Kindred & Crew at the Shoppes at Farmington Valley and Hecho By Helena are two Latina-owned businesses hoping to empower others to follow their dreams.
CANTON, Conn — During Hispanic Heritage Month, two small businesses in Connecticut are carrying on a legacy and inspiring others to follow in their footsteps.
One of them is Kindred & Crew, along the busy rows of stores at The Shops at Farmington Valley.
“We are a little small business in a big enormous plaza and it just means a lot when people walk in and I’m able to share like, I’m local,” said owner Erika Gawitt.
Kindred & Crew is a family boutique, that’s family-owned.
“An opportunity for everybody to shop and feel like they can leave with something,” Gawitt said.
Gawitt was born in Colombia to a Colombian mother and an Ecuadorian father. They ended up in Connecticut in search of their American dream.
“I always think about my parents and when I walk into the store it kind of makes me emotional, to be honest,” Gawitt said.
The sacrifice and struggle many immigrant families know, paved the way for Gawitt to make her own dream of owning a boutique come true.
“Everything that they did led up to this moment and yeah it’s amazing and now I’m here,” she said.
Now a mom herself to twins Pearl and Vivian, and dachshund Rio, Gawitt and her husband Benn celebrate her Hispanic heritage.
“The Spanish cooking and everything I try to keep that environment for my daughters to be around that and be proud of where they come from and who they are,” she said.
Through small acts like the salsa music playing through her store, she hopes to share it with the community that’s also become family.
“That’s the part that I love so much being here in the community that we live in and that we’re raising the girls in,” Gawitt said.
Meanwhile, Helena Fernandez runs her business, Hecho by Helena, out of her home studio in East Windsor.
“I actually owe a lot of my entrepreneurial spirit to my dad,” Fernandez said. “My creative side I really you know give my mom kudos for that.”
Fernandez’s father is from El Salvador and her mother, a Mexican-American, raised her close to her Hispanic roots.
“I’m first-generation, and I’m really proud of that,” Fernandez said.
Her business began with stationary after trips to buy greeting cards for family always empty-handed.
“There was never anything that I could say like oh yeah my tia she’s going to relate to this. Or yeah my abuelo he’s going to think that this is so funny,” Fernandez said.
That’s evolved into a lifestyle brand, selling shirts, stickers and more with Spanish quips and phrases that Latinos could relate to and may have never seen on store shelves before.
“To empower all Latine generations to feel empowered in their Latine roots and to feel proud and confident taking up space in whichever hobby or career that they choose,” Fernandez said.
Her dream for when people wear her products?
“To feel good about who they are, where their families from, or where they’re from,” she said.
Looking to the future, Fernandez wants the Hecho By Helena brand to be a way for community members to connect and embrace their culture. She is hosting her first community event on Saturday, Nov. 4 on Pratt Street in Hartford from 12-5 p.m. It is a Dia de los Muertos celebration.
Gaby Molina is a reporter and anchor at FOX61 News. She can be reached at mmolina@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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