Introducing Maria D’Anza and Deborah Munies of Vivique
March 4, 2010
We are pleased to introduce Maria D’Anza and Deborah Munies of Vivique! These ladies have combined their talents in creating a clothing line especially for pregnant women. Their aim: To help the soon-to-be-mother feel as beautiful as she is by offering comfortable, classy and stylish fashions. Shop at their website or connect with them on Twitter. We hope you enjoy the interview!
Name:
Maria D’Anza (right) – CEO/Co-Founder
Deborah Munies (left) – COO/Co-Founder
Hometown:
Maria D’Anza – Rahway, New Jersey
Deborah Munies – Bridgewater, New Jersey
Current Residence:
Maria D’Anza – Chester, New Jersey
Deborah Munies – New Providence, New Jersey
Education:
Maria D’Anza – Seton Hall University
Deborah Munies – Ithaca College
Professional Background:
Maria D’Anza – has a successful track record of identifying new product niches, positioning them in the market place and driving sales through aggressive and detailed planning. Maria has spent the last 15+ years fine tuning her product development and implementation, sales leadership, and operations skills in the finance industry, with the most recent part of her career at Lehman Brothers.
Deborah Munies – Deborah has 20 years of experience in marketing, promotions and sales for a broad array of companies spanning commercial, entertainment and financial industries. Deborah has worked at companies such as CBS-TV, New World Entertainment, Nickelodeon, American Institute of CPAs. (Deborah did her college internship with “Live! With Regis & Kathie Lee.”)
What you wanted to be when you grew up:
Maria D’Anza – Veterinarian
Deborah Munies – Entertainment Reporter, lawyer or Philanthropy Volunteer
What you are:
Maria D’Anza – Product Development and Sales Executive and new business owner!
Deborah Munies – Marketing and Promotion Executive and new business owner!
Brief Summary of your Start Up:
• We met 7 years ago while working together.
• We bonded further in 2005 when we ran into each other at 5:30am pursing our quest to become pregnant at our fertility doctor’s office. (We subsequently had our daughters via IVF).
• In the Spring 2008 Maria was pregnant with her second daughter. She was riding home on the bus from her job at Lehman Brothers and the 5’9” slim mom-to-be sat uncomfortably in her standard, expensive maternity clothes. If she was uncomfortable, other women were too!
• Maria, with her product development and finance background, and Deborah, with her marketing and promotions background, joined forces in July 2008.
• While we started out developing a better maternity clothing line, along the way we developed our patent pending waistband technology that allows women to wear our bottom garments before, during and after pregnancy.
• Vivique is the first maternity clothing line dedicated to providing clothes that fit women before, during and after pregnancy, resulting in a long term fit and investment.
• Vivique is comprised of wardrobe basics in classic styles – pants, suit jackets, suits, dresses, skirts, jeans, chinos, shorts, cargos, shirts and sweaters.
• The signature bottom garments feature a patent pending waistband technology, allowing women to wear them comfortably throughout their entire pregnancy – and after.
• Vivique is focused on making the pregnant woman look and feel like her non-pregnant selves – or better!
Example of “standard maternity clothing” purchasing process when pregnant:
- Months 1-3 – Can’t fit in your clothes comfortably, buy bigger size regular clothes (also buy maternity clothes because so excited even though they are too big – you figure they will last through entire pregnancy)
- Months 4-7 – Wearing maternity clothes. Starting to get tight around month 7.
- Months 8-10 – Standard maternity clothes don’t fit. Need to buy new ones but don’t because you have already spent your “budget”– just wear uncomfortable clothes or sweat pants and feel gross.
Clothing cycle with Vivique:
- Purchase Vivique clothing in your non-pregnant size
- Wear months 1-10 comfortably with average recommended pregnancy weight gain.
- Haven’t lost the weight post baby? Wear clothes back to work and they shrink as you do.
Company Website?
What inspired you?
• In the Spring 2008 Maria was pregnant with her second daughter. She was riding home on the bus from her job at Lehman Brothers and the 5’9” slim mom-to-be sat uncomfortably in her standard, expensive maternity clothes. If she was uncomfortable, other women were too!
• Maria, with her product development and finance background, and Deborah, with her marketing and promotions background, joined forces in July 2008.
Why?
- Maria and Deborah were the unsatisfied customer
- They knew there was a better way
- Market need (of course!)
- They had the passion and commitment to change their lives and do something they believed in.
How long have you been in business?
We started in July 2008 with the idea but the clothing started to be sold via wholesale in September 2009.
We debuted the line to our family and friends at a fashion show/focus group in mid June 2009. We videotaped a 3rd party moderator asking the women what they thought of the line and the concept. Rave reviews resulted!
How did you fund it?
We have a couple of investors who provided a formal first round of funding. We have also personally invested in the business and its day-to-day operations.
Do you have a Fairy Godmother (or Mentor)?
We don’t have one Fairy Godmother. We are so fortunate to have many people who have mentored us and we are incredibly grateful for them. We wouldn’t be where we are without them. There are days when we just look at each other speechless as we think about the generosity and support we have had.
Do you belong to any Business Organization or Networking Groups?
Not formally. We attended a great entrepreneur workshop in the fall – Entrepreneural Expose. It was for just women and from that event we made a number of relationships that have helped us move forward in many ways. It also was a great day with women supporting each other with immense encouragement. Women have such power, compassion, strength and willpower. We really are sisters that can help each other no matter how small or large the task. When women put their mind to something, they are a strong force!
Current Business Challenge?
Financing – this affects everything
Second to that would be marketing and branding our waistband technology
What are you doing about it?
Pitching, pitching, pitching ! Trying to grow the business on what we have now so we are more appealing to investors.
Favorite motivational quote:
Everything happens for a reason.
Family?
Maria D’Anza – husband, 2 daughters, 2 dogs, 2 horses
Deborah Munies – husband and 1 daughter
If so, how do you balance family and business?
No matter how well you think you are balancing, something is losing out. We are our own worst critics, and perfectionists as well, so we want to do everything well all at once, which is impossible. We remember a speech Andrea Jung (CEO/Chairman Avon) gave. She said you can’t be all things at all times to your company and your children, but choose at that time and be there 100%. We remember that and it helps.
We have become great time managers and ubber-multitaskers and just take one day at a time. We also carve out our work time and family time and try not to overlap the two because both deserve our undivided attention. Additionally, we support each other so if one of us needs a weekday with our kids, the other one picks up and runs with anything that is urgent that day. We divide and conquer and support each other so we can attempt to do it all!
Favorite book?
Maria D’Anza – The Burning Within the story of RaNelle Wallace’s near death experience
Deborah Munies – Anything by Martha Beck and Laura Day
What do you do to relax?
Maria D’Anza – Ride horses – ride and ride and ride
Deborah Munies – Yoga, Bar Method, turn on some music and dance it out, freestyle shopping (when no lists are involved and you can just roam!)
What do you want to change most about your world?
Maria D’Anza – My world has changed dramatically over the last 2 years and I am learning to embrace the unknown and be thankful for the really important things in life. So I don’t really have anything that I want to change other than I want to continue to work on my skills of only focusing on the things that are within my control.
Deborah Munies – I would like to change the number of hours my husband and I work in order to make a living. He works a lot of hours and so do I. Right now we are in this mode where we know there has to be a light at the end of the tunnel so we just keep working, hoping to see that light soon.
What are you most proud of?
Our daughters – they are miracles and blessings for which we are grateful every day. We are especially proud on the days where we know we were exceptional moms, moms making a difference in the lives of our children, shaping them into little people we can be proud of. Remembering those days or moments is what gets you through all of the times you might fall short.
What advice would you like to offer other Start Up Princesses?
Trust your instincts. If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it, even if others are pushing.
Also, no matter how long you think it is going to take to see light at the end of the tunnel, double it maybe even triple it!
Lastly, it is harder than you can ever, ever imagine.
Favorite Magic Wand (tool/resource)?
Maria D’Anza – My laptop, blackberry and Quickbooks
Deborah Munies – My laptop (blackberry a close second!)
If you could design a tiara, what precious stones would you use?
Maria D’Anza – I am leaving the tiaras to Deb; I would settle for a clean baseball hat!
Deborah Munies – Diamonds (my birthstone), Sapphires (love blue!) and Perodots (my daughter’s birthstone)
