I am a single mom of two wonderful teenagers, and starting my own business. My son and daughter help me with the OLITA business on a regular basis. I grew up in New York in family of five and then moved west, first to college and then to get my MBA. I lived all over South America for five years – Mexico, Central America and South America – where I learned to speak fluent Spanish and Portuguese.

I am passionate about children’s advocacy and serve on boards that support and protect the children in my community. I currently work at a San Francisco, California based non-profit helping entrepreneurs. My goal is to create a sustainable business to support myself and kids.

OLITA is a family business in Northern California. Olita means little wave in Spanish. We are a beach lifestyle company creating beautiful, quality all-natural beach products. Our first product is BEACH BE GONE, a body powder that removes sand, moisture, sweat and salt water from your skin, leaving it smooth and clean. Our target customers are moms with little kids (who get sand in the oddest places), surfers, beach volleyball players, and anyone who loves the beach, but hates the sand all over them. My own kids were the inspiration for this first product. I developed a body powder formula that wicks away the sand and moisture so we can enjoy our beach time and then – LEAVE THE SAND AT THE BEACH!

We are in our first year of sales, but I started the business in 2012 and invested three years of research and product development before we launched this year. We need to increase sales and distribution, and to do that, we need to really scale our production. That is why we need a KIVA loan. We hope to add several more products to OLITA over the next five years. We have the product concepts, but first we must get BEACH BE GONE sales up and going. I am most proud of creating a company and products that promote clean, safe fun at the beach, while also promoting water conservation.

I will be able to buy materials to produce more inventory for a large Purchase Order! I would also use the loan to pay an employee who will help me with sales and distribution. I strongly believe in creating jobs to strengthen the local economy. We are a small business who has received wonderful support from our local community. We want to hire people and support our community.