ABOUT US
I always wanted to own a business that gave back to the community…
My story
Growing up in Southern California, our home always had an open door policy. I remember finding friends in my mother's room searching for advice, or nursing sick friends, or having foster brothers. I was taught early on that we have the power to change our lives, our world and make a difference.
At an early age, my mother sent me to Costa Rica to work as a volunteer. It sparked my love of adventure and opened me to the magic of running away. Through travel, I have always found piece of mind and lightness of soul… there is nothing like getting on a plane and experiencing a new place to center myself, make plans, and return home with a new appreciation of what I have and what I want to change. My hope with Alma Azul is to combine all my loves… from the metaphysical to the earthly, so others can come and experience the existential joy of a good waffle after a night of contemplating existence under a million stars.
Our Story
There were lemons…
My mother, who had worked so hard all her life fell in love. She married a Salvadoran man and they planned to take trips around the world and enjoy their lives... and then they met US Immigration.
They were told the paperwork would go through faster if he left to El Salvador… He had lived in LA under political asylum since the war and had no record… She was a US Citizen from Cuba… They were so in love they would sit and watch telenovelas together and hold hands…So he left.
The paperwork took weeks, then months, then over a year. Mami cried and eventually, bought a house on an isolated beach in El Salvador. We made lemonade.
The whole family would come and hang out together in hammocks and read… there was no tv or wifi and the only cell phone signal was in one spot of the driveway (marked by my sisters and I in gold). We watched the sun set and the moon rise. We played in the sand. We ate watermelon and rode around in a beat up truck. We watched it pour and listened to the thunder. We did what we had to do… and made the best of it.
After several trips and getting to know the community, it was impossible to ignore the poverty. It didn’t have so much to do with the lack of shoes or ipads… it had to do with the lack of hope.
We eventually saw a group of surfers out in front surfing… and while we were from LA we know nothing of the sport. We saw what the fancy place was charging and decided to build a place to bring in funds to support the work we wanted to do in the community.
…Azul Surf Club was Born
Since then, we have worked with several other non profits and many kind generous people, who have helped us build a school, a classroom, a bridge, a playground and we have fallen in love with El Cuco.
And now Alma Azul has been hatched.
And we all hope to live happily ever after…