Hispanic and Latinx business owners you can support the entire year

As creators, we both share different backgrounds. Gelly Guzman has a background in Fashion. She studied Fashion Merchandising at The Fashion Institute of Technology and has always been highly passionate about confidence and all things female. Valerie Diaz has a background in Marketing. She studied International Relations and Marketing at Clark University and has always been driven by the digital space and uplifting businesses digitally. As we like to say, we bring the best of the two worlds together, and we are your go-to dynamic duo that is here to inspire and create.

We are the founders of Posh Palma Styles, an online boutique and lifestyle clothing brand. In April of 2020, we decided to fuse our fashion and digital marketing expertise to create a lifestyle brand influenced by the people on the colorful streets of Miami. Our private label includes women’s apparel and accessories designed, developed, and cultivated in the Dominican Republic. Posh Palma Styles is rooted in community, womanhood, and a ton of hustling in alignment. We work very hard to create spaces where everyone is welcome, respected, and protected. We take the most pride in our people. The community that supports us and that chooses to celebrate and believe in us.

We want to recommend DN Organics (@dnorganics), a Latina-owned brand co-run by sisters. DN Organics is a haircare brand rooted in celebrating your natural hair and embracing the beauty within. We love how humble and authentic they are regarding the brand presence and community they are cultivating. We love you, Cory and Nicol.

Daniella Levy is the CEO and co-founder of Happy V, a vaginal wellness company shaking up the industry with high-quality, safe, innovative, and affordable products; easy-to-understand + educational health content; and destigmatizing the way society views talks about women’s health.

Hans Graubard is the COO and co-founder of Happy V. Hans has been around dietary supplements literally his entire life. His family founded Nutrition Formulators — a dietary supplement contract manufacturing facility over 27 years ago. His experience and knowledge in nutritional supplements have created a unique experience for Happy V by producing high-quality products and the first vertically integrated women‘s wellness company.

Daniella began experiencing bacterial vaginosis (BV) six years ago, which not many people talk about but is the most common vaginal infection among women ages 15-44. She switched gynecologists five times, and every time they kept prescribing her antibiotics, which didn’t actually treat the BV and instead made her more susceptible to other bacterial infections like yeast infections. It became an endless cycle, with doctors often dismissing what she was experiencing and how it was impacting her life.

At one point, she became so frustrated that she began her research and stumbled across some studies about natural ingredients, like probiotics, that help the symptoms commonly associated with BV and other vaginal infections.

At around the same time, she began dating her partner, Hans Graubard, whose family owns and operates a dietary supplement manufacturing company. When she finally opened up to him about what she had been going through, they decided to combine her experience with his knowledge and access to the world of supplements to create high-quality products for vaginal wellness. Happy V delivers the solutions people need, hopefully relieving them of any discomfort and helping them feel less alone! The company is based in South Florida and rooted in Daniella and Han’s Colombian roots.

We want to recommend Jenzano Designs or JZD Shop. This Latinx business caught our attention because they empower, inspire, and celebrate the Hispanic culture through relatable key phrases in their cute clothing. Not only that, but their story and how they got the brand started really sheds light on what it takes to create your own “small business,” especially for first-generation Hispanics.

Shadiah Sigala is a Latina serial tech entrepreneur and founder of Kinside, a modern childcare benefit. Before launching Kinside, she co-founded the billion-dollar company HoneyBook, a tech solution that powers over 50,000 freelancers in managing their business.

Shadiah broke ground in her first-generation Mexican-American family by receiving degrees from Harvard (Master’s in Public Policy) and Pomona College (BA in Latin American Studies) by 24.

Kinside was inspired by a personal problem that revealed a structural problem within the childcare industry. Shadiah had her first child while running her last tech company, HoneyBook, and was shocked at how woefully inaccessible affordable child care programs were in her area. It was then apparent that many other employees were having the same issue. She researched employer-sponsored child care benefits and was again stunned at how few options were available. She found that not only are the incumbent solutions wildly expensive, but they don’t address the concerns of the majority of the working- and middle-class workforce.

Kinside is a solution that helps working parents find the proper child care at the best price point. Childcare is one of the most significant expenses for American families, and up until now, there has been no technology to advance this evergreen social and economic need. Kinside’s mission is to offer a world where every family has access to high-quality, affordable child care. They are starting by being the most trusted and transparent technology platform in this space.

Jaime Dávila is the President of Campanario Entertainment, a prolific source of multilingual content and a production bridge between the U.S. and Latin America. With an authenticity to its Latinx roots and appeal for mainstream audiences, Dávila’s slate includes the popular Netflix Original, Selena: The Series, which celebrates and tells the life of Mexican American singer and icon Selena Quintanilla; Como Sobrevivir Soltero, a romantic comedy series for Amazon Prime Video; Bravo’s Mexican Dynasties; and the family separation and immigration documentary Colossus. He also has various projects in development, including Bridges, a multi-generational series to be produced in partnership with Eva Longoria’s UnbelieEVAble Entertainment at ABC.

Noticing the apparent gap in Latinx programming and lack of representation in front of and behind the camera in Hollywood, Dávila left his job at a major television network to found Campanario Entertainment. His goal is to create a Hollywood that represents the incredible cultures within Latinx/Hispanic communities.

I want to recommend a taqueria restaurant in California known as Tacos 1986. I am a frequent customer, and I appreciate the fresh, authentic flavors of Tacos 1986 that bring the taste of Tijuana’s street food right into my neighborhood.

Martha Cisneros is the creator of the Latinas Wine Club, a New York-based wine blogger and content creator at WineDivaa. Cisneros has a background in technology, and through the LWC, she’s able to combine her tech knowledge and wine passion. Martha has a WSET 2 diploma with merit and is studying through the Wine Scholar Guild to become an Italian Wine Scholar. Martha was born and raised in the northeast of Mexico and had been living in NYC for ten years.

Erlinda A. Doherty, Latinas Wine Club partner, is a sommelier, certified wine educator, and wine columnist who teaches wine in an engaging and approachable manner. Erlinda helps local and international beverage retailers and suppliers engage with the community by working with her industry colleagues. She‘s organized wine festivals, launched restaurant wine programs and reported on the local wine scene. She hosts intimate wine discovery appointments at local venues and creates private educational events. Through her passion project, ViníCola, Erlinda has helped our community experience wine in a new, interactive way.

The Latinas Wine Club started as an Instagram account created by Martha Cisneros, hoping that this online hub would support and connect Latina wine professionals and enthusiasts. During the height of the pandemic in 2020, Martha started featuring dynamic Latinas (sommeliers, winemakers, wine educators, journalists, bloggers, etc.) in the wine industry to help spotlight their successes and offer inspiration to others. Creating awareness for the lack of Latino representation was immediately embraced by a member of the Instagram community.

The LWC evolved into more than a social meeting point; it became a virtual space for Latinas to learn about wine while supporting one another through their wine journey with membership programs for consumers, professionals, and wine brands. Martha and Erlinda plan to continue their wine education classes, highlight Latinas in wine, and grow a more robust programming schedule for 2022. The Latinas Wine Club is based in New York and Washington DC.

Tai Adaya is the Founder and CEO of HABIT, a new kind of skincare brand that creates products that actually work. Through HABIT, Tai redefines how we approach skincare, focusing on reliable healthcare solutions to skin’s most significant concern: skin aging.

Tai began her career in Management Consulting at Bain & Company before leading marketing initiatives for various consumer brands, including Il Makiage, Casper, and GoodRx. She grew up in Houston, TX, and she is a graduate of Stanford University and currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.

Like most people, especially women, Tai has worried about skin aging since she was a teenager, investing in expensive eye creams and ‘preventative’ Botox in her 20s. After spending thousands of dollars on ‘preventative’ skin aging, Tai went on a journey to answer: what is the best way to invest in Anti-Aging? The answer is, of course, sunscreen. Sunscreen has typically been commercialized as an outdoor product. Many popular formulas on the market have been developed completely, leaving out non-white skin tones in the product development. Tai recognized that the category is actually a healthcare category (sunscreen is an OTC drug...not just a beach product), a genuinely effective Anti-Aging solution, and saw an opportunity to develop the next generation of sunscreen for the next generation. HABIT’s products create an elevated everyday sunscreen experience for consumers.

HABIT‘s revolutionary advancement, which should not be revolutionary, is: they test their products on non-white skin. It’s not just a marketing talking point that they tack onto products; they create products for daily use on non-white skin, ensuring that their SPF products will never leave a white cast on any skin tone.

The brand is based in New York.

Balenciaga, because of the designs of course! And because it’s an enduring brand with Spanish roots.

Kathleen Fuentes, better known as KathleenLights, is a famous beauty YouTube vlogger and influencer. Born to Cuban immigrant parents, Kathleen is a Miami native whose pride in her Cuban culture & roots runs deep. A proud Latina, Kathleen launched her YouTube channel on January 26, 2013, and today, she has over 4.2M subscribers. At only 29-years-old, Kathleen has catapulted herself into a brand in and of itself, with world-renowned collaborations including ColourPop, Makeup Geek, and Morphe Brushes. In addition to being a successful vlogger and influencer, Kathleen is an incredibly savvy businesswoman launching several successful ventures, including Lights Label, her accessory and apparel line, and most recently, her very first solo project and brand, Lights Lacquer.

Lights Lacquer is a cruelty-free, vegan, and seven-free lacquer company. What makes Lights Lacquer polishes unique is that they are beautiful and distinctive, and free of toxins. Their Seven-Free formula is created without toxic chemicals such as Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde Resin, Camphor, TPHP, and Xylene, which are common in many other polishes. This formula makes for a polish that is both safe and beautiful. Lights Lacquer brings nostalgia, timelessness, and unique, luxury color curation to create quality nail polish that is long-lasting and easy to apply. Kathleen and her eclectic team carefully curated every shade of Lights Lacquer, drawing inspiration from her vast knowledge of makeup, color theory, the world around her, and trendy Pantone colors of the season.

XIO by Ylette, fun, fashionable jewelry designed by my sister!

Ylette Luis is a Miami-based Cuban-American fashion-forward entrepreneur, jewelry designer, and influencer. Born during Scorpio season on October 26, 1985, to Cuban immigrant parents, it was inevitable that she would develop a strong work ethic, ambition, and the drive to create something of her own. After following the “traditional” path to success, Ylette attended St. Thomas University, where she completed a bachelor’s in criminal justice and completed a master’s in psychology at the University of San Francisco. Soon after, she obtained a position at BoxyCharm as a Content Creator specializing in social media marketing and influencer relations, gaining extensive knowledge and expertise in the beauty and fashion industries and the influencer community. In her early thirties, Ylette decided to pursue a different path. She often compares this time in her life to Saturn Return; the astrological event said to bring immense reflection, change, and growth. She spent time reflecting on her passions, the strong Latina women who inspired her throughout her life, and this is how XIO was born.

XIO by Ylette is a unique monthly jewelry subscription service that provides subscribers with four to five gold-dipped pieces carefully curated by Ylette. The company is a tribute to Ylette’s Cuban roots and was inspired by and named after her grandmother Xiomara who she credits with instilling in her a love for entrepreneurship, a passion for jewelry, and a deep admiration for each unique story piece tells. Ylette is deeply involved in the design of each box. Each month, she determines the theme and works to express it through the jewelry pieces selected. She draws inspiration for each package from her intuition, her vast knowledge of fashion, various cultures, the world around her, and celebrity style icons. Priced at $60 a month, XIO gals receive the beautiful XIO bag featuring four to five pieces of carefully curated jewelry inspired by Ylette’s love of fashion, astrology, and the latest trends. Each bag is valued at an average of $160 collectively and may include various pieces from necklaces, chokers, bracelets, bangles, stud or hoop earrings, and rings. XIO is the only monthly jewelry subscription service that requires no swaps or returns because subscribers get to keep all the gorgeous pieces they receive. Additionally, XIO Gal subscribers receive an exclusive discount of 20% off the entire XIO website to shop the individual pieces.

Lights Lacquer, high quality, vegan polish, founded by my sister, Kathleen Fuentes. Alamar Cosmetics- I love the quality of the pigments, and the colorful palettes!

Josh Molina is a first-generation Colombian American with a passion for coffee and Latin cuisine. He graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with a degree in experimental psychology in 2010. After years of saving up to pursue his dream, Molina opened Makers & Finders in 2014 at 25. In his sophomore effort, he opened in Downtown Summerlin in 2017. Despite the numerous challenges that the pandemic caused, including closing both locations and letting go of 85% of his staff, Josh remained determined to share specialty coffee and Latin cuisine with Las Vegas locals and visitors. In 2020, he launched Take it Easy Roasters, a retail and production operation that roasts thousands of pounds of coffee and bakery items for all Makers & Finders locations. In 2021, he continued the momentum by debuting a coffee-focused Makers & Finders kiosk in AREA15, Las Vegas’s newest immersive events and entertainment district.

Makers & Finders is based in Las Vegas but celebrates the culture and cuisine of Colombia and other regions of Latin America. The restaurant was founded on three pillars: Coffee, Latin Food, and Culture. We aim to elevate specialty coffee through educational improvement and elevate the palate and knowledge of coffee in our community. We intend to provide thoughtfully presented dishes with authentically derived recipes to shed light on Latin American comfort foods’ vast and savory world. Being a millennial-owned and operated establishment, our goal is to gain a strong reputation in our immediate community while pushing world-class service and hospitality standards. The restaurant was a dream for Josh since 2011 when its first iteration was conceived, but he spent the next three years perfecting his vision and raising funds necessary to open Makers & Finders.

One of my favorite new beer bars/bottle shops in the Las Vegas Arts District is Servezah! It is owned by three of my fraternity brothers - all of whom are Latinos. The space itself is designed beautifully, with incredible murals of inspirational Latinx figures from the past. They also have a vast selection of unique bottles and brews from different parts of our country, which you can purchase from their “Beer Cave.” The ambiance is energetic and driven by their live music events, which draw a great crowd with a stellar vibe! However, I recommend this establishment because these three young Latinx worked very hard for almost five years to bring their vision to life finally. I had the honor to witness some of their processes, and the determination they displayed speaks to the never-give-up mentality that many Latinx have.

Joanna Vargas is a recognized skincare expert and founder of her eponymous skincare collection. She focuses on one thing: beautiful skin. With decades spent working with renowned Dermatologists, combined with embracing the latest in epigenetics, green chemistry, skin-enhancing technologies, and hands-on experience on a diverse clientele, Joanna uses a multi-faceted approach to create simple, all-natural, all-natural + proven solutions to influence even the most complex skin problems positively. Joanna’s nature-meets-technology approach has made her one of today’s most sought-out estheticians and experts in the beauty industry.

I have always said my love of the beauty industry came from my grandmother. She was the most glamorous and always smelled amazing. She would have loved what my brand has become, and I always think of her when I take on a new project. Self-care and ritualizing a routine is something I preach to all my clients, and those concepts were born from watching my grandmother doing her routine.

Being Latina has always informed how I approached being a business owner: we have always focused on mentorship and growing the company from the inside. Most of my executive team were hired in entry-level positions and have grown into excellent leaders. My staff is incredibly diverse and reflects the fantastic city my brand was born in.

Traditionally, we have made our heritage incredibly important for our children’s sake in our family. We speak Spanish at home; our favorite meals are from our countries of origin (my mother’s family is from Mexico and Puerto Rico, and my husband is from Nicaragua originally). We live, what we would consider very traditionally, with a strong sense of family. Hispanic Heritage Month is a time for us to highlight to our friends and our children’s friends all the outstanding contributions made by the people of our culture. We have traditional meals, talk about music, art, and writers we like, or even get into political discussions. I think it’s special for people to learn more and take pride in who they are.

In a terrific twist of fate, first-generation Cuban American Carin Luna-Ostaseski set out to create a Scotch Whisky brand that would change the way people think about the category. She decided to seek these new horizons in the form of a grand tour of her local whisky purveyor – 300 bottles of whiskies and countless tasting events later; she became a dedicated student of this sublime spirit. Carin eventually left her 17-year career as a Creative Director and successfully funded SIA Scotch Whisky on kickstarter.com, pursuing her dream of becoming a successful entrepreneur and one of the first Hispanic people in history to create a Scotch Whisky company.

I had the vision to create a scotch whisky that would change the way people think about the category. I wanted to build a modern brand that would challenge traditional notions and conventions—a brand that would break barriers. SIA Scotch Whisky is an unexpected blend for the contemporary palate. Distilled, matured, blended, and bottled in Scotland, it’s everything you’d never expect from a scotch whisky. It has a distinctive and approachable taste profile with a unique blend of vanilla, caramel, citrus, honey, and a hint of smoke that’s perfect for both the connoisseurs and the curious. This award-winning spirit is delicious, neat, on the rocks, or mixed into cocktails!

In July 2021, we launched The Entrepreneurial Fund by Sia Scotch, inspired by my entrepreneurial journey of building a brand from the ground. It is a unique grant program that deployed $250,000 to 25 minority entrepreneurs ($10,000 each) to help them overcome the impact and challenges that COVID-19 brought and to support them with their entrepreneurial dream.

I recommend Porteñas, a women-owned small business whose focus is to bring Argentina’s unique culture of friendship to the US through South America’s best-loved beverages, meals, and treats. The company is currently based in Brooklyn, New York, and has a B2B strategy by manufacturing its products and selling directly to bars, cafes, and restaurants. Their goal is to expand sales to supermarkets, schools, and hospitals in the future.

I like Porteñas because they foster an inclusivity environment and encourage US consumers to diversify their culture by taking a little taste of something different. Like her own brand, Porteñas intends to challenge the traditional and implement new flavors while actively supporting multicultural businesses. Carin is proud to be part of their business growth as Porteñas is one of the 25 recipients of the $10K grant from the Entrepreneurial Fund by SIA Scotch.

I am a chemist with a passion for beauty product innovation. My love of science and beauty led me to a career path that most Latinas would not consider or think possible. My career began in beauty research and development labs; creating and perfecting haircare, skincare, and personal care products.

I founded Elitegen Innovation, a turn-key beauty product development company, early on in my career in 2017. After working two full years as a Product Development Manager, developing turn-key household and personal care products, I decided it was time to fully immerse into entrepreneurial life. At Elitegen, I work with beauty brand owners to bring their vision to life, starting with research and development through product management support. I have a team of expert formulators, product developers, and brand designers all working to help independent beauty brands launch successful products.