Pivoting Homeward: MyPallay to Refocus on Bolivian Roots

On a journey leading ever out and into the world, it can seem counterintuitive to look homeward for our next steps. But for Cristina Velez of MyPallay, that’s just what happened when a trip home to Bolivia (as well as some revelatory customer interviews) led her to reconsider and pivot the focus of her developing fashion venture.

Velez, who has long been interested in the ways fashion and social impact come together, originally came up with MyPallay as a storytelling aggregation platform for fashion brands. When she got down to the venture design process, however, and started doing interviews inspired by Alex Cowan’s personas, what she discovered caused her to question deeply the direction of her venture.

Without ever having told her interview subjects that she was interested in creating a new kind of aggregation platform, she listened as brand after brand criticized these aggregators that ultimately did less than they could to support artisans. And as mentors and others began to ask good questions of what she wanted to do and be, she found herself also asking, “Am I really going in the right direction?”

Her gut intuition was that she was not. “Something was missing,” said Velez of that point in the process. And so she began to wrack her brain for directional development that was still in line with her means and her love of storytelling, fashion and social impact in Latin America.

“At 4 in the morning it occurred to me: DUH!” she said animatedly. Earlier that same day, she had met with a Darden professor for advice and had given this person a handmade doll she’d gotten on a trip to Bolivia earlier this year. Reflecting on that interaction inspired her to realize there were other ways to support these artisans she loves, while still helping fashion brands.

“Instead of telling their stories,” she explained, “why don’t I help them create stories?” In other words: why not focus on connecting big brands with the artisans to write a new story?

She clarified that big brands often lacked stories, so for them, connection with artisans could serve as a sort of marketing strategy to appeal to a growing set of consumers who love these storied, unique pieces and collections. And for the smaller artisans, a partnership with these brands could be huge—a win for everyone. 

Velez expressed excitement not only about being involved in the effort to change the story of the fashion industry, but also about getting to work in partnership with artisans back home. On serving as a bridge between the two worlds she loves and lives in, Velez felt like she had “come full circle.” Now that her venture takes into account even more deeply who she is and where she comes from, she’ll be able to better serve the communities she seeks to be for.