Harlingen, Texas (KVEO) – Amid the pandemic, two women from the Rio Grande Valley have found new careers after a few setbacks and realizing their love for art and fashion is greater than they thought .

are both natives of the valley who went to college with a purpose.

Before the pandemic, Roxanna Treviño and Andrea Santoi did not know what to do after graduating from higher education.

“I graduated and thought I was going to take a conventional route, that I was going [do] nine to five are doing construction documents, ”Treviño said.

While Treviño was going to school to become an architect, Santoi was in the process of becoming a nurse.

“I wanted to be a nurse, it didn’t work,” Santoi said.

About five months ago, Santoi’s boyfriend introduced her to resin, which sparked curiosity about what she could do creatively.

During Santoi’s research, she discovered that jewelry could be made from resin.

This discovery inspired her to put her skills into practice. Over time, she sparked the start of her jewelry line, my love.

“My love means my love [in French]”Santoi said.

According to Santoi, the name of her jewelry line was inspired by the fact that she always told her mother how much love she put into her job.

Santoi was impressed that people were interested in her jewelry via Instagram. She said she shipped her work across the United States.

As for Treviño, his small business became more than an idea after his parents opened their own restaurant. She said her family has always been passionate about running her own business.

With her background in architecture, Treviño began to experiment with what she wanted from her clean business to look like.

Mexican culture and her passion for fashion helped bring her store, Para Mi, live.

Treviño said her handcrafted jewelry was the top seller, but trendy masks were top sellers at first.

“We have sold thousands of masks,” Treviño said.

Treviño said the masks are in high demand because disposable masks are not available in stores.

One of the reasons participation brought joy to Treviño was because it was able to help local artisans who were struggling financially because of the pandemic.

“Not only would this help protect people, but also… provide for our artisans who at the time were out of work,” she said.

The artisan community was strongly affected as there was no active tourism, according to Treviño.

“It was a great opportunity for it to be a win-win,” she said.

Treviño and Santoi both say they are proud to have overcome their fears of taking a different path in life.

Today, they look forward to continuing their journey as entrepreneurs and hope their stories inspire others to come together.