Meet-a-Mom, Nina Makovski, owner of Waterlemon
What’s your favorite family activity in the Hinsdale, Western Springs, LaGrange, Clarendon Hills Area ?
We love going out to dinner, we do this A LOT these days because of how busy life is. When the weather is nice, we’ll bike ride, sit by the train with ice cream or candies from Fannie Mae in La Grange and of course we love all the summer fests and try to go to as many as possible. We’re also big Farmers Market people – we got so used to them in LA and miss them so! We also love to just walk neighborhoods & get inspired by all the beautiful homes + shops these areas are full of. Honestly, any time we can get where we just hang out and relax, we are thankful for – we’re not picky.
How many children do you have and what are their age(s)?
We have 1 daughter, Vivian and she is 3 ½. As a 20-something I pictured myself with a really big family (6 or 7 kids!) but as I got older and my career really started to take off (television producing) the years just flew by and before I knew it I was 37! She is my one and only and I’m perfectly happy with that fact.
How long have you lived in the Hinsdale/WS/LaGrange/CH Area? What made you decide to live here?
I was born and raised in La Grange Park. I left when I was 26 to live in CA but always knew I’d be back to Chicago “one day”. When we had Vivian, we decided that was the time to make the move as we wanted her raised around my family – wanted her to know her grandparents and aunt and cousins, etc. That was really important to us. Luckily too Paul’s family is in Boston which is a much quicker trip than when we lived in CA.
We currently reside in Riverside, however. And we love this community and the sweet, old Cape Cod we live in.
Where’s your favorite place to eat and/or shop in the Hinsdale/WS/LaGrange/CH Area?
The 3 of us LOVE going out to dinner. With how much we have going on these days, I don’t have the time to cook like I once used to. So we’ve really come to enjoy dining out together, especially now that Vivian is older and can sit still!
Some of our favorite spots in La Grange are Lucca’s, Altiro, Kama Bistro + fourteensixteen. Faves in Hinsdale are Nobuki (it’s the closest to California sushi we’ve found since moving back to Chicago from LA!), Fuller House and when it’s warm out, Oberweiss. We also like to enjoy a coffee al fresco at the Clarendon Hills Starbucks (love their little patio area!) and of course, we adore Davanti in WS.For shopping we love My Sister Kate + Blue Mercury in Hinsdale, Bloom 3 + Owl & Lark in La Grange. I need to familiarize myself with WS and CH shops and restaurants more!
What’s one thing people would be surprised to know about you?
My background is in television production! I started my career here in Chicago working on an HGTV show and have been producing for the last 20 years. I’ve worked for a ton of different networks over the years and really love that line of work. While in LA doing our “day jobs” Paul and I opened a retail boutique call Kulture Bomb which was a home décor store on Melrose. We loved it and knew we’d do it again one day – and now we are with Waterlemon. We are sort of serial entrepreneurs – our minds are always working which can be a good and bad thing!
Anyone special you’d like to thank for helping you through parenthood?
My parents, sister and of course, Paul. Family is everything and as we all know, when raising kids, even just one, it takes a village. We wouldn’t be where we are today with Waterlemon and life in general without support and love from family.
Are you involved in a business venture, a local organization, a creative endeavor, or in the corporate world? Please share!
Yes! My husband and I own Waterlemon, which is a super cute indoor playspace, party venue and retail boutique in La Grange. We’ve been open for almost a year (Jan. 3 is our official anniversary!) and the ride so far has been everything and more we could have hoped for. The support and loyalty from our community, along with the positive feedback, our growing social media following and word-of-mouth referrals from our customers (especially the mama tribes!) has been nothing short of tremendous. We are humbled & extremely grateful for this 1st year and can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us.
How has this community been instrumental in getting you to where you are now?
It’s immeasurable and difficult to put into words. The people within this community, as I stated above, and their support of Waterlemon is 100% the reason for our success thus far.A small business cannot thrive if it’s not accepted and embraced by its community. That is why we try to go above and beyond by offering exceptional customer service – we pride ourselves on it. We want every single person who walks through the door to have a great experience, whether they’re there to play, host their child’s birthday party, grab a coffee or pick up a gift. We want them to feel taken care of while they’re there and when they leave, we hope they do so feeling happy, valued and wanting to return. When our customers and community speak, we listen. So many of the brands we carry were recommended to us by our customers; snacks on our snack table were recommended by our customers; party times – created via our customers feedback. Events created based on recommendations by our followers. Paul and I may be the owners of Waterlemon but it’s being steered by our community.
Photo Credit, @chicagoandrea aka Chicago Andrea Creative on FB