Meet Trailblazer Dana Senn

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dana Senn.

Dana, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I haven’t taken a typical path to my current creative career. Before moving to Peru two and a half years ago, my entire career in Chicago was in the legal and corporate world. I am a lawyer by background but practiced law for only a short time before I realized it wasn’t for me. I transitioned to a corporate job and spent nearly 20 years in consulting and sales for a large legal technology company where I worked as a legal solutions consultant as part of a sales team.

Two and a half years ago, my life changed dramatically when we moved from Chicago to Peru for my husband’s job. I left my corporate career and was excited to take time off. I always imagined it would be awesome not to work, but I was in for a big surprise. After 6 months, I realized I was bored. I clearly need to work and have some focus. Who knew?!

This time, I wanted to create my own work in a truly entrepreneurial way and it was important to me to do something that was more than just a paycheck. I wanted to do something I felt passionate about. What I love most about living in South America is exploring the artisan markets and discovering beautiful handmade textiles. With this little initial idea, I started PresentlyIn. I named it so because this Chicago girl is presently in… Peru!

Soon after I started PresentlyIn, I realized that in addition to my love of traveling to and shopping the artisan markets, I also have a passion for designing handbags myself, incorporating traditional textiles that I find into current styles. I really enjoy searching for unique textiles across Peru, which are rooted in ancient design techniques are made by talented artisan hands, and then melding this with modern style. I love working with local makers to bring this vision to life and sharing the beautiful traditions of Peru with others.

Has it been a smooth road?
Oh my gosh, definitely not a smooth road and definitely plenty of struggles that seem to evolve and change over time. Some challenges along the way that have been tough: (1) the changes to Instagram’s algorhythms have made it much harder to reach a broader audience in my marketing efforts; (2)working in another language and running a business on my own in a second language — Spanish is hard; (3) wearing every single hat as the sole employee of my biz; (4)  finding the right team of artisan partners to work with and trust; (5) and then… having enough bandwidth to support demand ( it is truly slow fashion and small batch production here with only a handful of makers/artisans making my bags — thus growing my business to include additional makers is a slow process).

My advice: Don’t quit. Be patient. It doesn’t happen overnight. Lean on others — find your network or “community” of like-minded people doing similar things. I’ve been amazed at the power of Instagram to connect me with other women working across the globe on similar small businesses and trying to make a go of it like me. We bounce ideas off of each other, we help cross-promote each other’s businesses, we inspire each other. It’s really been a lifeline for me.

Be prepared to work hard, long hours and to not make a lot of money at first so have a financial plan. This is your baby you are nurturing and growing so you have to think about it and work on it way more than you would a 9-5 job. Try to take advantage of social media and other “free” or inexpensive tools to get started. Don’t spend more than you need to in the beginning — have a plan so you can last through the lean beginning of launching your own business.

We’d love to hear more about PresentlyIn.
When I started PresentlyIn, I initially set out to curate a collection of textile designs, like handbags and home décor, from the artisans that I visited across Peru. I would explore markets and find designs and think, “Wow, these would sell amazingly in boutiques at home. People will love these!” This evolved into a passion for designing handbags myself. I love incorporating traditional textiles into a more current modern style. I start with an interesting textile I have found and that serves as the centerpiece and inspiration for my designs. I was lucky because I have developed good relationships with makers and artisans who were willing to make my designs, in addition to sharing their own with PresentlyIn. What started out as a 100% curated collection has over time evolved into a partly curated and partly designed-by-me collection.

I’m really proud of what PresentlyIn has grown and evolved into. It is almost as if it has taken on a life of its own with its own personality and path. I am really proud of having started this from nothing and somehow created a story that I love to tell. There is a personality to PresentlyIn and the women who buy our products and I’m proud of the connection that has been made to these wonderful women. They love to travel, they care about people, they want to understand where their handbags come from and who made them. They are adventurous, independent and have some wanderlust. They love color and personal individualized style. I am proud that our products tell a story of Peru, its artisan traditions and its unique textile goodness. I like that PresentlyIn tells a story of travel to this beautiful country.

I think what sets our goods apart from others is the one-of-a-kind nature of them. We really do things in a small batch way, using unique pieces found, sometimes vintage and never mass produced textiles. Our textiles have been made by hand by individual weavers across Peru. We then take those beautiful textiles and they are made into bags one at a time by our maker partners in Lima. As a result, your bag is unique and no one else will have one just like yours. Each one is a piece of wearable art.

What’s the most important piece of advice you could give to a young woman just starting her career?
Put in the time and hard work. Don’t expect it to be easy or given to you just like that. A good idea is not enough to succeed. You need to be organized, hardworking and self-motivated to succeed. There’s a quote I saw recently, that I like and don’t know who said it but it is so true…. “Go the extra mile, it’s never crowded”. This is really important as a small business owner. Also, find a network of like-minded women — build a community of support. It’s made a huge difference to me as I have built this on my own — yet it hasn’t felt alone with these fantastic women inspiring and supporting me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.presentlyin.com
• Email: dana@presentlyin.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/presentlyin
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/presentlyin

Image Credit:
Ana Sotelo, Mariah Harrelson, Zuri Collection

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