When we think \u201cpassion for fashion,\u201d we think creator Jessica Torres<\/a>. The New York-based Ecuadorian American plus-size style influencer and host of the podcast, Fat Girls Club<\/em><\/a>, who originally hails from the Bronx (\u201cJessi from the Block\u201d), is one of our favorite source of inspiration for looks\u2014so it\u2019s no surprise that her two Chihuahua mixes, Manolo and Martina, often appear in her photoshoots. We spoke to Jessica about being a tiny dog mom, teaching her dogs to accessorize, and how she\u2019s helping the plus-size community shop for great fits.<\/b><\/p>\n How did Manolo and Martina come into your life?<\/i><\/p>\n Manolo was originally my younger sister\u2019s dog. She ended up getting married and moving to a place where they wouldn\u2019t allow dogs. So I was like, okay, I\u2019ll just take care of him. There\u2019s no problem. He\u2019s been mine ever since and he\u2019s my baby.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m actually planning on doing their little DNA test\u2014do my own little Maury Show<\/em> moment and see who the father is, see what breeds they are.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Is he a Chihuahua?<\/i><\/p>\n He is a Chihuahua. I\u2019m not completely sure what he is because we really don\u2019t have full breed dogs. They\u2019re little mutts. I think he might be the only one who is a full Chihuahua. We\u2019re still not sure. He\u2019s very petite and under five pounds. Manolo\u2019s a very nervous, timid dog\u2014but very also cuddly and sensitive. He knows when someone is sad. If he hears anyone crying, he\u2019ll jump through their chest and lick their tears away. He also knows when a woman is on her period. I know this sounds crazy, but whenever he feels this, he\u2019ll go to their bellies and\u00a0just lay down.<\/p>\n He\u2019s such a great comfort dog. When I had surgery a few years ago, he did not leave my side. He was on my bed all the time. He basically said, \u201cYou\u2019re in bed, I\u2019m in bed.\u201d It was the sweetest thing ever.<\/p>\n What about Martina?<\/i><\/p>\n I moved in with my girlfriend and for our anniversary, we decided we wanted to get another dog. We had been talking about this for a while. We didn\u2019t want Manolo to feel lonely every time we had to run errands or leave the house. He\u2019s so used to being with people and gets so anxious when he\u2019s not. He\u2019ll bark like crazy. We thought it would be nice for him to have a little buddy. After living together for a year, we decided it was a great time to adopt a baby. We actually found this family who had puppies and agreed to give us one of the babies. That\u2019s how we got Martina.<\/p>\n Is Martina a Chihuahua too?<\/i><\/p>\n We don\u2019t know, but I think one of the parents was a mutt as well. I think she\u2019s a Chihuahua Terrier mix of some kind. I\u2019m actually planning on doing their little DNA test\u2014do my own little Maury Show<\/em> moment and see who the father is, see what breeds they are.<\/p>\n I have a total mutt too. And we took one of those DNA tests and she\u2019s like 10 different dogs at once. Mutts are so unique, right?<\/i><\/p>\n With Martina, you can tell that there\u2019s a Terrier and a Chihuahua in her. She\u2019s got the long body of a Terrier, her ears also look like a Terrier\u2019s, but her face is a bit of Chihuahua. She\u2019s like a weird E.T.-looking brown, beautiful baby, which I love!<\/p>\n Compared to Manolo, how big is Martina?<\/i><\/p>\n Martina is actually seven pounds, so she\u2019s bigger than him. She\u2019s much meatier. She has a belly and loves to eat. She\u2019s much more active than he is. She loves to play around and fetch things. She\u2019s a very active dog, but also very quiet. She doesn\u2019t really bark much.<\/p>\n How did they react when they met? Was it love at first sight or was Manolo jealous?<\/i><\/p>\n That was the hardest part! Manolo thinks he\u2019s a human baby. When Martina came home, he was like, \u201cWhen did we decide to get a dog? I was not included in these plans. What is going on?\u201d Martina wanted to play with him from the first second, but he was so afraid of other dogs because when my sister had him, she never really had a lot of time to introduce him to others. It took us a couple months until Manolo was okay with just being with her in the same room. They\u2019re finally getting along. They kind of cuddle. Sometimes, he still likes his privacy. But, he\u2019s getting so much better at cuddling with her and checking up on her. The other day, my girlfriend took Martina to work and he kept looking for her. It was the best thing ever to realize that they were actually starting to yearn for each other.<\/p>\n Since you have such great taste, do you have any favorite dog brands?<\/i><\/p>\n For their food, they both do Royal Canin<\/a>. Any other brand usually doesn\u2019t suit them that well and they\u2019ll get sick. I do a mix of wet and dry foods to switch it up for them. We really don\u2019t have any favorite brands. We\u2019re still experimenting because they\u2019re so small that most clothes don\u2019t fit! We usually buy something and then exchange it for something smaller. They have two little cow print onesies<\/a> that I got on Amazon that they both like wearing. Those are my favorite to see them in.<\/p>\n What\u2019s their play style?<\/i><\/p>\n Manolo strictly likes to just fetch things. We have these soft toys that are little volcanoes with dinosaurs that come out of it that they love playing fetch with. Manolo tends to get shy about playing in front of Martina, so we usually play separately with each of them. Martina always wants to play. My sister has two dogs now and she usually brings them over for playdates. Martina tussles with them and Manolo\u2019s always on the sidelines, not wanting to be bothered. We also take them to the dog park nearby, but usually there\u2019s not a lot of small dogs, so they\u2019ll just run around by themselves. Everyone here tends to have really huge dogs and we\u2019re the only ones with little babies.<\/p>\n I used to want a tiny dog, but I was always so scared I would sit or step on them. My dog is about 20 pounds and I still sometimes almost step on her!<\/i><\/p>\n They\u2019re so aware that they\u2019re very small. If anyone\u2019s walking by them, they move out of the way. I used to test it on them. I would specifically place them on the couch and I would pretend to almost sit on them so they could practice moving out of the way. The moment I would get closer, as soon as I\u2019d touched their bodies, they knew they had to move. They kind of got used to the idea that if anyone\u2019s coming that close, they need to run.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve trained them for the real world. They\u2019re small and smart. Do they ever appear in your content or have they ever done a campaign with you?<\/i><\/p>\n I\u2019m the typical mother that thinks my dogs are the cutest dogs in the world, so I want put them in everything. Whenever I have the opportunity of shooting some home content, they\u2019ll be in the photos because they\u2019re beautiful to me and I want them there. Martina is great with the camera! She\u2019ll just be sitting and looking cute, while Manolo just constantly gives me his back. It always looks like I\u2019m just carrying a little cow because of his black and white body. I do try and include them in all the photos I can. Manolo goes so well with certain outfits, as does Martina with others!<\/p>\n What kind of outfits do they go with?<\/i><\/p>\n Manolo is black and white and a little spotty, so I do monochromatic looks with him. For Martina, I go for more earthy patterns, because she\u2019s a brown little dog.<\/p>\n That\u2019s so cute. You\u2019re the first person I\u2019ve spoken to who doesn\u2019t emphasize accessorizing their dogs, but rather, matching your outfits with them. Do they have a grooming routine?<\/i><\/p>\n We\u2019ll just take them to the groomer near us once a month. They don\u2019t really need a lot of grooming. We bathe them every two-to-three weeks. The groomer cuts their nails and cleans their ears, because we\u2019re really scared of doing it ourselves. Aside from that, I\u2019d say they\u2019re very low maintenance. I don\u2019t think I could have a high-maintenance dog because they\u2019re already very emotional, crazy dogs. Having to take care of them physically with special care would be too much for me. I hate doing my own hair\u2014I\u2019m not doing anyone else\u2019s!<\/p>\n Do you use a specific brand of dog shampoo?<\/i><\/p>\n We\u2019ve been using a baby shampoo that the vet recommended.<\/p>\n Baby skin is close to the pH of dog skin. And it makes sense\u2014they are your babies!<\/i><\/p>\n I literally treat them like my babies.<\/p>\n What is your biggest indulgence for them?<\/i><\/p>\n They\u2019re not allowed on the couch or the bed because my girlfriend doesn\u2019t like that. But when she\u2019s not here, we\u2019re always together on the bed. She doesn\u2019t know that though. It\u2019s my dirty little secret. I love it because I\u2019ll be tired from a long day of work and then for 30 minutes I\u2019ll bring them up the bed so that they can cuddle with me. They\u2019ll lay by the pillows or my legs and we\u2019ll take a nap together.<\/p>\n They know it\u2019s a secret. That\u2019s so funny. How do you think your dogs have changed your life?<\/i><\/p>\n Right before I moved into my new apartment, my mom was taking care of Manolo for the first two weeks because I needed time to move in and unpack all the things, and I didn\u2019t want to stress him out with all of that. So, for those two weeks, I was extremely depressed. Not having him nearby did affect my mental health. I felt so sad that he wasn\u2019t around. No matter what kind of day I\u2019m having, if it\u2019s stressful or sad, I know that literally just looking at them makes me feel so much happier, excited, and relaxed. I think it\u2019s the mothering side of me that just wants to take care of them and make sure that they\u2019re okay.<\/p>\n Did you grow up with dogs?<\/i><\/p>\n No, not at all. We lived in a small apartment with my family. My sister and I weren\u2019t allowed to have dogs because we had childhood asthma though we always wanted one.\u00a0We would tie strings to balloons and we would walk the balloons around the apartment like they were our dogs. We would even draw little dog faces on them sometimes and just walk our \u201cdogs\u201d from one room to another. Now that I have my own dogs, I feel as if my childhood dream came true!<\/p>\n Your childhood dream really did come true! Do you feel your life with your dogs changed since the pandemic?<\/i><\/p>\n It really hasn\u2019t affected my life that much. I work from home and even when I\u2019m out running errands, I always put them in my bag and they\u2019ll behave very well.<\/p>\n How did you become a style influencer?<\/i><\/p>\n I started my blog about ten years ago. I realized that I was a Bronx Latina and I didn\u2019t have a lot of connections to work in magazines, so I decided that maybe starting my blog would be a good way to get noticed\u2014and it worked. I became very noticed on Instagram and social media. I ended up getting a job at a site where I worked as a producer and reporter for them. I created a lot of content that had to do with body positivity, plus-size fashion, and beauty. After a while, I quit the job so I could work for myself full-time.<\/p>\n The content that I create is pretty much fashion related. I cater to plus-size women in the fashion world. I do hauls where I show what clothes actually look like on plus-size bodies. I try to be that connection between the fat consumer who doesn\u2019t really get to see themselves and the clothes that are on the site.<\/p>\n You have a really engaged community. Have you been able to connect with other dog moms through your work?<\/i><\/p>\n Having dogs is such a great icebreaker because a lot of people love dogs, but meeting another content creator\u00a0who has one makes you instantly connect with them.<\/p>\n Do you ever take your dogs out to brunch?<\/i><\/p>\n Because they\u2019re so small, I can just put them in a tote bag and no one will know they\u2019re there. I actually snuck Manolo into a movie theater once. He literally slept the entire time and didn\u2019t bark or anything. We got up and left, and no one noticed. It was really sneaky, but I was lucky enough that he\u2019s really calm and quiet so he didn\u2019t make any noise or disturb anyone.<\/p>\n That\u2019s incredible, and really a testament to you that he trusts you and wants to be around you so bad, he is okay with just chilling in a tote bag in a theater, just happy to be wherever you are.\u00a0If they were human, how would you describe Manolo and Martina?<\/i><\/p>\n My girlfriend and I talk about this all the time. We think Manolo would be the shy, nerdy boy in the corner\u2014a wallflower\u2014who just wants to vibe and is probably very anxious, but a really nice guy once you get to meet him. As for Martina, she would probably be a world traveler. She wants to make friends with everyone. She usually wants to play with every dog, no matter the size or the weight of the dog. She thinks everyone\u2019s her friend.<\/p>\n Martina seems kind of sophisticated and adventurous. What are some of the dreams and goals that you have as a mom dog for your two babies?<\/i><\/p>\n So I definitely want to travel with my dogs. I would love to have world traveling photos with them. But, personally for Manolo, I want him to be a little less anxious and we\u2019re working on that. That\u2019s my biggest mission in life right now, to make him a little bit more confident. As for Martina, I\u2019d definitely love to travel with her. She seems like the perfect travel buddy.<\/p>\n Photography by Tayler Smith<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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