How This Jewelry Designer & Latina Mom of Four is Balancing It All

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Being a working mom isn’t easy for anyone, but being a working mom who also happens to be an entrepreneur, presents a unique set of challenges. So many moms who own their own businesses have sacrificed a lot in order to be able to spend more time raising their kids while still building flourishing careers. Jewelry designer and mom-of-four, Ylette Luis, can attest to that, especially now that she has two toddlers at home.

Ylette launched her jewelry company, XIO by Ylette—named after her grandmother Xiomara— back in 2017, when she was a mom of two and still working a full-time job during the day. “My grandmother Xiomara has owned her own hair salon for over 25 years. Her work ethic and success have been an inspiration for me my whole life,” Ylette told HipLatina in a recent interview.

Following her grandmother’s work ethic, Ylette now designs and curates jewelry for XIO full time and sells it exclusively online. With a whole lot of patience and determination, she’s since grown the company to include a monthly subscription service and a collection that she collaborated on with her eldest daughter Sophia, who is just 11 years old.  

“Our kids have a front-row seat to many of the highs and lows of owning a small business. This can be very educational in many ways. It can teach that things come through hard work and perseverance, as well as show the importance of teamwork,” Ylette told us, and honestly, we can’t think of a better way to both challenge and inspire children.

Ylette, who is a first-generation Cuban-American and a Miami native, always knew that she wanted to be able to manage and control her own time, although she didn’t necessarily know that would mean entrepreneurship for her. In fact, it’s a very different path than she was raised to take. 

“My parent’s generation was one that was big on going to school, earning a degree, and ending up working for someone else at a 9-5. It was almost the only way they identified success,” Ylette told us. 

Once Ylette had her third child though, she knew that she had to find a way to have more time with her children, without sacrificing her own goals and dreams. So while she worked full-time managing influencer relations for a beauty-based monthly subscription service, she and her husband began the process of launching XIO.

“It was exciting and exhausting all at the same time. My husband and I would both work full time and then come home and work on XIO. I’d try to put ideas together and source the designs while he set up the site. We both fulfilled orders and took turns taking them to the post office,” Ylette recalled. And yes, that was with two kids already at home and another on the way.

Ylette remained steadfast and now her business is a full-time job for her and her husband, and just five years later, they even have some employees. “I lead the creative direction for the brand, while my husband and a small team run the day-to-day operations,” she told us. With that, they get to determine when their days start and end, and prioritize family time too.

“My husband and I do a pretty good job at separating our personal life from our work life. It can be challenging sometimes, but we are conscious about when it is time to close down for the day and just be mom and dad,” Ylette said.

She even gets to use her status as an entrepreneur to help her kids explore their interests and passions. She and her daughter Sophia worked on a XIO collection together called Camp Sophia, which features kid-inspired beaded pieces made of freshwater pearls and beads. 

“My daughters also love fashion and accessories. Sophia is my oldest and she also has a love for art. This collection was a way for us to work together and in turn, nurture the artist in her,” Ylette told us of the collection. “She absolutely loved it! We really enjoyed working together and she felt accomplished to see the small project come together.”

It hasn’t come without some challenges though. Working moms really are superheroes, and Ylette is the perfect example of that. “It is tough with two kids under three years old mainly because of how demanding they are. For example, I’m still breastfeeding them both on-demand and they really couldn’t care less if I’m on a call or in the middle of a meeting,” she told us, admitting that time management can be an issue at times.

But, the struggles are worth it. Ylette is proud that her kids get to see her and her husband live out their dreams, and to be able to show them that it’s possible to make a living doing what you love, and being able to prioritize family life at the same time.

“The biggest benefit is being able to spend so much time with them. My husband and I actually discuss this often. We really feel blessed to never miss a milestone. The first word, their first step, absolutely everything happens in front of us because of how hands-on we both are. We wouldn’t trade that for anything.”

And Ylette truly believes every mom with a passion can do it too. “Start today. Any amount of progress is better than nothing at all. A lot of times we delay the start of our goals and ideas in fear that the timing isn’t ideal,” she said. “The truth is that there is never a better time than the current moment, and any time wasted is time lost.”

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