Diana Alava learned everything she knew from her mother.
“My mother [Francia Alava] has been sewing since the tender age of 8,” Alava, who identifies as Dominican, tells RoyalTee. Growing up with a mother who custom-made my clothing, she was my biggest inspiration.”
Alava, 44, now has the pleasure of calling her mother and daughter her business partners as the founder and owner of Vêtu, a family-owned, upscale boutique in Stuart and Boca Raton, Florida launched in 2022. The Berkeley College graduate worked 20 years in the fashion industry before venturing into entrepreneurship, using the experience she accumulated from both her mother and working in her various roles.
As an entrepreneur and mother, she values the opportunity to build generational wealth within her family. Her mother, known as a master tailor in the Palm Beach area, handles the customers’ tailoring news and her teenage daughter, Leediana, who is dual-enrolled, takes care of the website and online sales, while Alava takes care of the day-to-day operations.
“Running a multigenerational business is a privilege. I get to be around the women I love the most and build together,” she says. “We all have a lot of respect for each other and each role we play, which makes every day go by quickly and smoothly.”
She added, ” We feel so blessed to be able to work together and give our customers the experience I had growing up, getting dressed with a tailor onsite.”
Vêtu recently sold its first franchise and looks forward to expanding the brand across the U.S.
Alava represents the more than 5 million Latino-owned businesses in the U.S., according to the Department of Treasury.
Alava says one thing her mother instilled in her was a strong work ethnic, a quality she is passing along to her daughter.
” I admire her courage in not allowing her limited English, get in the way of her growth,” Alava says about her mother. “Like most migrants, she hoped for a better life and opportunity. I instill in my daughter the same, to work hard and be inspired by many before us that kept thriving despite their limitations. I hope our family’s story can inspire other Latino families to start their own family business.”
