Tell us a little about yourselves and and what you do?

My love affair with fashion began at the tender age of 15, when I dove head-first into the frantic environment of a teenage clothing store. I graduated from Florida State University with a BS degree in Fashion Merchandising and a minor in business.

Through my own sheer determination, I made the big move to NYC to begin a career in fashion. I worked tirelessly at internships with Elle Magazine & Glamour magazine; but my hard work soon paid off when I landed the position of a Fashion Assistant at Marie Claire magazine. I continued to grow my work experience in the industry by switching to retail and climbing the corporate ladder with Bloomingdales buying office as their Senior Assistant Buyer.

As someone who loves working with excel sheets (did you say pivot tables?), I handle the financial aspect of the business as well as the buying portion which involves a lot of planning! -Lisa Tam

Since I was a teenager, I worked for several mom-and-pop shops where I garnered my own love for the fashion industry. I drew inspiration from the independent stores & it fueled my entrepreneurial spirit. I went to Florida State University where I pursued a BS degree in Fashion Merchandising and a minor in business. With no guarantee of a job, I packed my things and moved to New York City to pursue a fashion career. I scored an internship for CosmoGirl and Marie Claire magazine, which eventually led me to a position as Fashion Market Assistant with MORE magazine. A few years later, I relocated to Florida to work at Chico’s FAS for their catalog business as the department Merchandise Manager.

I take care of all the visual merchandising at the boutique…and I also oversee the operational part of keeping MIMO Market in tip-top shape for our lovely customers. -Leilani Sanchez

What has been the most challenging moment in your career?

After we signed the lease to our new space, the steps to follow were the most challenging.  From finding the right contractors to making sure we file the correct permits. Most of the time we were confused with what the proper steps were, and other times we were uncertain about whether or not we were doing it right. The last thing we wanted, was to do something wrong with the City of Miami! Luckily, Google search was our trusty friend — we pretty much spent a ton of our time researching.

What was your most braggable moment?

Making our living wall from scratch! Thanks to pinterest, we were inspired to add some natural element to the store since we both love plants. Little did we know how much work it was! From hunting around for “good” pallets to pulling the old rusty nails from the wood out and re-positioning them. By far the hardest pinterest project we both have ever done, but we love telling people we did it, it’s certainly a “labor of love.”

What do you feel most challenged by?

Finding balance in our lives. As business owners, you’re forced to work 24/7/365. It’s not always a bad thing if you love what you do, however, it’s important to learn to find time for yourself outside of work, like leisure activities, spending time with family and friends, and doing things for your health like a quick run, yoga, or even meditation. It really helps bring down your stress levels.

What are your greatest strengths?

We both have different sets of strengths that really compliment and bring balance to our partnership. Leilani comes from a marketing background and was always on photo shoots where her creativity blossomed. On the other hand, I have experience on the business side of fashion and feel comfortable analyzing numbers. Both of these attributes are definitely very helpful in our day to day in running the business.

What was the greatest lesson you’ve learned from a mistake?

Go with your intuition! We believe that your “gut feeling” is almost 99.9% accurate.  Analytics can only take you so far and you can’t always measure data for every situation you’re confronted with. So, if you have a “gut feeling” about whether or not you should do something, you should probably follow it.

What do you love most about what you do?

Meeting new people! It’s always so exciting when a customer walks through our doors and we’re able to strike up a conversation with them. Sometimes it’s another business owner from a different state in which we love to ask for important advice. Other times, it’s a customer from from another country and we love hearing about their thoughts on Wynwood. Even a couple of celebrities! We’ve met some amazing people, all with such great stories!

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Perseverance! It’s easy to be negative and pessimistic when things go wrong, but it matters more to be positive and optimistic during hard times. You’ll be surprised to see how fast things turn around once you change your thoughts!

How do you define happiness?

Do what you love, and love what you do. Everyone measures success very differently, but to us, being happy with what you’re doing is the ultimate form of success.

What’s a personal habit that you believe contributes to your success?

We’re both extremely hard workers. From pulling all-nighters to waking up super early, we’ll do whatever it takes to make sure the job gets done, and correctly. I think that’s one of the habits that we both share that really connects us.

What book are you currently reading?

We are actually both finishing up “#GirlBoss” by Sophia Amorusa (we sometimes have our own little book club) which is seriously a very inspiring book for women entrepreneurs who are starting out in the industry. We love it!

As business partners, what advice would you give to two people looking to go into business together?

Having good communication is one of the most important things in any relationship. Keeping the communication lines completely open and transparent makes for an efficient partnership.

What advice would you give to someone considering going into business with a friend?

It’s not easy, but it’s possible to go into business with a friend. The most important thing is to make sure that you both have the same goals for the business. Sit down and write up your goals individually as well as a 5 year plan. Then come together and talk about what you’ve written.  How far are your goals from one another? Or are they very similar? Believe it or not, staying aligned in the same vision for the future of your business venture leaves very little room for disagreements.