By Carolina Quintero
Earlier this month, Café Ama joined forces with Tory Burch to support several of our SEEDS entrepreneurs. It was a fun event not only for our students, but also our founder Amapola who got to visit and show some love!
The Tory Burch Foundation focuses on empowering women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial education. This mission closely aligns with the work Friends of Puerto Rico is doing with the SEEDS and Amigas programs. On this occasion we collaborated with Delma Torres, store manager of Tory Burch at The Mall of San Juan, to highlight some of the SEEDS businesses founded by girls. During the weekend of May 15-16, four of our SEEDS Businesses had the opportunity to present their products in the Tory Burch store.
Throughout the weekend, the store received Kiarita’s Cakes and More, Nahle Creatie, Ellie’s Arts and Paradise Accessories. Saturday, May 15 we had Kiarita’s Cakes and More. Kiara Liz Rivera Cumba (11) from the school S.U. Pasto in Aibonito, prepares home-made cakes, leveraging her passion for baking to create products for the community. Her most popular cake, the carrot cake, sold out two hours after the event started. By the end of the day, Kiara had sold all of her inventory.
That same day we had Nahle Creatie, who makes soaps, hand sanitizers, dog shampoos, and candles with natural products promoting healthy lifestyles. Nahir Santos Santiago (11) also from S.U. Pasto in Aibonito started participating in the marketplaces very shyly, and by this event she received more than $100 in profits.
The second and last day of our SEEDS Biz event, Tory Burch hosted Paradise Accessories and Ellies’ Arts. Paradise Accessories is a jewelry business created by four girls from the school Delia Davila de Caban in Toa Baja. Two of the founders are twins, Emilyann and Emylianis Rojas Sánchez (11), who represented their business during the event. Paradise has exceeded expectations by selling more than $200 in all of our events.
The fourth business is a newly created business during the second phase of our SEEDS program. The business, Ellie’s Arts by Elizairyan Rivera Viera (12) from the school Santiago Iglesias Pantin (Guaynabo), has allowed the student to gain confidence in her artistic abilities. Starting without believing she could sell her paintings, she has now sold over 20 paintings in her last two exhibitions.
Overall, this was an amazing partnership event with Tory Burch who provided a platform for our girls to express themselves and exhibit their businesses.
Every Tory Burch client who collaborated with Friends of Puerto Rico by buying two packs of Cafe Ama Love was automatically enrolled in a raffle for a chance to win a Tory Burch purse. Our winners were: Odaliz Miranda, Peggy Gonzalez, and Cristina Diaz.
We are grateful for our partner Tory Burch and their support to women and girls entrepreneurship in Puerto Rico. With your support we can continue to empower women and children of the island. If you would like to contribute, please consider being a mentor to our SEEDS students or buying or social impact coffee, Café Ama Love.