That Entrepreneur Show #373: Health Scares Lead to a Career with Ela’s Sweets Eliza Marrero
The New Venture Expo's first-place winner is here to continue the Incubator Bonus Series! This inspiring entrepreneur uses her story to change the world through her company.
Areas Eliza Marrero discusses include:
-Her WHY came after being diagnosed
-Saying no to things
-Strategies to market your brands
-How to find celiac-safe food
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Hi everyone, my name is Eliza Marrero, but you can call me Ela (E-la). I’ve spent years cooking and baking since I was a little girl. My favorite place in the house was the kitchen; I loved the power food had to bring people together and make them smile.
Throughout high school, I would have unexplainable episodes that would land me in the hospital. I would wake up covered in hives with my eyes so swollen I could barely see, and often times my tongue would begin to swell. I spent months in and out of specialists’ offices, the hospital, and numerous doctors’, but no one could figure out what was causing it. There were no new foods, clothes, detergents, or even makeup.
Those episodes eventually stopped until my freshman year of college. They began to happen again, but this time it involved my stomach. I spent endless nights sleeping in the bathroom as I would not be able to stop throwing up. Every time I ate, my stomach blew up like a balloon, and I looked 9 months pregnant. I would get nausea and the worst body aches.
After numerous blood tests and an endoscopy, I was diagnosed with what I thought at the moment would be my worst nightmare: Celiac disease. As a freshman living on campus without a kitchen, you can only imagine how difficult it was physically, emotionally, socially, and financially. I spent months trying different alternatives while still struggling to get 18 years of gluten out of my system.
I craved delicious sweet treats, but I couldn’t find any that actually tasted good and were worth the high price tag. That summer I made it my mission to experiment, making all my previously favorite desserts into gluten-free versions. Ela’s Sweets was born because everyone deserves to enjoy delicious treats despite their dietary restrictions.
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