This story appeared in the Pasadena Star News this morning. Nov 12, 2008.
In Whittier, hard work bears fruit for mother turned entrepreneur
WHITTIER – Erika Elizabeth Maldonado is living a dream that not long ago she wouldn’t have dared to try.
All the unexpectedly single mom had left was a will to work for her newborn son, some food stamps, a van, the counsel of a loving mother and an idea: fruit.
That idea became reality Tuesday as Maldonado cut the ribbon on her business, Oasis Tropical Fruits & Juices.
The path that led to Maldonado’s new business started two years ago on the sidewalks, at the parking lots and in the storefronts of Whittier, with the young mother pushing a stroller with baby inside and carrying a beach cooler full of cut-up fresh fruit.
Despite her lingering fear of rejection, she sold the fruit.
“I got out of my car and I was shaking,” she said, remembering the day when she first went out to sell the fruit.
That day was hard. She parked at a warehouse business and scoped the place out, looking for workers on a break who might be interested in some freshly cut fruit.
Something worked.
That first day, she made $40.
The next day she sold more, until eventually her clientele expanded to truckers, medical offices attorneys, hair salons and restaurants.
People were asking her to customize cuts for them, and eventually she found herself selling different items as the seasons changed – tamales, sandwiches, champurrado (a chocolate-based, warm Mexican drink), tortas, chicken mole …
And soon, as she and her young son traveled her regular route from Pico Rivera to La Habra, Maldonado became known as the “Fruit Lady.”
“Whatever the customers wanted, I did it,” she said. “I wanted them to be happy.”
And they were, so much so that they began encouraging Maldonado, 34, to start her own business.
It was a hard thought to swallow for a woman who only two years ago was so worried about being rejected.
“I thought I was so little,” she said. “I thought, `How could I do something like that?”
But the thought was intriguing.
She spoke to her mother, and realized it would be a good way to stay off the streets.
She took classes on how to run a small business, her mother provided some financing and she has spent a half a year getting ready for Tuesday.
The store was packed early Tuesday afternoon as customers eagerly awaited items such as dulce de leche, a smoothie or a sandwich.
“Does this mean you are not going to come to the office anymore?” asked Bobby McQuin, from the Whittier business Safeguard Systems.
“Not for a while,” said a busy Maldonado at the cash register.
Other customers expressed admiration for Maldonado.
“I admire her,” said Susie Alio, owner of Integrity Automotive. “She had the gumption to do something she could do. She just wanted to provide for her son.”
In the end, Maldonado gives all thanks to her son, who at two years old has become quite the entrepreneur, picking up the money and small items to help his mother in the business.
“He’s everything to me,” she said. “I don’t care … if I had to, I would do it all over because he is so worth it.”
These days, Maldonado can see a brighter future, perhaps even completing the education she gave up five years ago to get a degree.
“To me, it’s still a dream come true,” she said.
Oasis Tropical Fruits & Juices is located at 16545 Leffingwell Road in Whittier. For more information, call (562) 902-8626.
