Mompreneur: Marjun Biernath and Kumquats Puppets

Marin mom and entrepreneur Marjun Biernath looked back to her native Germany when trying to find a business niche here in the US. She imports unique, handmade, and educational Kumquats puppets from Europe to sell to lucky families in both the Bay Area and throughout the country.

We asked Marjun to answer a few questions about herself, her family, her business, and Kumquats. You can learn more about Marjun and the complete line of Kumquats puppets by visiting www.kumquats-usa.com.

Please tell us about yourself and your background.

My name is Marjun Biernath and I currently live in Marin. I moved to the United States roughly about three years ago. Before that, I lived in Germany, which is also where I was born. I live here with my beautiful family including my husband, my two kids, and our dog. I would consider myself a very creative person. Whether it is decorating food or the house for Christmas, I really enjoy showing my creative side.

What prompted you to start importing Kumquats puppets to America?

12 years ago, my whole family spent Christmas at our house. My sister showered my kids and her daughter with really fun gifts. One of the gifts to her daughter was the Kumquats puppet “Lucy”. After everyone had received the rest of their presents, all of our focus was on Lucy the whole time. She grasped everyone’s attention, made everyone laugh and smile, and therefore another aspect of love was spread on Christmas Eve. Now I want to be able to share the feeling we had, and still have with our puppets now, with as many people as possible here in America.

What is special about Kumquats? How do they enrich the lives of their families?

Without exaggerating, I think everything about these puppets is special. Whether it’d be the fact that you can make them come alive, or that they turn into your kid’s best friend that helps them overcome fears or struggles, or the fact that you can change their clothes and style them with new outfits, and most importantly the fact that they make whoever is around them happy. Kumquats can be taken anywhere. When we still lived in Europe and made a trip to Florida, our puppet Luki came with us. When we had breakfast, our puppet Jannah was there too. Kumquats enrich the lives of every family member in any kind of situation, and we are definitely proud to call our puppets new family members.

What activities do you and your family members enjoy doing?

The whole family is a big fan of being active. Now, whether that means going to the YMCA, running outside with our dog, playing soccer, or even officiating soccer, we try to be out in the fresh air as often as possible. Along with loving nature, we also recycle. In our free time, we play games, meet with friends, go out to dinner or bowling, or we spent a cozy night at home. Whatever is fun in America, we enjoy doing it. And of course, our Kumquats are always with us exploring new things.

What do you love best about living and working here?

What I have enjoyed and loved from the beginning of living here, is the ethnic variety. So many cultures come together, and we tend to learn something new every week. Also, I am a big fan of sunny and warm weather, which takes up most of the time in California. Of course, meeting new people and working with them is also an amazing experience, especially because people here are so much more willing to open up to someone than they are in Germany. And because people are so much easier to talk to, anyone could be friends with a Kumquats puppet!