Fempreneurs PIVOT and UNITE in the time of Covid

Reyza Villarica, restaurant owner of Manila Sunrise in Carson, CA; and Chari Reyes of #EnsaymadaProject talk abut how they have had to pivot and adjust their offerings to their clients, in this time of a global pandemic.

For Reyza, who grew up with in the restaurant business, weekends were always busy, especially on Sundays when families would flock to their restaurant after hearing mass at nearby St. Philomena Catholic Church. But on the weekend of March 14, she noticed no one was coming in and the catering orders were being canceled. Meanwhile, she had a full spread of Filipino dishes freshly-cooked for the day. It was then she realized she had to do something in order to keep alive the business that her father built. And in order to do this, she had to offer a service that they never offered in the years that Manila Sunrise has been in existence – food deliveries

Chari talks about her prepandemic days of being busy doing pop ups, events and night markets. And because of shelter-in-place restrictions which included a ban on public gatherings, she knew her business would be negatively impacted. She reveals that she actually initially lost hope and thought of shutting down, which would have killed their family income.

In this interview, both #fempreneurs talk about adjusting their services – Reyza started personally delivering food orders to clients; and convinced Chari that she can help. Reyza started picking up products from Chari and making those available to clients she delivers dishes to.

Together, these two women entrepreneur are helping each other, physically and emotionally by providing support and encouragement to each other.