Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria Pia De Leon.
Hi Maria pia, 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?
My name is Maria Pia de León, I was born in Montevideo, Uruguay on February 12, 1996. I lived there until I was 19. Then I moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I studied acting and fashion production, until 2018, when for health reasons I moved to the United States, since I was part of clinical trials for Mount Sinai in New York.
At that time I began to study Fashion in the United States (Miami Arts Institute & Istituto Marangoni Miami).
Since I was very young I have been coming to Miami because I have family, and whenever I came here I noticed how they looked at me and highlighted my shoes, which I usually bought in Buenos Aires. I come from a Highly entrepreneurial family and I have always liked business a lot, so when I decided to stay in Miami the best option was to set up my own business and my greatest desire was always to be connected to fashion and art.
In 2019, I traveled to Buenos Aires, since the quality of Argentine leather and shoes, as well as the style, stands out worldwide. I was looking for possible brands to bring, since the market, in my opinion, was asking for it and there was nothing like it there.
I went around and researched possible brands, of which my main one was JOKU. Before living in Buenos Aires, I was a client of the brand, and I was always drawn to the quality, comfort, and design.
So I went to Palermo to the store located there and asked for the contact of the owner of the brand so that I could negotiate with the appropriate person, my intention to acquire the rights to the brand for the American territory.
I started the negotiations and on March 9 I signed the contract in Buenos Aires.
arrived in Miami on March 11 and a few days later a pandemic was declared.
We already had the premises rented and the first purchase of merchandise. Due to the pandemic, we were only able to open the premises on December 1, 2020, which was located in Sunset Place.
We managed to open the store on December 1st but the world had changed, the economic, political and social crisis was very big making everything much more difficult, in December 2022 we managed to get out of the sunset location for which we paid a very high rent, and we moved for a short period of time to a storage, soon after we moved to Rosita Hurtado’s atelier which I met as soon as I moved and which had a location in the Wynwood area, from there we shared the location
We decided to move together again since we had to leave the previous location due to a real estate development called ROSEE WYNWOOD, to the current location in which we share the 2, she teaches me and shares this path with me that we are so passionate about, being a very important person to me.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
We managed to open the store on December 1st but the world had changed, the economic, political and social crisis was very big, making everything much more difficult. In December 2022 we managed to get out of the Sunset location for which we paid a very high rent, and we moved for a short period of time to a storage unit. Shortly after, we moved to Rosita Hurtado’s atelier, which I met as soon as I moved in and which had a location in the Wynwood area. From there, we shared the space.
We decided to move together again since we had to leave the previous location due to a real estate development called ROSEE WYNWOOD, to the current location where we both share the space. She teaches me and shares this path with me that we are so passionate about, being a very important person to me.
It has been a very difficult path since it is not easy for us to make a new brand known for the country and part of the path has been without much support. Until Roxana Frontini arrived, who is a fundamental support for me with her experience, knowledge and way of working.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
The things I feel most proud about are, the quality , comfort , and wide variety of unique styles that we offer.
Also the feeling we provide to woman through the shoes of power , confident and encourage to take bold steps in every single way possible.
What are your plans for the future?
We are currently selling not only nationally but also in countries such as Germany, Argentina, Australia, Canada, Spain, France, Italy, UK and Uruguay.
We project to be a globally recognized brand for its quality, comfort, design, and its sustainability component. We are also excited about the Artists Collabs that JOKU will launch for Art Basel this year. And also for the new showroom located in 400 NE 67th st, miami, Florida and the events we will host there for example , Bold Market encouraging Circularity to Our Closets, and much more coming soon.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.joku-usa.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joku_usa
- Other: https://www.joku-usa.com/collections/oriana-pirella
- Other: https://www.joku-usa.com/pages/bold-market
Image Credits
@joku_usa
