Blood, gore, a knife flashing and disappearing in flesh as someone screams out in pain, these are all nuances that come to mind when one thinks of the genre that is horror.

Caroline Medina, owner of Caffeinated Coven Company, is adding a splash of pink to these motifs and giving a feminine vibe to a community with a once-heavy masculine atmosphere.

With visions of pink Jason Voorhees masks and American traditional Billy Loomis hearts, Medina can be found at one of the many horror-themed conventions in Southern California, such as Midsummer Scream and Monsterpalooza.

“Growing up I was always kind of like a little bit of an outcast kid, I grew up really loving Halloween, I was really inspired by Tim Burton when I was young,” said Medina.

It was when Medina was a teenager that she got a taste for horror when she would watch horror movies with her parents. Medina recounts that she doesn’t know what it was about the genre that made her love it so much.

Once Medina got a taste for cinematic blood, she delved deeper and discovered that there was a community in Southern California for those who shared the same love for scary movies.

“That’s when I started going to conventions and whenever I would look at the small businesses that were vending at those conventions, they were all also inspired by horror and Halloween and I thought that it was all so cool, I didn’t know that someone could own a business in that so it really piqued my interest,” said Medina

The color pink traditionally symbolizes gentleness, love, compassion and most notoriously, femininity. It can be safe to say that this is not what comes to mind when one is gripping their covers in fear as the murderer on their screen is hacking away at some poor person.

Medina, however, is contradicting the stereotype that horror-themed merchandise has to be inherently gritty and grim.

“I wanted to kind of find my niche because I'm like, ‘Okay well there’s a lot of other people that kind of sell the same type of merchandise that I want to sell,’” said Medina, “I love pink, my hair is dyed pink, no one would guess because I wear all black almost all the time but I just really love pink and pastels. I’ve embraced my femininity so I love cute, bubbly things so I take all these really scary characters and I make them super cute. I feel like horror is a very male dominated genre so I wanted to make something that would appeal to femmes.”

Regular Caffeinated Coven Co. customer Reesa Florian said it was “the artwork and designs. The combination of cute colors and spooky designs and the wide variety of her [Medina’s] artwork,” that first interested her about Medina’s business.

Caffeinated Coven Co. was started in December of 2019 and is home to acrylic keychains, vinyl stickers and enamel pins that allude towards horror pop culture references.

Before Medina started Caffeinated Coven, she would attend horror conventions and vending pop-ups and speak to her soon to be peers about their business and would offer her help if they needed it.

It was this engagement and interaction that has helped Medina in her venture as an artist and small business owner.

“Before she [Medina] was vending at these events and vending online as much as she is now, she was attending these events and she was meeting the people behind the shops she liked and taking mental notes of that so when I think that it was time for her to start selling and start vending at these events everyone that was part of these events were already familiar with her as a customer, as a fan of the genre,” said Mariana Chavez, owner of Rattlehead Crafts. “I think it was a lot quicker for people to take her shop seriously because they already knew the person behind it so when people ask me how do I have a successful shop, my thought is always Caroline being a part of the community and being a part of these shops before being a part of it if that makes sense.”

Chavez and Medina met in that manner about three years ago, and provide help and support for one another when needed at the various horror and Halloween themed conventions that they vend at.

Since the inception of her business, Medina has reached 10,700 followers on Instagram and has fundraised for Black Lives Matter LA.

“During the murdering of George Floyd, I felt kind of helpless, I didn’t want it to feel like I was making it about myself but I felt helpless,” Medina said. “I wanted to do something so I was able to partner and gather up about 23 other small businesses and we created a fundraising raffle.

“All of the businesses donated something for the raffle and we were able to raise $13,000 for Black Lives Matter LA, that was something I never sought to do when I opened my business but it was just something that I was very compelled to do and was happy to throw together so when we did that and when I saw how much money we raised, I was just like, ‘Wow, that’s a lot of money’ and because I was able to partner with all those different businesses I was able to organize that.”

Florian said, “She is truly a good and generous person and the fact that she is an amazing artist and shares her gifts via her artwork to help others in need is just one of the many reasons I continue to support her small business.”

Success as a full-time artist wasn’t always a feasible accomplishment for Medina.

“I had always been a very creative person as I was young. I really loved drawing for the longest time, I was convinced that I was gonna be a tattoo artist but growing up I was always taught that art wasn’t a marketable skill, my parents didn’t want me to invest into going to school for art or studying art because it was gonna be so hard to find a quote on quote real job if I studied that,” said Medina.

It was this reminder by her parents that Medina kept her interest in art as a hobby throughout her childhood and early adulthood.

“I got my bachelor’s degree in political science and I ended up never using it because it made me so miserable, I found a job that I liked after I graduated university and then I thought I wanted to pursue education but something about it just wasn’t making me feel totally fulfilled, I loved working with the kids but something about it just didn’t scream that it was it for me,” said Medina.

With lockdowns initiated as a result of the pandemic, Medina was able to utilize that time into focusing on drawing and designing more items for Caffeinated Coven.

Eventually, Medina made being an artist and operating Caffeinated Coven Co. a full time career.

“I was kind of fueled by spite a little bit, I was like ‘well they think I can’t do this so I’m going to do it harder’ I’m still going to try, if I fail, I fail, at least I still have a degree I can fall back on, but I still want to try,” Medina.

Despite the words of her parents being ingrained in her at such a young age, said Medina, she persevered and although self-doubt may creep upon her at times, she looks back at the fact that she single-handedly owns and runs her own small business.

“With my shop it took me a few years to be really confident and feel confident saying I do art for a living and with her it seems like as soon as she jumped into it [owning a business] she was very confident and when people try to tell her that she’s not an artist yet or that she has to earn that, I think she’s always been very good about saying, ‘no I do art for a living, I am an artist,’” said Chavez.

Medina said, “Eventually I came to the realization that this is what I want to dedicate my life to, I don’t want it to be just my small business, I want it to be my whole career.”

Caroline Medina finds her niche in horror