The first time Jessica Moreno-Gonzales tried to make clay earrings, the results were, well, less than ideal.

“My very first pair, I was so excited to start,” she said. “It was a light pink that turned into charcoal black. I baked them a little too long and a little too high. My sweet husband still wears them to this day to remind me and to keep me humble.”

Now, five years later, the earrings that Moreno-Gonzales produces are beautiful, fun shapes full of bright colors. Some even resemble a tiny mortar and pestle, with a jalapeno peeking out of the bowl.

Her jewelry business, De La Niña — which is on Instagram and Etsy — is just one thing that keeps Moreno-Gonzales busy. She also runs Para Todos Waco, “a business where I host pop-up markets.”

“It was because of De La Niña that I started it,” she said. “I was traveling to Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, to find really good markets.”

And some of those markets required vendors to have a certain number of followers on social media, or to have been in business for multiple years.

“So Para Todos Waco was originally to give other small business owners a chance to have a space to sell their work,” Moreno-Gonzales said.

She’s now in the process of turning Para Todos Waco into a nonprofit organization that will organize community events and programs. In August 2024, Moreno-Gonzales and Para Todos Waco hosted the first-ever Latina Day Conference at Cultivate 7Twelve.

“We had a panel of speakers, different community leaders that gave talks on Latinas in a professional setting, starting businesses, the need for Latinas to further their education,” she said.

Two of the speakers were Isabel Lozano, principal of Waco ISD’s Kendrick Elementary School; and Maria Solano, who teaches public health at Baylor University and is also a program manager for Superior HealthPlan.

“They’re both South Waco girls. We all grew up here,” said Moreno-Gonzales, who graduated from University High School.

Moreno-Gonzales said she gets her entrepreneurial spirit from her mom, Araceli Moreno.

“As a single mother of four, she had to find a way to make ends meet, so she always found something to do, like sell tamales,” Moreno-Gonzales said. “That’s her craft. Her gift is making food. I know I get my maker gift from her side of the family. Her grandpa, my great-grandfather, is still alive, and he’s a woodsman; he’s a carpenter. He hand-makes canes and chairs. So I know it’s definitely a lineage of creating that comes from her side of the family.”

If creating jewelry and organizing events aren’t enough to keep Moreno-Gonzales busy, she also has a wedding business. She’s been ordained and has officiated more than 100 weddings in the last few years and has recently started coordinating weddings as well.

“That’s what keeps my weekends very, very busy. This weekend, I have two weddings,” she said.

Since she can’t be at both ends of a church aisle at the same time, she’ll often call on her husband Joey to help.

“When I do get booked for both services, I have my husband be my assistant,” she said. “He’ll be the one in the back, fluffing up the dress. This last weekend, my husband had to assist. We were partnered with a really great DJ who, with the power of technology, was able to put on AirPods and tell my husband, ‘Tell them to go. Open the doors, close the doors.’ It was really fun.”

The colorful clay earrings made by Jessica Moreno-Gonzales can be found on Instagram and Esty under the name of her jewelry business, De La Niña.