Letícia is a really outgoing person; she likes shopping and eating chocolate, but one of her passions is the world of fashion. One day she realized that she didn’t want to buy clothes that often, but to draw them, cut the fabric and see other people wearing it. That’s when she created her own store, LV Store, which is now a popular brand on Instagram.
Age: 19
Hometown: Bragança Paulista
Sign: Aries
Major: Journalism
Year: 2018
Why Cásper and why Journalism? Since I was a kid I dreamt about studying Journalism. I’ve always liked to tell stories, talk and since I have always been really outgoing, I started looking out for colleges that would offer me this opportunity. That was when I saw Cásper, which was rated as the top 5 colleges in Journalism in the country. Every time I passed by Paulista Avenue, I was amazed by it, so I decided from the beginning that Cásper was where I wanted to study, so I put a lot of effort into it.
You are from the countryside. What are the differences between São Paulo city and Bragança? What do you miss the most back home? Definitely, my family, I really miss them. São Paulo is a huge city. It’s crowded, loud, and everything happens really fast compared to Bragança. The rhythm is totally different, even the air is different. [Laughs]
What are the biggest challenges of living by yourself in the big city? What about the good things? The hard part involves the fact that you don’t have anyone to talk at night and when you are not feeling well, you either call your parents or stay home by yourself thinking about it. Problems get bigger when you are alone as well. Besides that, it’s tiring sometimes. If you don’t clean it, it’s going to stay dirty, if you don’t cook, you will be hungry. Combining all the responsibilities to also doing home chores in only 24 hours is complicated. The nice part about it, though, is that you become more independent. I love to go to the grocery store and buy only what I want. [Laughs] You become more responsible and you are ‘obligated’ to grow up faster, I guess.
What is always on your grocery list? Chocolate! [Laughs] Easy things to cook, such as pasta, are top picks as well. There is a grocery store close by that sells everything for the those who live by themselves, so I usually buy food that come sliced and even seasoned; it’s great!
You have your own clothing store, LV Store. Where did the idea come from? When did you decide to go with it? The idea came on my freshman year, when I didn’t work and really liked the world of fashion. I borrowed some money from my parents and started re-selling clothes. It worked, but it wasn’t what I expected, since I wanted to create my own clothing and not to sell someone else’s. Then, I started to draw the designs and since my mom already had a tailoring, we decided to start our own business.
Who draws the clothes and sews them? How much time of your day do you use to manage the store? The time I set for my store varies a lot. My weekends are basically for the store, because there are new clothes that I have to take pictures, upload to the website, besides going after new fabrics. Over the week I only manage the website, which involves the orders, the production and the deliveries, so I’m always checking how things are going. If you add up all the time I spend on it, it gets around 3-4 hours, because my mom helps a lot, and since she lives in Bragança, where the magic happens, she does almost everything.
Besides studying and managing your own business, what else do you do over the week? My routine is really busy. I work at a news press from 8 am to 5 pm and between my job and class, which starts at 7 pm, I study, take care of the store, clean up the house and do some shopping. [Laughs] After that, I go to college and when I go back home, around 10:30 pm, I study.
What advices would you give to someone who dreams about starting their own business? I think the person needs to think a lot about it before starting their own business. They have to choose something that they really like and remember that it’s going to take a lot of their time, so it needs to be something that they feel good about it, otherwise it won’t work. Besides that, the person should to have at least a little bit of knowledge about the field; if not, it can be really hard to success.