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Mesa mom channels trauma into online clothing business

Posted at 4:32 AM, Jun 12, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-12 08:33:48-04

They are famous, without the paparazzi, and they could be living right next door.

These Valley women have thousands of followers on their social media accounts. They are mothers -- some of them stay at home and some work full-time jobs -- but they are making money on their posts and sharing their secrets to success this week in our ABC15 series.

Creating styles that empower --that is the message one "Majestic Mama" is trying to bring to your wardrobe.

Mesa mother of two Lindsay Diaz gave up her steady job as a nurse to create Sugarface Clothing.

The main way Diaz sells and advertises her clothing line is through Instagram and her account with more than 20,000 followers.

The unique name from her business actually came from her son, Lucas.

Diaz calls him her "Sugar" because he had such a sweet face. So, "Sugarface" seemed like the perfect business name.

But, the idea for this did not come from a sweet experience. It came from almost losing that baby when he nearly drowned on his first birthday.

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"In Arizona, you hear about it like none other," Diaz said. But, hearing about drownings is nothing like the experiencing the trauma of finding your child face down in the water.

"...I looked around at my aunt, and my brother, my husband," Diaz recalled. "And I said, 'Where's Lucas?'"

Diaz said that just seconds before she went to the bathroom, Lucas was crawling on the floor in the living room with family. Somehow he slipped away into the backyard pool.

"The doctors were like, 'How many compressions do you think you did? How many of this? Do you remember how long you were doing it?' And I'm like, 'No, I don't remember,'" Diaz said.

But, she does remember doctors telling her this: her son was a medical miracle.

Lucas came out of an induced coma smiling.

"I'm so thankful that I get a second chance to be this little boy's mom," Diaz said.

In the months after that, Lucas went back to being normal. But, Diaz did not.

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"It was me who couldn't go back to work, it was me who couldn't look at family members in the eye, it was me who couldn't sleep at night thinking of his face," Diaz said.

It took a therapist asking Diaz what she could focus on in her life instead of fear. So, she decided to create funky and unique shirts, dresses, sunglasses, and more.

She has no background in fashion but she definitely knows what moms wants to wear.

"I don't want to send you something and then you're like, 'Oh my God, I don't want to wear it! It makes me feel tight!' And I'm like, 'No,' because I'm a mom," Diaz said. "I don't want anything to be tight! I want it to be loose and I want to look good and it's still a t-shirt!"

Diaz has shared her struggles with her followers and she believes that connection has kept business coming.

"I just like to make designs on a whim sometimes with what I'm feeling," Diaz explained. "I'll throw it on a t-shirt and it connects more or less with the major community of females out there."

Her advice to other who want to build their business on the 'gram is to be real and support each other.

"That's what I want to bring to the table is community over competition," Diaz said. "And support for other female business owners because it is freakin' hard."

Diaz is not done dreaming yet. The "Female Phenomeon" has a dream of getting a warehouse and employees that can do her prints all in one location. She hopes to see that success in just a few years.

To purchase her designs, click here.

To check out her Instagram, click here.