In this exclusive CanadianSME Small Business Magazine interview, Caitlyn Costa, Founder and CEO of Made for Milo, shares how a one‑woman art project evolved into a global custom pet‑portrait brand built on craftsmanship, trust, and deeply personal stories. Blending her background in visual storytelling with her husband Rob’s operational and technical systems, she explains how thoughtful design, collaborative customer care, and deliberately steady growth have allowed their family‑run Canadian business to scale worldwide without sacrificing quality, authenticity, or the emotional connection at the heart of every piece.
You’ve grown Made for Milo from a personal creative project into a brand serving tens of thousands of customers worldwide. How did your background in design and visual storytelling shape the way you built the product, the brand, and the overall customer experience?
I studied advanced visual arts at Western University and have always loved drawing animals. That foundation naturally led me into marketing, where I wore many creative hats including graphic design, 3D modelling, video production, photography, and writing. That range of experience shaped how I approached building Made for Milo from the very beginning. Rather than focusing only on the final artwork, I thought deeply about how every part of the business would be experienced.
From a product perspective, I treated each piece as long-term home décor rather than a trend-driven item. That meant prioritizing balance, refinement, and details that would feel timeless in someone’s home. Visually, the brand needed to feel calm, elevated, and trustworthy, especially because many customers are commissioning pieces tied to meaningful life moments.
Visual storytelling also informed the customer experience. I designed the process to be collaborative and transparent, with clear communication and proof approval built in from the start. Those touchpoints weren’t operational afterthoughts, they were part of the design itself. As the business scaled, those principles helped preserve consistency, trust, and care across tens of thousands of orders worldwide.
You often describe the business as a long-form creative project where every touchpoint tells a story. What did it take to turn such a personal art practice into a repeatable, trusted process—so each portrait feels unique while the experience stays consistent and scalable?
Turning a deeply personal art practice into a repeatable, trusted process would not have been possible without my husband’s role in the business. While I lead the creative direction, artwork, and brand experience, he has built and continuously refined the technical and operational systems that allow Made for Milo to function at scale.
He is responsible for much of the infrastructure behind the scenes, including website development, order processing systems, accounting, and operational workflows. He has also streamlined how customer service is managed by creating tools and processes that make communication faster, clearer, and easier to handle as order volume grows. Those efficiencies are critical to maintaining consistency, accuracy, and reliability.
His work creates the space for me to stay focused on the artwork itself. That partnership is what allows each portrait to feel thoughtful and personal while the overall experience remains professional, efficient, and scalable. Together, we’ve built a business where creativity is supported by strong systems, enabling meaningful, handcrafted work to reach customers around the world.
You run Made for Milo alongside your husband, blending your creative leadership with his technical and operational focus. How do you divide roles, stay aligned as partners and parents, and make decisions that protect both quality and family life?
Running Made for Milo together works because we have a clear division of responsibilities and complementary roles. I lead the creative direction, artwork, brand, and customer experience, while my husband manages the technical, financial, and operational side of the business. That separation allows us to make decisions efficiently and trust each other’s judgment without constant overlap.
We have two young boys, ages one and two, so day-to-day life is busy and often unpredictable. My husband works a traditional nine-to-five schedule, and the business has given me the flexibility to structure my creative work around our family’s needs. I can adjust my hours, work in focused blocks, and shift priorities when things come up at home, without compromising the quality of the work.
Having strong systems in place on the operational side makes that flexibility possible. It allows the business to run reliably while giving me the space to focus on both the artwork and our family, which has been an important part of making this model sustainable for us.
Many customers come to you to celebrate milestones or grieve the loss of a pet. How has hearing these stories influenced the way you approach growth, operations, and customer care—and what responsibilities do you feel when people trust you with something so personal?
Hearing customers’ stories has fundamentally shaped how we approach the business. Many people come to us during moments of loss or to honour deeply meaningful relationships, and that carries real emotional weight. When someone trusts us with something so personal, it creates a responsibility that goes far beyond delivering a finished piece.
That responsibility is why our messaging and customer experience are centered on helping customers feel confident and reassured throughout the process. In moments of grief or vulnerability, uncertainty can be overwhelming. We’ve intentionally designed every touchpoint to reduce that stress, from clear expectations and transparent timelines to thoughtful communication and proof approval.
Providing a proof before anything is finalized is a non negotiable part of our process. While some companies simply create the artwork and ship it without customer input, we believe people deserve to feel involved and confident in the outcome, especially when the piece carries emotional significance. That commitment also shapes how we approach growth. We’re careful not to scale in ways that would compromise care or attention to detail. Ultimately, every decision is guided by the responsibility we feel to honour the trust our customers place in us.
As a woman founder leading a creative, Canadian brand, what guided your choice to prioritize sustainable, steady growth over rapid scale—and what advice would you share with other creative entrepreneurs who want to grow without losing authenticity or burning out?
Choosing sustainable, steady growth was guided by experience and a lot of lessons learned along the way. Like many founders, we made mistakes early on by trying to move too quickly or take on too much at once. Those moments were valuable because they showed us exactly where quality, clarity, and capacity can start to break down if growth outpaces structure.
As a woman founder and a parent, protecting longevity mattered more than chasing speed. Steady growth allowed me to step back, refine processes, and make better decisions based on what actually worked rather than what sounded impressive. It also made it possible to grow the business alongside real life, not in opposition to it.
For other creative entrepreneurs, my advice is to grow at a pace that gives you room to learn and adjust. Build systems earlier than you think you need them, be honest about your limits, and don’t be afraid to slow down when something isn’t working. Authenticity and sustainability are much easier to protect when growth is intentional and informed by experience, not pressure.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CanadianSME Small Business Magazine. Our platform is dedicated to fostering dialogue and sharing insights that inspire and empower small and medium-sized businesses across Canada.
