My Mom Taught Me Style. My Dad Taught Me Sustainability.

The brand my parents built through me: furniture, fashion, a flying witch, and the magazine that started it all.

People always assume I studied fashion. I didn’t. I studied industrial design. But honestly, I learned design at home.

My dad had a furniture business ahead of it’s time. He didn’t just build or sell, it was deeper than that. He refurbished unwanted furniture and gave it a second life, often reselling it to people who didn’t quite get it yet. For years, most of his income came from new furniture. But I always admired the quiet rebellion of what he was really trying to do: restore, not discard.

My mom worked retail her whole life. Then she opened an atelier with a Puerto Rican fashion designer (a real dream!), but she gave it up when I was born. Still, she never stopped creating. She sewed our ballet costumes, reworked our dresses, and found a way to make every school event extra. Once, for Halloween, she built a massive witch on a broomstick, strapped it to her van like it had crash-landed, and picked us up with it flying off the hood. That’s how she did everything: with flair and imagination.

She also introduced me to InStyle.It was the one magazine we got every month, and we treated it like gospel. I didn’t just flip through it, I studied it. I learned about silhouettes, styling, beauty, proportion. But more than that, it showed me that fashion could be joyful, expressive, bold, powerful. It made me dream bigger.

My mom taught me style. My dad taught me sustainability. And I’ve carried both with me ever since.

Years later, when I launched Santos by Monica, I didn’t realize how much of it would trace back to my parents. The slowness. The intention. The resourcefulness. The play. The pride in things made well. I now design bags and garments that feel timeless, but not safe. Minimal, but emotional. My mom calls them elegant. My dad says they're well-built. That’s all I really need to hear.

I didn’t name the brand after myself to be self-centered. I did it because Santos means family. It means inheritance. It means craft. It means doing things with care even if people don’t get it yet.

The truth is, I didn’t build this brand to impress the fashion world. I built it so my mom would actually wear it.

And she does.

Thanks for reading.
Con cariño,
–Monica