Today we’d like to introduce you to Nia Beilke
Hi Nia, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Originally, Berri Mochi Studios was created to give my sister, Jes, an outlet to share her artwork with anyone who appreciated the cute and cuddly, yet sometimes dark nature of her characters.
For years, she had been hesitant to put herself out there despite an outpouring of encouragement from both friends and family.
In the spring of 2022, I called her out of the blue and said, “Yo, I have a proposition for you.” I offered to help with all the setup, paperwork, etc. to get her business started so she can focus on what she enjoyed the most: the art.
We opened up an Etsy shop, a Shopify site, and set up social media. It was daunting, but we tried to keep it light and fun. The important thing to us was, and still is, that we not take this business too seriously and that we enjoy what we do. If you look at some of our earlier social media posts, you’ll see we had no idea what we were really doing. We were just having a good time using props and ideas from our children paired with our own elements of silliness.
Flashforward to 2024, we are now a partnership: Jes’ role is creative and graphic design, 3D design/modeling and assembly, while I handle the day-to-day tasks like managing the website, packing and shipping orders, customer service, product photography, as well as product development. I also help with product design like our car accessory line where I design all of our sun shades, seatbelt covers, and steering wheel covers using all of Jes’ original artwork.
It’s hard to describe our partnership in so many words. We laugh, we argue, but majority of the time, we laugh. We could spend hours brainstorming product lines or sometimes I’ll call Jes while I’m in the car and just say, “Hey, I’ve got a driving thought. Do you think you can do something with (insert idea here)?” And sometimes, she’ll laugh/scoff at me and call me crazy or sometimes we go down a creative rabbit hole and this tiny idea ends up turning into a mountain of genius.
Today, we are doing the same thing we were doing in 2022, except we’ve grown a bit more: we are having fun. We’re sharing our ideas, our art, and a piece of ourselves with anyone we interact with.
We have been fortunate to have people who recognize us from certain events, are repeat customers and love to tell us where and when they last saw us and what they’ve bought from us so far.
We feel so lucky to be where we are today and look forward to continuing to grow with all the amazing people that we’ve met in the DFW community and beyond!
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?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. We’ve had product launches that failed, we’ve had characters that we thought would be loved that were not, multiple equipment breakdowns in addition to the chaos of our every day lives.
We’ve taken every failure as a learning experience and a new opportunity to be better.
One of our defining challenges was about six months into when we started the business.
We had signed up for what we thought was a huge event in June 2023. We were so excited that this event organizer would take a chance on us when we had had no prior shows under our belt, no vendor experience. This was to be our first in person launch. We planned for months: what our set up would look like, what products we needed to make so we could start building inventory, just planning on top of planning. We planned so well that all of our planning couldn’t fit in the car!
We traveled to this event and when we walked in, we noticed that something was off. The place was empty, half the vendors hadn’t even shown up yet, but we brushed it off and tried to keep a positive outlook.
However, our instincts were right, the event ended up being a total flop. We had invested so much money into the trip, business cards, building inventory, all of it. Our other siblings even took time off of work, without pay, to make the trip to come support us along with two of my children. The event left us in whatever is beyond red and we left extremely disappointed, exhausted, and disheartened.
One of the best things that came out of that experience is that we met local and out-of-state artists who were happy to share their methods, talk shop with us, and just share their own growth.
Now with each event, we try to do the same. We try to share when we can and learn from the missed opportunities.
As you know, we’re big fans of Berri Mochi Studios. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Berri Mochi Studios, at its core, is a family business. Everything that we have created and produced has been influenced by our family in some way, shape, or form.
For example, our most popular character, Lil Squeaks, who is an adorable purple bat, is the brain child of one of Jes’ daughters. If you look at our banners and in some of our products, you’ll see Ube, a purple panda, who is my animal counterpart, or Berri, a fluffy white bunny that sports a bow with a tiny skull, who is Jes’ animal counterpart. The skull in Berri’s bow is reflective of Jes’ dark side.
A lot of the elements you’ll see throughout Berri Mochi Studios are that we have a light (cute, adorable, sweet) and dark (mostly some sarcasm and dark humor) side as well as a nod to our Asian American heritage. Our parents are Filipino and Korean and we were raised in California. Growing up, we were immersed in different cultures and experiences, heard many stories of struggle and diversity, and navigated through what it meant to be Asian and American. We incorporate pieces of our culture into all of our work.
Most of our characters, both light and dark, you can find across an array of our current product offerings like stickers, buttons, stationery sets, charms, tote bags, car accessories, or 3D models, which Jes personally designs and assembles each 3D model we have in our offerings. We like to create whimsical and practical items, although those two things may not always align.
We try not to limit ourselves as far as introducing new product lines or characters and tend to do our product launches at in person events. We receive a lot of product requests and ideas both online and in person and try our best to incorporate those into our next product launches/expansions.
We do try to be mindful of all of our product offerings so we have products that range from low price points to a little on the higher end. We also try to offer incentives for purchases. Our website offers free shipping, Buy x, Get y, automatic discounts, a customer loyalty program where the customer dictates how they want to spend their points, etc. We strive to be accessible and inclusive for everyone.
I think what sets us apart from others and what makes us the most proud of Berri Mochi Studios is that Berri Mochi Studios does not consist of just Jes and myself. It is not just my random moments of genius or the things that Jes creates that make Berri Mochi Studios. Like I mentioned before, at its core, Berri Mochi Studios is a family business, a shared collective. Our strength and foundation is the experiences of our family, our friends, and anyone that we have been lucky to meet and have a conversation with in the last two years. The people who laugh with us, share funny anecdotes or quips, who just enjoy us and what we put out there…they are part of the Berri Mochi Studios family and we could not be more proud to share this journey with all of them.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Jes and I have different areas of expertise, different approaches to tackling a problem.
My approach to anything is to plan my course of action and then to have a backup plan, but to always remain flexible so that I can easily adapt if my plans fall through and do it all with a smile on my face. I’ve been told that I am a master of compartmentalizing and way too chill!
My expertise tends to lie more in the not so crafty areas. Give me a spreadsheet or product research any day!
Jes, on the other hand, is a veteran of the US Army and tends to be a bit more rigid and tactical in her approach to a problem. Her expertise is anything hands on. Need a shelf built? Done. Want a 3D printed solar system? Sure, why not? Need to jerry rig a makeshift canopy because it’s too bright outside? Hand her some random curtain rods and it is done!
A trait that we both share is that we can be a bit stubborn and slightly on the competitive side. Years of Tae Kwon Do and good ol’ sibling rivalry will do that to you! But we are both mothers and peacekeepers as well, which helps set the tone in how we approach working together.
Somehow all our elements and differences complement each other and things work out! At least, 99.5% of the time!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.berrimochistudios.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/berri.mochi.studios/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/berri.mochi.studios.store
- Other: https://www.faire.com/direct/berrimochistudios
