In Whittier, Hard Work Bears Fruit For Mother Turned Entrepreneur
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.”
Photo by The Wandering Angel.
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