“Consciously sharing prosperity through e-commerce product sales.”
Katherine Ruiz realized at the young age of six that she wanted to help others. Her first moment of consciousness came when a new student, who spoke barely any English from Mexico, was sitting alone in the cafeteria after others learned she had the chicken pox. Katherine, who was bilingual, sat next to the little girl when everyone else had left the table. Now, she did get chicken pox soon after the next day but credits her handful of pox marks to the good act. She realized from that point forward that doing good can mitigate the challenges that one is up against and help lead to greater outcomes for all.
As a recent graduate of Venture Forth (#29 – it was her anniversary present!), Katherine has hit some major milestones with her startup KR Industries, whose first product ShearStore.com launches at the end of this year. ShearStore.com will sell “social scissors” to help manufacturers from third-world countries earn more money, improve their working standards and expand their market. While she’s been pitching and promoting herself and the company all around town, it was a bit of a roller coaster ride. After making her first wholesale in Ecuador in December 2014 she realized that her dream could be a reality. Unfortunately, she quickly realized that her original business model wasn’t going to work for the impact she wanted to achieve and she would have to re-invent KR Industries. It was at this point that she attended a Tech Ranch Campfire and signed up for Venture Forth. In her own words, “Venture Forth kept me engaged, propelled me and my business forward and created strong connections that continue to provide support, encouragement, acceptance, confidence and strength.”