Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Barth.
Hi Laura, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My name is Laura Barth and I was born and raised in South of France where I spent 24 years of life. During those years, I practiced synchronized swimming which taught me many values of life, and built my personality. It also allowed me to perform to competitions and championships and even travel in 2010 to Los Angeles and set foot for the first time in the USA for two weeks. From that time I knew I would want to come back and live here.
Eventually, I slowly left the competition world for the European show business industry where I was lucky enough to perform for tv shows and to meet people who guided me toward this incredible opportunity.
I moved to San Antonio, Texas January 24th, 2015 and worked at Seaworld as a synchronized swimmer performer for the AZUL Show. I fell in love with the state, the culture and met my husband pretty quickly!
After two amazing years and many shows later, I found myself getting married obtaining my green card and becoming a nanny for a wonderful family with three little boys.
Fast forward October 2019 on a Thursday morning. I received a phone call from my husband while I was aways working telling me he had found a dog in a critical situation just four houses down our street. He proceeded to rescue and bring him home. This is where the story of our business truly started… After many months of fostering and caring for this new friend we decided that we were gonna be his forever family, and as the love grew so was my “want” to work from home and be with our doggy Chewy all the time! Summer 2020 is when our business started to take shape and would be launched September 7th, 2020. From there we have not stopped growing, slowly but surely we have the love and support of our customers, vendors friends etc. I managed my nanny job and my business both until May 31st and June 1st 2021 was the beginning of my full-time journey of being Barth & Barks business owner! We surely owe this success to hard work and dedication but most of all to all of those who believe in us!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When I moved here, I actually did not speak English at all, I knew very little words… But I quickly progressed with the help of new friends.
I, also for the longest time, did not have a car and with very little knowledge of the surrounding area, it was challenging to move around without much commune transportation. It is true, EVERYTHING IS BIGGER in Texas!
I had never owned a business before so knowing all aspect of this new journey was not without its struggles.
Also, we did launch our business during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic which had its part of the uncertainty. It Surely was stress-full conditions to take a leap a faith like this one.
As you know, we’re big fans of Barth & Barks. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Barth & Barks is a small business female owned. We proud ourselves in making handmade pet accessories with our main item the Tie-on Bandana! We have sizes from XS to L and try to set ourselves apart with modern, trendy & eco-friendly pet wear. We also create Bow ties and “Doggy & Me” Sets which are composed of matching headbands and bandanas ! These are also a very demanded item from our shop. We offer a CUSTOM service as well which allows you to choose designs, add ons and size to create an even more unique piece for your fur babies. We love celebrating special occasions as well with our special editions, whether it’s a birthday, wedding, gender reveal and more, we can create something for you! We also started to implement some human items in our shop like T-shirts, Tote bags, Mugs, Key chains that embraces the DOG MOM/DAD lifestyle !
You can purchase all of our creations on our website www.barthandbarks.com and if you are located in the San Antonio area you can benefit from our FREE Pickup option at checkout. You can also find us at the Huebner Oaks farmers Market every Saturday and events all over the surrounding areas!
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Do not fear and do not give up. Sometimes you built the best skills in the struggles. I believe this crisis also brought awareness to the small business industry even more and allowed people to come together to support the community of small business owners and vendors.
Pricing:
- Regular Bandanas: $10-$20
- Add on: $1-$5
- Bow Ties sets: $20 for 2
- Doggy & Me: $28-$38
- Tees: $20
- Mugs-Tote bags: $15
Contact Info:
- Email: barthandbarks@gmail.com
- Website: www.barthandbarks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barth_and_barks/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarthandBarks
