New England Revolution

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Santander Bank recognizes the struggles that many Small Businesses have faced during this pandemic. A lot has changed this past year but one thing has not- the resilient spirit of small business owners. Therefore, on October 16th, in celebration of National Women’s Small Business month, Santander is partnering with the New England Revolution to spotlight twelve women-owned small businesses from Santander’s Cultivate Small Business program at Gillette Stadium during the New England Revolution vs. Chicago Fire FC match.

Come join us in celebrating these women-owned businesses starting with the Santander Cultivate Small Business farmers market in the Revolution Fan Zone at Gillette Stadium from 4-7pm on Saturday, October 16. The day will be filled with food, fun, and recognizing these amazing women-owned businesses who have made a real impact on the communities they serve. Learn more about Santander’s Cultivate Small Business Program and the amazing women-owned businesses we will be spotlighting below:

Santander Bank’s Cultivate Small Business program helps early-stage underserved entrepreneurs, especially Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) and immigrant business owners, working to build and sustain food-related businesses in diverse neighborhoods. Created in collaboration with Babson College, the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) and CommonWealth Kitchen, Cultivate provides four months of classroom industry-specific education, resources, and professional networks to provide the entrepreneurs with the key ingredients for success in their business. In 2021, Cultivate Small Business expanded to include businesses from both Greater Boston and New Jersey. To date, over 180 entrepreneurs have participated in the program, of which 90% identify as women-owned, BIPOC, or from low- to moderate-income communities. Santander Bank has committed over $600,000 in capital grant funding and over 100 bank employees have provided over 800 hours of technical assistance to participating businesses.

Curds & Co is a 21st century cheese store and school on a mission to bring great cheese and happiness to the people. It started with a love of storytelling and the art of a curated experience which has since turned into our goal of being the least intimidating cheese shop in the world! A priority on approachability, education, and fun helped turn that goal into a reality every day. WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

Heather Higgins Yunger is the founder of Top Shelf Cookies, Boston’s Craft Cookie Company since 2014. Using high quality and sometimes unusual ingredients Heather creates cookies that are delicious and unique, while celebrating local culture with these cookies and names honoring Boston tradition. WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

Sheila Coon is the founder and chief baker at Hot Oven Cookies. Simply put, she saw a need for love and better cookies, so she combined the two and made it her mission to "Share the Cookie Love" curbside to curbside in her retro modern Cookie Cart and now her quaint Cookie Shop. WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

In the year 1995, Lei left everything behind and moved to the US. She was a high school teacher when she started Wise Mouth Tea. Lei was always impressed by her students’ energy, beauty, and ability to accept differences, but when they talked about food and drinks, they had no purpose besides satisfying hunger or thirst. Lei found her passion in beverages and felt that drinks should be like a powerful key opening many benefits to people’s bodies. Beverages should be a delicious medicine to help fix the food cost problem. With that, Lei started Wise Mouth Tea and has brought her passion for beverages to life. WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

Don’t underestimate the delicious simplicity of an arepa. A cornerstone of Venezuelan cuisine, these warm corn flour patties are sliced thin and paired with a dazzling variety of mouthwatering fillings. Food this good always attracts a crowd, and Carolina Salinas and Carolina García, have been busy keeping up with orders in their new Everett, MA location. Since graduating from Santander’s Cultivate Small Business (CSB) program in 2020 as part of the initiative’s third cohort, Carolina Salinas is proud of what she and her business partner, Carolina García, have accomplished. The biggest takeaway from CSB for both Salinas and García was the creation of their business action plan – something all CSB participants are required to create with input from program mentors and coaches. Salinas and García used this action plan to pitch for capital for their aptly named business (Carolicious) and successfully secured a $20,000 grant. WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

Sweet Teez Bakery, started in 2016 by a local mom in the Dorchester area, Teresa Thompson Maynard. Teresa grew up in Codman Square where she is now raising her own children. Growing up with various food allergies and now raising kids with the same allergies she realized a simple peanut can make the search for a good dessert near impossible. After purchasing countless baked goods and worrying about the ingredients, Teresa set out to open a bakery in order to meet her customer's nut-free needs and delight their taste buds. Teresa is a self-taught home baker with a passion for delicious treats and also a gifted sculptor who has translated her passion for clay into cakes. In early 2016 Teresa left her position at Harvard University to pursue her passion for baking and decorating. Currently working out of Commonwealth Kitchen in Dorchester, Teresa has produced thousands of cakes, cupcakes, brownies, and pies for not only individual customers but for wholesale and corporate accounts such as Whole Foods, Santander, and Babson College. WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

Karen Clark is the founder and innovative baker of Clarke’s Cakes & Cookies. She started her business over 21 years ago with the desire to bake delicious, vegan desserts without compromising the memorable taste and texture we love! WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

Townie Frozen Desserts is a love story starring owner, Robin Flint, and her husband, Stephen Gore. With a desire to work together, they launched into the frozen dessert business in 2017, making small batch, vegan, non-dairy, allergy friendly ice creams and sorbets. Currently sold at farmers markets from Attleboro to Osterville, plans for the near future include building their own manufacturing space and entering the wholesale market. WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

Margarita Maria Carreto and her son Andrew Medina Carreto found it difficult to find authentic tamales in Boston area, let alone a mole sauce like Margarita’s. With family roots in Puebla, Mexico the two set out on a mission to share their culture through food. They acquired a small mobile stand to bring to various farmers markets around Boston and have since been featured in the Boston Globe, WGBH, The Boston Calendar and more. WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

POP Culture is a boutique style bakery that makes edible art that speaks to the heart. Lisa’s custom cake pops, cookies, chocolate covered treats and designer cakes provide people and businesses with unique made to order desserts, gift sets and party favors, unlike what is available at their local grocery stores. In May 2012, Lisa was diagnosed with Breast Cancer after being in remission for 10 years. As expected she had a long course of treatment ahead of her. At this time, she put her Real Estate career on the back burner in order to concentrate on getting better. While Lisa was recuperating, POP Culture was born. It started with her taking a few cake decorating classes. Then she decided to try making cake pops she was seeing online. Lisa started small by gifting her pop cake creations to family and friends, but her creations soon gained traction via promotion on Facebook and word of mouth. What started as a form of therapy for Lisa while recovering from breast cancer treatments, has turned into a passion and now career. WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

India Russell and Lamont Stuckey are plant based caters and creators of Everythang Sauce. They cater affordable plant based meals and a sauce that goes on everything. Their sauce has been featured on Mass Appeal, MassLive, The Reminder, The Republican, Business West and more! Both born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, their mission is to teach others how to implement healthier alternatives without sacrificing your taste buds. Everythang Sauce is soy and gluten free agave based flavor enhancing sauce that converts everyday meals and snacks into a gourmet experience. WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM