SHOP STORIES: Maxine Store

Hat designer, mother, entrepreneur, and amateur cook, Bea Birdsong is many things. She is also the wonderful person behind the counter at Maxine, a lovely store in Lido Marina Village, Newport Beach.

From within her colorful store and through her magical looks, via her Instagram Bea transports us to a fantasy world where every night there are huge parties full of celebrities and rock concerts.

Today, she’s opening the doors of Maxine to tell us more about her marvelous project.

Who is Bea? How would you define yourself?

I am a lover of everything fun, musical and unique. I am originally from Mexico but I feel I could have been French in a past life haha. Some of my recent hobbies are discovering new coffee shops with Maxine, my 2-year-old daughter, going to the beach with her and digging big holes for her to fit into and kicking my Husband’s ass in dominos.

Cooking is my best way to get rid of stress, and always best with a glass of good red wine, although my go to drink is always mezcal. My favorite food is of course Mexican food and spicy Ramen. Curating and buying for my store are my dream job, I like to call myself a “Good Hunter” :)

¿When did you open Maxine? Could you give us a brief history of your shop? What prompted you to launch your own business?

My husband Phillip and I opened Maxine in November 2020, so both our Maxines are still babies, but growing beautifully. I opened my first shop, called The Good Hunt, in San Miguel de Allende, which was mostly hats and accessories from my favorite's places in Latin America and Europe.

Then Phillip and I met and thought it would be so fun to take a Millinery course in Mexico City, which then lead us to launch our hat company, Creatures of Love. We then moved to California and started doing pretty successful hats pop-ups, so we decided to open Maxine, which merges perfectly our passion of hat making and curating beautiful pieces from designers and brands that inspire us.

Can you share a moment you’ll always remember as an entrepreneur?

I will never forget the proud smile on my mother’s face every time I would tell her about a new achievement and she would tell her friends, neighbors, and pretty much everyone (haha) all about it. She was the best example of entrepreneurship.

Of all our designs to date, which is your favorite Naguisa?

It’s a tough call, but if I had to choose only one style and wear every single day it would be the Bellver Bone for winter and Lava Wood for summer.