Today we’d like to introduce you to Mayra Oquendo.
Hi Mayra, I’m so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, how can you bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
This all started in Long Island, New York, where my Husband, Jose Valerio, would do some upholstery jobs for some people who asked him to fix their furniture; it was a hobby for him (he learned this hobby in his native country, Dominican Republic) but when the word got out that he could do upholstery so many people started to look for him so that he could fix their antique furniture or just regular furniture. That is when he noticed he could make a living out of doing upholstery, so he rented a shop where he could do work. As time passed we had children and did not want them to grow up in New York so we moved to Florida, Jose Valerio got a job with an upholstery company and also realized that these companies did not do residential work these companies only wanted to work for big companies, and he saw how people would go and ask the companies if they could upholster things for them and they would just dismiss them, that’s where he decided to start his own company once again this time our children help us out in the business, he started out working from home the garage, he was there for proberbly 3 years doing residential jobs, and the word spred again and he got more and more work brought to him, he did not have enought space at home so he started looking for comercial space and it was all very expencive, so he went to rent space in a uhal starage area so he could keep the furniture there while he did one job could have the others in storage place thats when he saw other people would rent out a unit and work in there, so he did the samething he rented the unit set it up and started working there, it is so much cheaper and has the space to work in so after time he rented another unit and another work keeps coming in (thanks God) now he has 4 unites to work in because of the demand of work. The artist is my husband (Jose Valerio) for the hands-on work, but we try to help him with stripping the furniture, painting, cutting the fabric, etc. I (Mayra Oquendo) do everything that has to do with paperwork, buying, selling, organizing his schedule, and calling the clients (he works for me, lol). We do not only do upholstery but also modify the furniture and change its look. If you like it but want to add size or take it away, make it round, square, oval, or whatever you like, we do it.
We do furniture from scratch. If you think of it, we will create it for you. We also do restaurants, clinics, boats, cars, and anything that has fabric and can be upholstered we do it. We have been working hard day by day for 25 years because we love what we do and want our clients to be happy, and when we see our clients happy, that motivates us to work with excellence for the client. When people send us to do upholstery for their homes, it is because it is antique, or almost all furniture that is made modern today. The fabric is cheap; the fabric does not last at all. People spend so much on furniture that they don’t want to throw it away; it is just a waste of money, or they have a history with their furniture. This one couple asked us to upholster their living room furniture. It was not antique, but as they said, it was the furniture they had gotten when they first married. They did not want to get rid of it; the sofa was their first bed, a sofa bed, and they had it in a New York studio they lived in. These are just memories that we help keep. We also realized that people were selling fabrics and upholstery supplies very expensive to these people. We investigated pricing for all these supplies to help out the community, so when they want to upholster their furniture or buy fabric, we could sell them what they want or need at a more economical price. Selling cheaper supplies not only to the residential but also to other upholstery shops gives the shops more options to give reasonable prices and help out the community so that if someone wants to do their furniture, they can and not worry about high costs. We work with the clients on pricing both with supplies and work. We are here to help the community with our services and low prices. We, the Valerio family (Jose, Thomas, my oldest son, and his wife Kaitlyn, and Daniel, My youngest son Valerio, and me, Mayra Oquendo-Valerio. have gotten here by helping out the community and have dreams to keep helping the community here and wherever God places us not only with the upholstery but also with our upholstery supplies company too.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The biggest struggle that we have had was trying to rent a cheap space until we found the storage unit; the other was trying to buy cheap supplies. All of the upholstery supply companies located locally are expensive due to their prices. We had to give high prices, so now we also sell upholstery supplies that allow us to sell supplies cheaper and not do expensive work so everyone, clients and other upholstery companies, are happy.
Thanks for sharing that. So, you could tell us a bit more about your business.
We are an Upholstery and Upholstery supply company. We are a family-run company known for our prices. We work with the client. Every job is just the right size for us. We try to please the client. What sets us apart from others is that we work with love. It sounds corny, but our production is not just let’s get the work out; we take a pic and send it to the client so they can see the progress of their work furniture. We are most proud of our work with modification and furniture creation. You name it or dream it; we will create it for you. We also upholstered anything that has to do with cars. We customize the rugs and chairs of the cars with the names or brands of the cars. We do the embroidery to customize it. We are going to start to build custom headboards. Everything we do is possible with the help of our children Thomas, Daniel, Kaitlyn and Samantha Valerio the Valerio family.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
One of the best things about central Florida that we love is the diversity of people from different countries, and all came to make a better life for themself and their families here in Florida. That’s why we try to help with reasonable prices.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @jm.upholsterysupplies
- Facebook: @jm.upholsterysupplies
- Other: tiktok-jmupholsterysupplies
- Phone: 407-419-4022
