Meet Emma Kerekes of EmRose Ave in Gilbert

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emma Kerekes.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Emma. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Mechanical Handy Man meets Savvy Treasure Hunter

After dating for a few months, I convinced Troy to go thrift store shopping with me to show him my skills. He was a skeptic and didn’t believe that my incredible finds were as great as I said they were. I’d like to say that it only took one trip for him to see what I saw, but that wasn’t the case. Instead he walked around wondering how and why I would ever bring anything home from that place, let alone pay for it.

Shortly after my mom’s neighbor had an estate sale and I became the proud owner of a set of old Tiki masks. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. I wanted to give them to Troy for his beach themed house! I took them over to him and he didn’t see what I saw. I cleaned them up, painted them, and hung them up in his place. Clearly this won him over because when I brought home a dresser from that same estate sale, a few months after we had moved in together, he was ready to roll up his sleeves and get to work on it with me. It took two entire weekends to strip, sand, repair, and stain the beloved dresser and in that time, we discovered a few things about each other. Troy was not only mechanical, he was also very handy, and I have an eye for color, trends, and creative display. And we both realized that we loved working together and that we were a pretty kick ass team!

It didn’t take long before we had cleared out the garage and start hunting for any kind of junk to try out our combined skills on. I wanted a wood frame in Spanish and since I couldn’t find one, Troy decided to make one. It was that piece that united us on what we could create. We started making frames with quotes from funny sayings, to inspirational thoughts, to Spanish terms, and we were having fun doing it. We were learning how to work with different tools, stains, material, and machines. And we were doing it all together. Troy’s wheels were always turning, and he’d had several business ideas, but hadn’t ever pulled the trigger on any of them. I’ve always been inspired to find and create something unique but never thought of it as a business idea. But with Troy as my business partner, his constant encouragement, and his knack for building, we decided that we should take my talent for finding inspiration anywhere, my creative juices, and my willingness to learn just about anything, and make it into more than just a hobby.

We started EmRose Avenue because we wanted to use our talents, work together, and make a mark in our community while having fun doing it. And we feel so blessed because we are doing just that!

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Smooth isn’t exactly the word I would use to describe our journey. That being said, I wouldn’t have it any other way. We have learned so much together. We went from creating signs for ourselves and family members to setting up a pop up boutique in less than two months. Anytime you do something that fast, there are going to be some steep learning curves, wasted material, some colorful language, and pieces that should probably be used as firewood.

Two years later, we are still learning how to manage social media, market online, create with the right materials, photograph our frames, perfect our booth set up, and keep it fun, relevant, and unique frames in our inventory.

Seriously, you just don’t know what you don’t know. Before EmRose Ave, I had no idea there were so many different shades of white!

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about EmRose Ave – what should we know?
Our pieces represent our unique journeys. I was raised in a bilingual home by parents who immigrated to Arizona from El Salvador. Troy was an army brat who finally put down roots in Arizona and has called it home for more than 30 years.

Because of our love for Arizona, the native cacti makes a constant appearance in our designs. Also, we weave the Hispanic culture into our collection by offering common Spanish sayings and names that create a sense of nostalgia for anyone who grew up in a Spanish speaking home.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
We do everything together. The decision to start EmRose Avenue was a decision we made together and that is how we still run it to this day. Troy helps me get out of my head about my fears and encourages me to be confident and fearless. Meanwhile I help Troy see the vision and encourage him to find inspiration of his own for our company.

We’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way, but even those we’ve made together.

Contact Info:

• Address: Gilbert, AZ
• Website: EmRoseAve.com
• Phone: 480-628-6332
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emroseave/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmRose-Ave-661222884037684/?ref=bookmarks

Image Credit:
@leylamoss

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