Studio CM
Company description
Studio CM is a Brownsville home goods shop that curates, sources, and imports handmade, sustainably produced décor from artisans and specialty workshops across Mexico — hand-blown glass, ceramics, and textiles from makers in Oaxaca, Jalisco, Yucatán, and Michoacán — sold both in its physical Brownsville store and online. The business was part of the Quality of Life Ventures cohort of Startup Texas, the accelerator and pitch competition sponsored by the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation (BCIC) in partnership with UTRGV's Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Center (ECC) and taught at the eBridge Center.
Founder Carla Ramirez McGregor is a first-generation American and Brownsville native who spent more than a decade in Austin working in recruiting and talent acquisition for tech companies, including firms like The Knot and Realtor.com. After a stretch working 50+ hours a week for someone else's business, she decided to build one of her own, drawing on an Executive MBA from Baylor University and her bicultural background to launch Studio CM in April 2023. She bootstrapped the business entirely from personal savings and has run it largely as a solo operation — traveling to Mexico herself to scout products, build vendor relationships, and manage the logistics of importing.
Studio CM was featured in a ShoutoutLA founder interview, where Carla talked about what sets the shop apart: full end-to-end importing that most customers wouldn't otherwise have access to, and a "quality over quantity" philosophy that emphasizes reused materials and long-lasting products with a story behind each maker. By the time of that interview, in the business's second year, she described shifting focus from getting the shop off the ground to managing higher volume and adding wholesale to the business model.
Founder: Carla Ramirez McGregor
Program: 2024 StartUp Texas Accelerator, Quality of Life Ventures cohort
Links and socials
Website: ilovestudiocm.com
Facebook: facebook.com/ilovestudiocm
Email: carla@ilovestudiocm.com
Address: 900 E Levee St, Brownsville, TX 78520