Since 2022, Santos has been experimenting with TikTok, first posting a “Cactus Leather 101” video which got 31,000 views. In February 2023, she uploaded a short clip featuring the Dolores bag, which gathered over 500,000 views. But it wasn’t until March when Santos’ Pilar hobo bag went viral on TikTok after the designer released a video showing all the bag’s features. It was the culmination of months of wondering if her digital efforts were going nowhere. “I was uploading videos every day, researching trending audios, seeing what other people were posting that day, it took so much time,” she says. Once she found her sweet spot, her content took off. Throughout the past year, she’s also been endorsed by accounts and creators like That Curly Top, Frances Estrada, Sustainable Baddie, and Aanne Drinks Matcha, who rave about Santos through round-up and brand spotlight videos.
