As Loretto students struggled to keep occupied during quarantine, they found a solution to their problem, starting a business. 

Valeria Simons, senior class president, started her business called Zuccaro, a home bakery.

Simon’s mom had been selling cakes before quarantine however she decided to join Zuccaro in April.  

Simons said, “I started my business because I wanted to help my parents pay for a summer program course I took at USC, I also started this business because of my love for baking.” 

Loretto students are not only passionate about what they do but they strive for academic success. 

Simons is not only involved in the baking aspect of the business but also the business side. 

Simons said, “My favorite part of starting a business is being able to do what I love everyday.”

As the pandemic affected many internships students might have wanted to take this summer, Simons did not let the circumstances affect her. 

Simons said, “ I want to study business, so I am able to get a hands on idea of what I will be doing in the future.” 

Senior Aimee Flores began a nutrition page called “@nutri.aaim” on Instagram. 

Flores has focused her page on delicious nutritious food and on spreading body positivity. 

Flores said, “I started Nutri Aimee because I was bored in quarantine, I had started learning how to cook and decided to start a wellness page.” 

On her Instagram, Flores posts different kinds of recipes from Rice Cakes with avocado to noodles with shrimp. 

Student’s businesses do not only involve food but also jewelry making.  

Elisa Camacho, a sophomore, started her student business, De Colores, in July. 

De Colores is a jewelry shop that sells handmade polymer clay earrings and accessories. 

Camacho began making jewelry with polymer clay as a hobby and later began sharing her hobby on Instagram to see if anyone would take interest. 

Camacho then began selling more and more jewelry and her business started to grow. 

Camacho said, “Being able to sell my earrings allowed me to properly invest more time into not only making the product, but thinking about how I want to present it and display it at a farmer’s market.” 

After the hard work of designing a logo and defining the De Colores brand, Camacho loves seeing the joy her jewelry brings to people. 

Camacho said, “It felt like a huge accomplishment to be able to share all of my hard work with others and see their faces when they got excited by something they saw and they wanted to take it home.” 

Starting the De Colores brand was a strenuous task. 

Camacho started by starting the De Colores Instagram and uploading regularly. 

Once Camacho’s business began to take off she had to keep up with orders. 

Camacho said, “From there, the next challenge was to invest time every afternoon making new earrings, and not only new designs, but also multiple pairs of the same one until I had enough to sell.” 

As the De Colores brand is barely beginning Camacho is excited to see where this may take her. 

Camacho said, “ I am so happy that my passions have turned into a larger project and I am excited to continue expanding my creativity with different materials and designs.”

Loretto students like to keep busy and will always find ways to advance in life, like starting a business.