Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton on Latina roots, building Chillhouse, and redefining modern self-care

It really all started because my mother was a spa owner in Jackson Heights in Queens. So I was raised in this environment and grew up surrounded by Latinas getting beauty services. I loved the community element of a physical space and beauty services bringing women together. 

I remember our holiday parties and all of the women who would visit my mother for decades. It shaped how I think about Chillhouse as more than a nail brand,  we’re a hub and brand that breathes community. And while our community isn’t just Latinas, my upbringing shaped me. 

There were a lot of women responsible for me taking that leap, other than my mother, but I will say the one who stands out the most was Sophia Amoruso. 

I was in my early 20s when Nasty Gal was starting to really blow up, and it was so refreshing to see a founder who didn’t subscribe to the buttoned-up concept of entrepreneurship. She normalized being messy and having no pedigree, and she made entrepreneurship feel accessible to women like me. 

As a two-time college dropout, she spoke to me. A few years later, she became our first advisor, and Chillhouse was her first angel investment. I manifested that. 

I’d say the biggest learning came from pausing and not reacting right away. I was always so quick to react, and as a result, it distracted me from the finish line. 

I’d give every small problem too much energy. I’d take everything personally. It was mostly ego. Letting go of ego is everything. I’m not perfect at it, but I work on it every day. 

We never raised a ton of money, not because we didn’t want to but because we had a really tough time raising. Always. Our secret sauce was events & partnerships. 

They delivered higher margins, which allowed us to scale up the marketing team to support our own internal brand needs.

We didn’t take out loans until COVID, and luckily, my husband/COO jumped on those loans like it was his full-time job. He and his dad, I’ll never forget it.

We were living in his dad’s home in Orlando. While I was pregnant and miserable, trying to pivot to whatever revenue stream I could think of, they were in the weeds trying to save our businesses. Dark days with a sunny outcome for us, luckily. 

I’m not good at being “chill”. Some people think I give off chill energy, but my best friends know. I will say, I try to take my vacations seriously. I turn off notifications and say I’m reachable via text, but that’s it. 

As a creator, though, the work really never ends, but I’ve learned to enjoy the work so the day-to-day feels light and low-pressure. 

As far as what I do, I’m pretty religious about my self-care rituals. This includes body work, bimonthly pedicures, changing out my nails weekly between our press-ons and polish (work, but also I love that it feels like a forced screen break for me). 

I also love having a glass of red wine or Ghia while building vibey playlists for Chillhouse or for fun. Favorite secret habit of mine. I was a DJ in a former life, I know it.  

Thank you! Love hearing the words “Chillhouse” and “huge brand” in the same sentence. That’s certainly the goal, and we’re on our way. 

I’m of the mindset that if you set the foundation of a quality brand, the retailers will follow. All of our major retailers were inbound, from Target to Urban Outfitters, to Walmart, and many others in between. And I’m not saying this to sound smug, but we’re different, and it showed so we got the “phone calls”. 

Our success at UO was a good case study for mass retail. We stand out on shelves, and the quality of our products gets people to return in-store. 

As far as what it means for the brand, it means everything. Our revenue is largely wholesale. Our partnership with Target has opened doors with new customers. It’s brand discovery at its finest. And our job is to continue delivering our promise of attainable, high-quality nail care through inspirational storytelling. 

I always say this now: motherhood made me a better business owner. It forces you to make decisions quicker and simultaneously to slow down and not jump to conclusions or react poorly. 

I really learned how to manage my emotions when I became a parent & this benefited me in a business sense too. 

Great question. For me, both cities speak to different parts of my soul. New York is home. It’s where I was born, and it’s what I’ve known my whole life. But the grind almost broke me. 

Being in Miami grounds me. Even though it’s still a major city, I’m able to live the suburban life I never knew I needed. We call it “Suburban Cyndi,” and I have the healthy balance I desperately need. When I’m in NYC, it’s nonstop, 6 hours of sleep, go go go. Both are necessary in my life right now. 

Always. I still grapple with it. I don’t know if that ever fully goes away as an entrepreneur because our role is to always take risks and make big bets, how is that not scary no matter how much you think you know? 

On that note, my biggest tip to those chasing their dreams is to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. It’s part of the process. You’ll know you’re on the right path when you get both extremes of highs and lows. Push through the lows. The stories that’ll come from it will be for the book someday.