Calabasas 9th Grader Adds Much-Needed Creativity To Pet Industry

CALABASAS, CA — Calabasas High School ninth grader Natalie Kahn struggled to find fun, fashionable accessories for her French bulldog, Angus. She knew the market was lacking creativity, so she started doing research and built a company of her own, Mina + Pup.

Natalie has worked on Mina + Pup for over a year now, making her own designs for dog accessories, speaking with manufacturers and suppliers and taking her designs to pop-up markets.

Natalie donates a portion of her revenue to charities and dog shelters and has already partnered with Rover's Retreat Dog Rescue, a Southern California-based nonprofit that places rescue dogs in homes, and Rockin' Rescue in Woodland Hills.

Natalie always loved dogs, but the idea for her business bloomed when she fell in love with Angus, her first dog, she said. Eager to show Angus to the world, Natalie started an Instagram feed for him during the pandemic quarantine. But she struggled to find Angus fun accessories for his photo shoots.

"I saw how the pet accessories industry lacked really fun, fresh, vibrant and unique prints, and I was, like, 'This would be so cool if I could design my own,'" Natalie said.

Natalie found inspiration when her uncle, Michael Golikov, died of heart disease at the age of 34. She named the company after her uncle: She combined the first two letters of both their names to get "Mina."

"This idea was in my head for a while, but it really came to be when I unfortunately lost my uncle, Michael," Natalie said. She added: "Me and my uncle, we were bst friends since I was a baby. We did everything together. He came over a lot during quarantine, and we would go on bike rides; we'd go swimming. He just was such a fun and nice person, and I had so much fun with him when I would hang out with him."

Natalie taught herself everything she knows about the industry — an impressive feat many people find unbelievable, said Natalie's mom, Stella Kahn. Natalie stayed up late researching manufacturers and finding pop-ups she dragged her mom to.

Sometimes the business makes it hard for Natalie to just be a kid, her mom said. Mina + Pup has meant late nights and missed social opportunities. But Natalie said her friends have been supportive.

"My friends have been so supportive. They even come to my pop-ups, and I've used plenty of my friends' dogs to be models for my photo shoots. They've just been so supportive of this whole thing," Natalie said.

Natalie wants to continue working on her company and using it to honor her uncle's memory and also to give back to the community.

"I just want to keep running this business in honor of my uncle, and I want to make lots of dogs stylish. One of my goals is to see a random dog on the street wearing one of my products," she said.

Patch readers can use the code Patch10 to get a discount to try out Mina + Pup accessories.