Popfetti
Popfetti
Based in Portland, Oregon, Rachel Defnet of Popfetti is a lifelong teacher who can’t resist a good creative detour. She holds a master’s degree in literacy with a concentration in dyslexia and maintains a private practice as a Learning Specialist, teaching learners of all ages — from children to adults. By night (and most weekends), she’s usually surrounded by balloons, glue dots, and half-finished ideas.
Teaching has always been part of Rachel’s life — from literacy instruction to teaching sewing and other craft classes, and now leading balloon workshops.
During her stay-at-home-mom-with-a-blog era, Rachel shared craft tutorials online — including her unexpected claim to fame: the internet’s most popular Goomba costume tutorial. (Yes, the mushroom-shaped villain from Super Mario Bros.) She’s always gone big with costumes, sewing family Halloween costumes for her crew of five and creating over 30 costumes to teach in when COVID forced her tutoring practice online.
Rachel’s balloon journey began during a challenging season for her family. Her daughter was battling serious health challenges that required frequent medical appointments and eventually stepping away from school. Caring for her daughter’s needs meant Rachel had to step away from her usual teaching schedule.
Around that time, her son was tasked with decorating a Winter Wonderland dance, so Rachel jumped in to help — and learned how to make giant snowflakes using linking balloons (who knew those existed?). A new creative obsession was born.She took her first balloon class in February 2025, and what started with a few snowflakes quickly grew into something more.
With support from the Balloon Guild, Rachel began saying yes to bolder ideas — sculptural builds, balloon costumes, and designs that didn’t exist in her local market. People noticed. Requests followed. What began as creative fun naturally became a business.
A year later, Rachel is still learning, still experimenting, and trying her best to juggle phonics lessons in one hand and a balloon pump in the other.
