Mexican American stylist Linda Waisbord, a San Diego native, sought to connect Latinx designers with U.S. consumers. PORTRAIT BY JACKIE GALLARDO
Mexican American stylist and image consultant Linda Waisbord teamed up with three fellow Latinas in fashion to launch My Pipl (mypipl.shop), a platform connecting Latinx designers with U.S. consumers. Here, the stylish San Diego native discusses standout Mexican brands and My Pipl’s popular pop-up events at Nordstrom stores in Fashion Valley and La Jolla.
How did you get started in the fashion industry? I started dressing everyone in my immediate family at a very young age. By the time I was 4, my parents recall I would come up with a handful of different ‘outfits’ and would be changing throughout the day as my fun little game. Little by little, I was dressing extended family and friends, and that quickly expanded into word-of-mouth clients coming my way.
How did you get the idea for your newest project, My Pipl? My two biggest passions are fashion and travel. I have always believed in the importance of travel in order to open our hearts and minds to different ideas, cultures, ways of thinking and seeing the world as one. During my travels, every single designer would ask me to help them get to the U.S. market; and vice versa, my clients would all want me to bring them back all these fantastic treasures I was finding in my travels.
Linda Waisbord with My Pipl co-founders Diva Lomas (left) and Catherine Bachelier PORTRAITS BY JACKIE GALLARDO
How does this platform connect Latin designers with U.S. customers? My Pipl is a marketer, consulting agency and fashion platform that promotes Latinx talent in the United States. My Pipl acts as a fashion bridge connecting Mexico to the U.S. and provides marketing, PR and commercial relations support to select designers and brands on their journey toward growth in the U.S. Our mission is to recognize and develop business opportunities for Latinx creative talent in the United States and worldwide. Our vision is to be recognized as the point of reference when one seeks something different, authentic and design-forward in the Latino community.
“OUR MISSION IS TO RECOGNIZE AND DEVELOP BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES FOR LATINX CREATIVE TALENT IN THE UNITED STATES AND WORLDWIDE.” –LINDA WAISBORD
Tell us about some of the brands you work with. A wide variety of amazing brands are part of the My Pipl family. One of our favorite brands has to be UNO + UNO + [Uno Más Uno Más], which has been in the family since the first pop-up and continues to sell out every time. Also, Nordstrom keeps asking us to bring it back. We are just overjoyed at the response!
How did you come to collaborate with Nordstrom on pop-ups in Southern California? Our collaboration was born because both [co-founder] Catherine Bachelier and I are both ex-full-time employees and still stylists affiliated with the company.
My Pipl collaborates with Nordstrom on San Diego pop-up events spotlighting Latinx brands, like Uno Más Uno Más accessories. PRODUCT PHOTO COURTESY OF MY PIPL
What pop-up events and plans does My Pipl have for the rest of the year? Our calendar has been packed from the second pop-up shop we held back in February 2021. The response was so amazing that word of mouth between store managers started getting around and we are now booked in Las Vegas, New Jersey, Manhattan, La Jolla [at Nordstrom UTC from Nov. 10 to 12] and back in San Diego’s Fashion Valley mall in December [at Nordstrom from Dec. 8 to 11]. We can barely keep up but are having the time of our lives!
What’s next? We have another huge retailer very interested in this concept, and we all know—my three other amazing business partners [Bachelier, Diva Lomas, Irene Parra] and I—this is just the beginning. To think this journey began only six months ago is crazy! As long as we have people’s support, we will keep creating bridges of opportunity here in the United States for so many talented designers around the world. … We are all My Pipl.
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