of serving others and doing it while they're creating a fulfilling life for themselves and their families. They don't have to like, work the eight to five job and stress themselves beyond. There, there are seasons in business where I feel like I've had those moments, but we all aspire for kind of like the greater good of being an entrepreneur, serving others, having self-awareness and, being a better boss, a better mom, while doing it.
So I would say those women that are in my mastermind group are, has been, have been my and I've only known them for six. But some of 'em have been like really really powerful women and inspirational to me.
I'm a huge advocate that every entrepreneur needs a coach and a community like you, we have to have them.
It can be lonely and overwhelming, and there's so many choices to make, and you can only get so far talking to yourself. And
it gets, when you're not the maker, like I used to be the maker. I could be the maker all day long, but then when you add people to your team who do it better than you do or they used to do it, then I was, I found myself in this role of okay, now I'm supposed to lead them and this is something that I've never done before. I have no idea. And some of our. Are better than others. And it was a huge help for me to get a coach and to be part of a group of women that we could just throw ideas and talk and be in a room without feeling like ashamed or stupid or, how do you not know the answer to that?
And just, it's been powerful for me.
Yeah. When you think of the words powerful in ladies, do they mean something when they're separate? And does the definition change when they're combined?
That's such a good question. Powerful ladies. I think it's combined. It's way more powerful. I think it's I like that better.
For sure. What does it mean to you? To be powerful, really, to me, it means to know what you want and find ways to achieve it. It doesn't mean that you need to be. Growing every year. Personally for me, it actually means to be, to silence and just know, really hone in and what is it that I want my life and my business to look like in the future.
It also means that to find ways to break the ceiling and just break the norm of what has been done before. Just because, I think everybody that I'm around that is an entrepreneur, we're not doing it the way it's been done by another person. Every person has its own, ways of running their businesses.
Yeah. And I guess just leaving the life that I wanna leave and then leaving a legacy behind that. What do I wanna be known for? Will I be missed when I'm gone? What would people say? Like, how did I make 'em feel? All of that I guess, would make for a powerful lady, not just how much money she brought in from, doing this business that at the end of time, I think very few of us would look at that.
Yeah, absolutely. We ask everyone on the podcast where they put themselves in the Powerful Lady Scale fib. Zero is an average everyday human, and 10 is the most powerful lady you can imagine. Where would you put yourself on the scale today, and where would you put yourself on the scale on average?
Today I would probably put myself above average, meaning, I don't know, one to 10. Maybe I would just do a six, but with a lot of room to grow. That said, looking back at my 14 years of running business and being an entrepreneur. I know that I've learned so much my confidence and, learning skills and the way I adapt to challenges and how I deal with, all of that has helped me, I guess get at that point in the scale of a little bit above average.
But I'm a firm believer that, I'm a student of life. I would not be where I am if I. Didn't learn something new every day. Every day I'm challenged by even, our, our boys or our team members, our customers. So I always see that as an opportunity to grow and to have self-awareness.
Like I don't see being on the other side of 14 years of running businesses, like a place that I've made it, I've arrived. Is just part of the path to. Of me the rest of life. You might, I might not have this business, in 10 years. Yeah. But whatever I've done all the scenarios, all the hard work that have brought me here, laid the way or where I'm headed.
Yeah.
And I think another commonality besides, but you've hit on of always wanting to be curious and learn and, to be wanting to leave a legacy and create great spaces for. Our people, right? Our employees, our family employees also have in common, like knowing how powerful they are and the impact that they can make, and trying to always figure out, like feeling the need to do more than we are and trying to figure out how much is enough to be given.
Where do you find yourself being called or pulled to be making a bigger impact or to be. Taking actions in other areas that you're trying to figure out that balance right now? Yeah.
I like these online space in our community is mainly online. We sell online. So these space has been really, strong and supporting for us, but I feel like we don't have a present locally. There is just organizations that I want us to support and we have started supporting as a recent, as of, after COVID has died down. So I want us to, because what we stand for, families and kids that just the core of our existence and I want to take that.
Our values and just bring 'em to our community here in Richmond. And still finding ways who to partner with and, what are some of those causes that we want to support and explore and make part of our mission. But and also giving back, that's like really strong pull on us and, we do support like childhood organizations and, we're still like trying to find ways to maybe through partnerships to make something that it feels a little bit more substantial for us.
Obviously when you're an entrepreneur and then a mom and then everything else that you are for all the other people and things you care about we have to be really careful about filling up our own tank.
What are actions that you take to make sure that you're enriching yourself and giving to yourself as well? Yeah.
Making my mental health and my physical health, my top priority. It has not, always been the case, but as of the last five years, making that top, top priority has been a must in my life.
And then learning to live in the moment, not knowing what tomorrow's gonna bring. Learning to fight the thoughts of scarcity that, we need to hustle today because tomorrow might look different. And just kinda pushing that away and learning to be in the now.
My boys are growing fast. I feel it could be a blessing and a curse, a blessing because, I can work more now. I can, devote like my hours to growing the business and growing our legacy and, but also a curse because, we don't get these years back.
They're fleeting, they're gone. So just really learning to slowing down and making time for the good things in life. What makes a good life. Yeah. And I think it's when we're busy, we don't see that we have to like really be present and still to, look at it and embrace it and enjoy it.
Absolutely. What makes a good life for you? Is it sneaking in ice cream? Is it going to Greece? Is it like, what are those things that just bring you joy? It,
As a whole or? Yeah. With, and it depends. 'cause our oldest is seven years older than our youngest. So it's different with each one of 'em as, as a whole, as a family, of course, we'd love, like board games and just catching in a good movie on a weekend or just making, their favorite food, traveling, going to see their grandparents and aunts. Of course, but it's those little moments that I get with each one of 'em, driving them to and from practice. My oldest can drive now scary, but just like listening in and, being really quiet and let them talk and it's amazing the things that, through their eyes and it's just I choke up every time because it's, there was a thing, like somebody sometime told me that you wouldn't know. All the love and everything that you've poured into these human beings, you don't know until they become adults and they're, yeah.
They speak for themselves and, that's when you know you've done a semi good job. And that's the desire of a parents. Yeah, just finding those pockets of time and just enjoying the little things with them.
Yeah. Amazing. How excited are you that your products are now at Pottery Born Kids?
So excited.
That was a long time coming. Friends, when they, chat with me, they're like, how did that come about? How that came about was really wonderful too. Most companies might, have the people in staff or they would reach out to Pottery Barn or we, we also were on Front Gate a couple years ago, but both opportunities, they came about they reached out to us, they found us through our customers, like how you have this.
And to me that's the icing on cake, like I. Our customers love our pieces so much. They're the biggest advocates, like the biggest in, influencers that we could ever, hire or pay, and we don't have to do that with them. It's wonderful. It has opened us up to a bigger market of moms and parents.
And it's been challenging because, every new opportunity doesn't come easy or what it might seem on the other side. So just kind of building our line and on their website and making sure the orders are flowing in. Okay. That has been a challenge, but it's great. Their team is amazing to work with, so it's been such a wonderful experience for us.
Amazing.
We know that the powerful Ladies community is a big and powerful one, so we are asking our guest this year. What is something that you need that maybe someone listening could provide?
That's a great question. I always like I said, I always love learning. I know that somebody's way of doing something, it's probably I can learn something from, it. You can do something so many different ways. So just being part of that, and sharing in, and making space for people who might have a different experience or a different way of doing something.
Other than yours, I'm always, open to that and just listening to their perspective on things. And I am new to your community, so I'm like really excited. I actually did listen to about 10 podcasts before this one because I'm like yeah. So it's wonderful and,
yeah. Any favorites, any highlight takeaways from what you've listened to?
I did love the Wly Steven ladies.
I am a Wly Steven fan, so I have those. And, a lot of your coaches, of course being in the coaching world and being coached and all that, it's really near and dear to my heart as of since. So just listening to their different perspectives have been like really good.
Yeah. Yeah. Love that. We wanna make sure that everyone who is now falling in love with you and your business, where can they find you, support you, and follow you?
You can find us online at our website, eCommerce vana chupp studio.com. We're on social, on Instagram and Facebook at Vana Chu Studio.
Do you know wherever in those two spaces? And yeah, we would love to have you as part of our community, join us. And I hope you find value. Yeah.
I just think it's such a great thing to see the. The trend expanding for heirloom pieces and for younger and younger parents to appreciate those.
I know growing up my mom always had our silhouettes hanging in the hallway and it seemed like something that had gone out of fashion and I love that you have kept that tradition going and just, taking time to pause, as you mentioned for the moments, there's so many traditions that I'm happy to see it coming back that do.
Celebrate a really important small moment and bring people together, and I'm just happy to see entrepreneurs like you contributing to that and allowing people to capture those moments that really mean something. So thank you. Thank you so much. That's really sweet to hear. It's been a pleasure to have you on The Powerful Ladies Podcast.
I cannot wait to see what's next for you and to now have you as part of our bigger community. But thank you so much for being a Yes to me and the podcast. Thank
you so
much for having
me,
Kara. It was good
being here.
All the links to connect with Vana and Vana Chip studios are available at our show notes@thepowerfulladies.com. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you are listening and leave us a rating and review. They are critical for podcast visibility. Come join us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, and if you're looking to connect directly with me, visit kara duffy.com or Kara Duffy on Instagram.
You can also find both myself and powerful ladies on TikTok. I'll be back next week with a brand new episode with a new amazing guest. Until then. I hope taking on being powerful in your life, go be awesome and up to something you love.
Related Episodes
Turning Graffiti into Opportunity | Amy Peterson | Social Entrepreneur & Co-Founder of Rebel Nell
Episode 213: How Two Best Friends Built a Jewelry Brand With a Cult Following | Carolina Cordon-Bouzan & Gayle Yelon | Montserrat New York
Episode 215: She Left Corporate to Build a Jewelry Brand with Soul | Gemma Totten | Founder, Chapter Six Jewelry
Instagram: @vanachuppstudio
Twitter: @vanachuppstudio
Facebook: @vanachuppstudio
Website: www.vanachuppstudio.com
LinkedIn: @vanachupp
Email: vana@vanachuppstudio.com
Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
