Meet Christine Castellani | Co-Founder, Bette

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christine Castellani and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christine, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Our love of the beach and the casual coastal lifestyle brought us together in 2016 when we met in a kindergarten classroom as our firstborns were starting school. Living in Encinitas, we spent many beach days watching our kids play in the surf and enjoying countless San Diego sunsets – we ❤️ a good sunset! We were both feeling a lack of creativity and inspiration in our current careers and often discussed the idea of starting our own business together. We went through so many different ideas (over so many spicy margaritas) and then in 2018, while we were schlepping our kids to and from the beach, we started dreaming up a cute lifestyle brand that embodied the beauty of living on the coast. Colorful patterns, easy-to-wear styles, and lightweight fabrics bring a little glamor and elegance, without being too serious. But what would we call it? We wanted to come up with a name that had meaning. Bette was Hillary’s grandmother’s name. She believed in living the good life. She loved vacations, relaxing, connecting, and just having fun with her family and friends. Bette believed in balance. She saw the humor in things and allowed herself to have fun!! This resonated with us so much – we are all Bette (or can be). So hit pause and breathe deep. Look around to see the beautiful colors and feel the breeze. Just like you do on vacation, take a moment to soak it all in every day. And so Bette began…
Although we both have over 20 years of experience in sales and marketing, this was our first shot at building our own brand. We met with anyone who offered to give us advice and tried to soak in as much information as possible. We didn’t quite know where to start, so our first photoshoot was at our local beach and we hired our babysitters to model for us – they were such good sports (and beautiful too!) We’ve been lucky enough to have amazingly supportive and talented friends to help us out along the way to build the brand we envisioned.

What should our readers know about your business?
As I mentioned earlier, we both have over 20 years of experience in business but had never started our own business before. We spent a lot of late nights and long days learning the ropes and understanding the grit it takes to just get an idea off the ground. We quickly realized that building a brand isn’t just about making clothes. Bette is more than a clothing brand, it’s a way of life. We love the sand in our toes – the breeze in our hair – big belly laughs – time with people we love – life in San Diego and never taking ourselves too seriously. We try to embody this feeling in everything we do at Bette.

We are obsessed with color and our designs are inspired by the beautiful coastlines we adore. Whether it’s the turquoise Caribbean water or a gorgeous cotton candy San Diego sunset, we are constantly gathering inspiration all around us. We have a saying – “I’m nicer when I like my outfit” – it’s on all of our hang tags- because it’s true! Wearing that perfect shade of pink to give you a healthy glow, or a blue that makes your eyes pop, just makes us feel more confident and brings a big smile to our faces. It makes you feel good and when you feel good about yourself you are a happier person.

We work with artists all over the world to fabricate our designs. Our current Santa Barbara Collection is made in India using remnant fabrics which not only makes our bags bright and colorful, but eco-chic too. We hope to continue to bring more eco-conscious designs to our line.

While we have a great following here in San Diego, we are excited to continue growing our business through boutiques and resorts across the country. Currently, most of our styles are designed for warm weather but we are planning to expand into some cozier styles you can wear throughout the year. Whatever Bette style you choose, our goal is to bring a big smile to your face and make you feel gorgeous and confident!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
One of our favorite things to do is a Girls’ Day at La Costa Spa. The blood orange Mimosas are amazing and the lunch menu at the Spa is healthy and delicious. Everyone gets a fabulous massage and relaxes in the sun.

Exercise is super important to both of us and we are so lucky to have some gorgeous outside venues to enjoy. We love a good walk along the Rail Trail from Encinitas all the way to Solana Beach. You will often find us somewhere along that path catching another amazing San Diego sunset. Annie’s Canyon trail is another favorite, especially with kids in tow. It feels like you are on another planet and the view from the top is gorgeous. And we can’t forget Torrey Pines when we want a heart-pumping walk up the hill and an adventure down to the beach.

Lunch in downtown Encinitas is always a favorite, whether it’s a lobster roll at Lobster West or a delicious taco from City Tacos. And you can’t forget to grab ice cream at Cali Cream!

And our favorite dinner spot is the Pony Room at Rancho Valencia. They often have live music and the food is always amazing!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Of course, owning your own business has its daily challenges, but the community of amazing women around us really keeps us going. There are so many women in our community that are good examples of hard work and success. Juggling mom life and a business is hard and we have to depend on each other a lot to get it all done. We are lucky enough that we can reach out to other women entrepreneurs to help us figure out a problem or just brainstorm ideas. It would be nearly impossible to try to start a business on your own without the help of people who have been through it before. We try to learn as much as we can and always help out another business owner whenever we have the chance. We are so grateful for the local stores that were willing to support us in our beginning stages which included Swirl Boutique, M.Sorelle Boutique, and La Costa Resort.

Website: https://shopbette.com/

Instagram: @shopbette

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shopbette/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shopbette

Image Credits
Photographer- Flavio Scorsato