A virtual panel discussion titled Elevating BIPOC Business Women: Celebrating Diversity in Santa Barbara is scheduled for 6-7:30 p.m. Aug. 19, the Santa Barbara chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO–Santa Barbara) has announced.

The free event, hosted by NAWBO-Santa Barbara, celebrates BIPOC Women Business Owners in Santa Barbara County. It will take place live on Zoom. Panel members include:

Sandra Adu Zelli, Gipsey Hill Bakery; Bany Vargas, La Calenda; Candice Pipersburg-Johnson, Preferred Image/Johnson Events; Lynthia Muller, That Neck Pillow; Lizzy Koetsier, Lizzy Koetsier Branding; Silvia Uribe, TransilPro Linguistic Services; Claudia Cordova Rucker, Estetica Mia; Kuldeep Kuar, Estate Planning & Business Law; and Ashley Reese, attorney. 

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The idea of opening a children’s store first came to Doris Mitchell when her first granddaughter was born. She found an empty store front on Copenhagen Drive in Solvang and went to Los Angeles buying merchandise to sell in the Solvang Baby Gift Shop in 1970.

The Solvang Children’s Shop has a wide variety of clothing and gifts for children.

“My mother was frustrated that there were no stores in Solvang where she could shop for baby clothes for her first granddaughter,” said Donna Oliver, Mitchell’s daughter.

Mitchell came to Solvang in 1933 with her Danish immigrant family. The family had initially stopped in South Dakota, where Mitchell was born, and then moved to Solvang.

“The store was her pride and joy,” Oliver said. “She wasn’t a businessperson, she didn’t have a job and decided she could open up her own store. People loved what she picked out for her new baby store. She worked hard and made a success of it. It has been in the same location for 50 years and several more grandchildren and great grandchildren have been outfitted over the years.” 

The name of the store was changed to the Solvang Children’s Shop some 30-odd years ago, recalled Oliver. It has always been a family operation. Oliver worked at the store during her high school years and was later joined by her sister Debra Etling. Oliver’s sister-in-law Adele also helped out in the store as did a later granddaughter, Leah Etling.

“It has been through hard work and doing all the tasks required ourselves, from bookkeeping to cleaning that has made the store viable,” Oliver said. “Retail has become a difficult business over the years, especially now with online sales competition.” 

When Mitchell “retired,” one of her favorite things to do was to come in and help in the store, Oliver recalled. By then, the sisters had assumed most of the duties in the running of the store. In 2013, their mother formally transferred the business to her two daughters. Mitchell passed away at the end of 2017, leaving her beloved store in good hands.

“To survive in Solvang, we think a store must appeal to tourists as well as locals,” said Oliver. “We buy with our local customers in mind for most of our lines but supplement it with some things that we know appeal to visitors, like our Solvang T-shirts and our Solvang dress that we have made especially for our store. We sell lots of shoes to our Valley customers (our See Kai Run sneakers are a favorite), cowboy boots, as well as clothing. Gifts for new babies are also a good seller for us

Rowan and Mercer Etling are great-grandchildren of the Solvang Children Shop founder Doris Mitchell. They are regular models for the shop’s clothing lines.

“We frequently have customers come into the store to reminisce about having purchased over the years a special dress for their daughter or granddaughter or a cute outfit for their son. A lot of times they come in to shop for the next generation,” Oliver said.

“We hope that the store will continue with the next generation of my family,” said Oliver.

Etling’s daughter-in-law Abigail Sample Etling has been helping out in the store and there are great-grandchildren who have shown an interest in the store for the future. 

“It would be wonderful to see my mother’s legacy pass on to future generations,” Oliver said. 

The Solvang Children’s Shop is located at 1666 Copenhagen Drive in Solvang, and they also have an online shop at www.solvangchildrensshop.com. Follow them on social media @solvangchildrensshop. 

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The inaugural class of Women of Distinction in the Santa Ynez Valley will be honored at the 2020 Women of the Valley luncheon to be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24, at the Alisal Guest Ranch in Solvang.

The event is being hosted by the Solvang Chamber of Commerce and SCORE, who are seeking to nominate inspirational individuals in six different categories: retail, tourism, medical, financial, wine and agriculture. 

The topic for the event is Honoring Our Women in the Solvang Business Community and Surrounding Areas. 

Women of the Valley will recognize six honorees with deep roots in community involvement and service, who have proven to be outstanding role models for all women in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Reservations are required. Please contact Taryn at taryn@solvangchamber.com to reserve your seats. Please do not leave phone messages. Tickets are $35 per person until March 5, and from March 6 and on, the ticket price is $40 per person. Tickets may also be purchased by calling the Solvang Chamber of Commerce at 805-688-0701 or through Eventbrite.

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Contributing Writer

Charlotte Becerra is the owner of Charlotte’s of Santa Ynez, a 500-square-foot “jewelry box” in Santa Ynez that specializes in vintage and new silver and turquoise jewelry in the Western style.  

“My friend and I were talking one day and she said that she’d been in the jewelry business for 40 years, specializing in gold, and she had accumulated a safe full of vintage silver jewelry, some Mexican, some Indian. She said that her customers weren’t interested in silver but perhaps my customers would be, as ‘it goes so well with cowboy boots’,” she said. 

Becerra’s husband, Ramon, owned the Santa Ynez Saddlery in Buellton, so she put one display case of jewelry in the store. The sales went really well, and she noted with amusement that men typically don’t like to go into jewelry stores but in this case, they didn’t feel threatened. 

Both the men and women who shopped there loved the jewelry. “They could pick up something for their horse and something for themselves as well,” she said.

When the saddlery closed in 2017, she thought about opening a boutique. Then a store in Santa Ynez became available, so Becerra decided to open “Charlotte’s of Santa Ynez” in May 2017, a boutique that features not only jewelry but horse accessories as well.

Becerra is no newcomer to the retail industry. She started at the tender age of 8, helping her mother. 

“My mother owned three houseware stores. At age 12 I opened my own toy corner in two of her stores, called ‘Charlotte’s Christmas Corner.’ It was great,” she said. “My mother would take me to the industry shows and they usually didn’t allow children in, but I had my own business cards and a checkbook.”

Becerra was born in Sherman Oaks but grew up in the Bay Area. She attended UC Berkeley and majored in Latin American studies but her background was in magazine publishing, direct marketing and circulation.

“When the dot-com bubble burst, so did the publishing industry,” said Becerra. “I moved to Los Angeles and worked for two magazines, Sailing World and Cruising World. 

“I also competed in the horse world, working primarily with Peruvian horses. Ramon and I had been friends for 27 years. He had performed at many of the shows I competed in,” Becerra explained. “I was training for an endurance ride with a breeder in Lompoc, and as I hadn’t seen him for a while, I called him up and asked him out to lunch. Our first date was New Year’s Day, 15 years ago. On that date all he kept saying was ‘I thought you were married.’ We started dating and I moved to the valley in 2003.”

Becerra said she had to create a job for herself so she purchased two magazines in 2004. The couple married in 2007. Then in 2008 the economy “fell through the floor” along with the publishing business, once again. That was also the year their daughter, Katherine, was born. 

“My focus was that of being a mom and I did some custom publishing projects as well and helped Ramon,” she continued. “We opened Santa Ynez Saddlery in 2011, which ran for six years.”

“Working in my mom’s store taught me there are two important parts to the retail business – one is the buying, not the selling. That means it is my responsibility to provide my customers with a quality product at a fair price,” said Becerra. “The second is knowing your customers. I have a few customers who know everything about what their wives want and some who have to be guided and reminded. I can help husbands pick out just the right pieces of jewelry for their wives, which makes them look like heroes, and that makes me happy. It’s like being a personal shopper. Customers appreciate that I keep them in mind when I see something I feel they would like, either for their collections or for gifts.”

Becerra mainly sells jewelry that is Western, Indian, Mexican, some Thai, and a little Italian. She travels a little for business but mainly works with four dealers. 

“The whole culture of the traveling trader still exists,” she said. “They can show up at the door with tubs of jewelry. I also have customers who have inherited jewelry from their relatives and want to sell it, or ladies that wish to exchange a piece of jewelry they rarely wear for something they can wear more often.

“I never know who or what is going to come into my shop. It’s like playing in a big jewelry box. I joke that I have people and horse jewelry – like silver bits and spurs, romal reins and silver headstalls. My shop is the perfect fit for Santa Ynez because there are a lot of horsewomen here. Some days I have so many interesting people visiting the store. I have to say, I have great customers.”

“I play with pretty things all day, so I‘m quite happy running my little boutique. My local customers are my bread and butter and I really appreciate their support. I couldn’t do it without them and I’m glad I am able to provide them with something beautiful they want,” Becerra said.

Charlotte’s of Santa Ynez, at 3551 Sagunto St., is open from 10:30 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday and Monday.

For more information, call 805-688-0016 or 805-350-1232, email info@CharlottesSY.com or visit www.CharlottesSY.com. She can also be found on Instagram and Facebook @CharlottesSY.

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If I was starting over I would have opened my own law practice long before I did, at the end of 2013.  Deciding to become self-employed was the best employment decision I ever made.  I love making decisions about my business and the best way for clients to achieve their goals regarding estate, probate and trust matters.

How do you stay motivated?

My personality type is strongly influenced by being a “type A” person and I always seem to be motivated to stay on top of projects and steps to reach goals.  I do use detailed checklists to make sure that all actions are achieved before due.

What is unique about the service you provide?

I am one of 16 estate and trust specialist attorneys in Santa Barbara County who have received the specialty designation by the State Bar.  The other 15 attorneys are in Santa Barbara, so I am the only attorney in northern Santa Barbara County with this designation.  Because people seek a specialist to make sure their documents are up to date and created with the goal to identify and solve problems in advance, I am in a unique position to offer this specialty expertise.

How did mentors influence your life?

I was supported and encouraged by other attorneys in Santa Barbara to pursue specialty certification in estate and trust work.  They answered questions and helped with motivation to take another full-day bar exam on the specialty subjects, and I have acted as mentor to other attorneys who have the desire to achieve this as well.

The post Women in Business – Lana Clark, attorney appeared first on Santa Ynez Valley Star.

Coast Plumbing Solutions was started over two years ago, Coast General Contractors is seven years old, and Coast Welding was just started in January 2019.

 How do you stay motivated?

I have two little girls watching me. I want to show them that their mom can do whatever she puts her mind to, and they can choose any career path that interests them. Girls can help run a plumbing company! I also love what I do (oversee operations, financials, customer service, etc.), so I think that’s key to staying motivated in any line of work.

 What is unique about the service you provide?

We have always prided ourselves in providing quality work with the utmost in professionalism. For example, our plumbers wear booties in our customers’ homes and bring their own mats to set their tools on to keep their work space clean and be respectful of customer’s homes.

As a busy mom, it’s those simple things that make the most difference to me when I’ve invited someone inside to work within our home, and we want to offer the same to our customers. Our employees are all background-checked, wear uniforms and held to a high standard with their appearance, work and training, and it shows.

 How did mentors influence your life?

My parents, Bill and Kathi Hames, were and continue to be mentors in my life. They have worked hard, have always taken care of their employees and provide great service to their customers. They have long-time customers whose working relationships span several years. Also my husband — he is very encouraging in supporting women in business and is consistently researching, reading and developing new business techniques. He inspires and supports me.

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One year.

How do you stay motivated?

Goals and task lists top my lists as motivators. These tools help me in the short term and long term. I envision where, professionally, I’d like to be at the end of the week.  For example, my week goals include what projects I want to complete, calls I need to make, and people I’d like to connect with.

For the long term, I plan my year-long goals and five-year goals. Having task lists keeps me on track to reach my goals. I get great joy from crossing items off my list and inventorying my progress as well as what areas need more attention. 

What is unique about the service you provide?

My practice is focused on family law, estate planning and estate administration. These areas of the law are highly personal and emotional. My service is unique because I provide highly personalized attention when my clients need it most. 

How did mentors influence your life? 

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned from my mentors is that to gain success, you need to ignore the mindless chatter, forge ahead, and do your best work the way you do it best.

The post Women in Business – Erin Louria Zivic, attorney appeared first on Santa Ynez Valley Star.

Contributing Writer

Hidden away in the eastern end of Santa Ynez is a delightful eatery, The Lucky Hen Larder. It serves artisan sandwiches that can be paired with a salad and offers patrons a large variety of fancy cheeses and deli meats along with a variety of unique house-made items.

Cynthia Miranda and Alicia Valencia are co-owners of the business, which was established in February 2016. It is located in the Santa Ynez Mercantile Building at Sagunto Street and Meadowvale Road.

Miranda has been in the restaurant business her whole life. Her family owned a restaurant and she subsequently earned a degree in hotel management from Northern Arizona University with an emphasis on entrepreneurship. She has been in the business for 25 years and has owned several restaurants, including at one time the Succulent Café in Solvang. 

“I lived in Santa Barbara but I was ready for a move,” said Miranda. “A previous colleague was opening a restaurant in the valley so I took the opportunity to move up to the Santa Ynez Valley in 2010.”

Alicia Valencia (left) and Cynthia Miranda are the owners of The Lucky Hen Larder in Santa Ynez.

“Alicia was introduced to me by a local rancher. She was looking for work at the Succulent Café and I said, ‘Come on in and we’ll find a spot for you’, and she blossomed,” said Miranda. “Alicia was fairly raw when she first started working at the café but she has such an amazing palate and a passion for creating unique and delicious food.”

“I had been thinking about opening a sandwich shop in Santa Ynez when I heard that the Santa Ynez Cheese Company was up for sale and the spot it was in was available, I snapped it up,” Miranda said. “It took only two weeks to finalize everything.”

The owners make their own focaccia bread for their sandwiches and make all the pastries. They offer fresh baguettes daily from Baker’s Table. They serve Good Seed coffee, from a local company that roasts their own coffee beans locally. Valencia also does the canning and bottling of house-made mustard, pickles, jams and chili-peach compote.

“She does it as a labor of love and we can’t keep them on the shelves,” said Miranda.

“We are excited to say that we have just completed an expansion of the eatery, which will add more indoor dining. We have a new expresso machine, and the larger space will allow us to offer more home-made pastries as well as the addition to the menu of grilled cheese sandwiches and home-made soups,” said Miranda. “We also plan on offering wine and beer in the near future and will be extending our hours.”

“Everyone is excited to have us as part of the community,” she said. “They have been helping out with the expansion. It was previously a barber shop which was owned by Janis Bitney, who recently retired.”

The Lucky Hen Larder also does catering and lunch delivery for groups.

“One of our specialties is creating cheese and charcuterie displays. We carry 100 different cheeses in our display case in the store, which we go through fairly quickly,” she explained. “The charcuterie is gaining support from locals and visitors alike. We also serve a number of wineries that purchase our charcuterie and we customize for each of them, catering to their needs.”

“We use the finest quality non-GMO products in our kitchen, which we source weekly from the Farmer’s Market. We also work in direct contact with local farmers. I’ve always believed that you start with a great product and end with a great product,” said Miranda.

Staff members are Nick Collins and Alicia Valencia who work in the kitchen; Holly Griswald, Scott Flores and Ana Ruiz working in the front with customer service; and Stef Keenan assisting in the office with Miranda and filling in where needed. They also have a shop dog named Jackson, an American bulldog, “who is loved by all.”

 “We are so happy to have Cynthia doing business in our building because she is adding her own creative touch to the area. She is a very high-energy person and her little team puts it out there with quality,” said Brian Asselstine, the building’s owner.

 “I have been in this business my whole life,” Miranda said. “To me this iteration has been the most fluid. It has come together so serendipitously, it seems like the culmination of everything that I have done up to this point. It came together organically. So many people have come in to help, and it feels like a true expression of myself.”

The Lucky Hen Larder at 1095 Meadowvale Road is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  For more information, call 805-691-9448 or visit www.theluckyhenlarder.com.

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Contributing Writer

For more than 30 years Maria Villegas has been making dreams come true, dressing brides for their wedding day.

Even if your childhood dream wasn’t to walk down the aisle in a flowing white gown or to attend your senior prom as the belle of the ball, your wedding dress or prom formal gown will probably be one of the most photographed pieces of clothing you will ever buy.

Villegas, the owner of Bella Bridal in Solvang, is the person who can make that moment memorable.

“I started working at a bridal shop in Lancaster, California, in 1981 doing alterations. My first husband died suddenly of leukemia at age 30, leaving me with three children to raise, so I had to grow up fast in order to take care of myself and my children. Luckily I knew how to sew. I had been sewing since I was a little child, making dolls’ clothes and then making my own clothes as a teenager,” she said.

The inventory includes accessories and jewelry.

“In no time, the owner of the shop, who was a very nice lady, asked me if I would like to work in the store and that’s where I learned the business. I opened up my own shop in 1989 and sold it after the death of my second husband. I needed a change and my sister lives in Santa Maria, so I decided to move to Solvang to be closer to her,” Villegas explained. “I moved from Lancaster to Solvang in 2016 and opened Bella Bridal on Sept. 2.”

Shortly after opening her bridal shop in Frederik’s Court, Villegas ran into some unforeseen problems. The building had been sold and was in need of extensive repairs.

“The courtyard with the fountain was torn up and the new owners had to do some major repairs to the buildings as well. With all the dust and workmen and trucks it was difficult to run a bridal shop under those circumstances. So I had to find a part-time job. I work at the Chumash Casino, doing alterations on the men’s uniforms,” she said.

Bridal shops are not like retail stores, she noted. She can work with a bride for up to a year, fitting dresses for the bride, bridesmaids, mother of the bride, and flower girls. “Some brides like to start early.”

Villegas also sells her designer wedding dresses to people from San Jose, San Francisco, Texas, and as far away as England. She also carries a wide variety of prom dresses, formal gowns, and party attire along with some accessories and jewelry.

“People come to Solvang for the day and notice there is a bridal shop in town and come into the store to have a look. I also carry a wide range of affordable prom dresses to accommodate local young women,” said Villegas.

“I do all my own alterations. Don’t open a bridal shop if you aren’t a seamstress,” she advised. “It’s very hard for a bridal shop to survive these days due to the internet. That’s why you have to know how to do alterations, because all dresses need to be fitted to conform to the individual body correctly.”

Villegas said that making a dress from scratch is not cost-effective, so ordering a designer dress and then altering it to suit the bride is the best way to go. Designers have their own different laces, for example, and they keep a tight corner on them.

“If I need to add sleeves to a dress, for example, I have to order the lace at the same time as I order the dress, and the companies make sure to only sell me a yard or so to make the alterations,” she explained.

Villegas starts her day at 4 a.m. and works into the small hours of the morning. When she is not altering clothes at the casino or dressing brides for their big day, her favorite pastime and hobby is making intricate Victorian lamp shades.

“I love what I do and I get to meet such lovely people and help make their dreams come true,” said Villegas. ”But my favorite thing to do is make lamp shades and refurbishing old lamps to go along with the shades. I love to keep busy and I love to create. It’s my passion.”

Bella Bridal is at 485 Alisal Road in Frederik’s Court in Solvang. Hours are 2 p.m. to 5 or 6 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and Sunday by appointment.

For more information, call 805-686-0762.

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Contributing Writer

Laura Roach is a young entrepreneur with a passion for winemaking. She is the owner and winemaker of Loubud Wines, which specializes in Methode Champagnoise sparking and rosé of pinot noir wines.

“My grandmother read an article in her local newspaper about women in the wine industry. She noticed the article was about a winemaker whose ideas aligned with mine at the time. I’d just accepted an application to attend UC Davis, so I elected to take an introductory course in winemaking. It’s been an interest of mine since I was 19,” Roach said.

“My professor was Hildegard Heyman from South Africa, and she really inspired me. The energy she exuded about the industry excited me, and I wanted to delve into it more,” she continued.

In 2010, after graduating with a bachelor of science degree in viticulture and enology, she received a scholarship from the Confrerie des Chevaliers in Burgundy, France.

“They awarded me and another student at Davis with a scholarship to work at a domain in Burgundy, France. I felt very fortunate that my first internship after graduating was in Burgundy. I worked at Domaine de la Vougeraie in Nuits-Saint-Georges, which focuses on pinot noir,” said Roach. “I was there for four months. That’s where I got my training in cellar operations, like barrel cleaning, tank cleaning — all the necessary preparations for wine receival. In the vineyard they had us assist at pulling secondary shoots, and opening up the canopies.”

In order to expand her knowledge, Roach felt it necessary to work with different winemakers in different regions of the world with different grape varieties.

“I’d saved some of my scholarship money, so in 2011 I went to South Africa to work another harvest internship at Vrede en Lust in Paarl, South Africa. I wanted to test my limits and really decide what varieties of grapes I wanted to focus on professionally. During that period I also worked at several different wineries both in Napa and abroad, which afforded me the opportunity of working with many gifted winemakers in order to perfect my own winemaking skills,” continued Roach.

She decided to focus on pinot noir and chardonnay in a cool climate appellation, which led her to Sanford Winery in the Santa Ynez Valley.

“In the summer of 2012, in order to keep learning, I felt I needed to stay at one winery for an extended period of time, to work with the same vineyard year after year to learn how to make better wine,” she said. “I was hired as the enologist and assistant winemaker at Sanford, where I continue to work. My curiosity was piqued about making sparkling wine in Santa Barbara County.”

In 2013 Roach spearheaded Sanford’s sparkling wine program, which she said proved to be really successful and rewarding.

 “I wanted to continue to challenge myself as an individual, so I started Loubud Wines in 2015. I focused on the traditional method of making sparkling and rosé wines,” she said.

Roach says she chose the name Loubud Wines because it is a shortened version of the nickname her father gave her when she was born, short for Loubedillia. As she got older the nickname was shortened to Loubud and now she’s just Bud to her family, and only her family.

“The key person that allowed me to start making my own wine is Sandra Newman, the owner of Cebada Wine & Forbidden Fruit Orchards in Cebada Canyon in Lompoc. We met as members of the Santa Ynez Valley Bocce Ball League and we instantly bonded over the topic of sparkling wine-making. She inspired me as a female entrepreneur and opened up the opportunity for me to make wine in her location, which is ideal for making quality sparkling wines, and to purchase her beautiful pinot noir grapes,” she continued. “2015 was my first vintage.”

 “The reason I really like making wine in the Santa Ynez Valley is that I am working alongside many of the original wine makers in this region. It’s so cool that they are still making wine after all these years,” she exclaimed.

Roach was born and raised in Woodland. She attributes her appreciation and passion for working with the land to her maternal grandparents who owned several acres of farmland in Woodland, where they grew their own food and where she spent many happy weekends growing up. She now lives in Solvang with her boyfriend, Tyler Paris, who makes fermented honey wine called mead along with cider.

“The support that I received not only from being the assistant wine maker at Sanford but from all the people that I met here in the Santa Ynez Valley is amazing. They encouraged me to start making my own wine. The community made me realize I would always have a group to fall back on that supported me in my passion for great winemaking,” she said.

Roach sells her wines through her wine club and has a mailing list and a website where she can be found at www.loubudwines.com.  She issues two shipments a year – rosé in the spring and sparkling in the fall. This year she will be releasing 2018 rosé pinot noir from Cebada Vineyards and 2018 sparkling brut rose.

Loubud wines can also be purchased at Pico and Flatbread in Los Alamos; Scratch Kitchen in Lompoc; Community Craft in Los Olivos; Savoy Wines, Wine and Beer in the Public Market in Santa Barbara; and at French Laundry in Napa, among other locations. For a complete listing, visit www.loubudwines.com/contact.

For more information, email laura@loubudwines.com; call 530-401-7947; mail PO Box 855, Buellton, 93427; or follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

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