Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Monica Gonzalez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Monica thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Our mission is to offer a the best quality sea moss for health and wellbeing of people while keeping sustainability at the forefront of our business. Through our mission we are able to uplift people, communities and the planet.

Monica , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

See Mōs began before the pandemic. We were using sea moss at home in our daily life when a few friends began to ask us for some when the family would come up from St. Lucia. Not long after, we decided to start selling the gel at the farmer’s markets and to friends who were looking for it. After about 3 months of selling on consignment at the local farmers market we were hit with COVID and all businesses closed down. We no longer had a location to sell our gel but we had enough clientele who knew about us and were reaching out directly. It was amid the pandemic we decided to launch our e-commerce store. Not long after, we were being asked for the raw product as well so we began offering wholesale which has done well. And, earlier this year we began offering sea moss capsules and green sea moss. Our store has grown from selling the gel to selling raw wholesale to selling capsules. Additionally, we have added our products to several local stores in South Florida.

What set’s us apart is the education about the sea plant and the importance sea plants play in oceanic health and the overall health of the planet. We get excited about how through a sustainable & regenerative way of harvesting sea moss, we can preserve natural habitats, regenerate ecosystems, and provide a superfood to the market.

Our proudest moment was this year when we completed a short documentary on our sea moss farmers, which are our family members. We want the world to know that sea moss harvesting is not an easy feat. We also want them to feel connected to the source of what they are consuming. We feel that connecting back to the source of what we consume is extremely important as it shows how much love goes behind what they’re purchasing. And, it also creates community uplift as we also support coastal communities through our procurement of local St.Lucian sea moss, where are family currently lives.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

We believe authenticity has helped build our reputation in the market. For us, it was important to be transparent about our sea moss process. Within the sea moss business, many businesses market their sea moss as being wild crafted from St Lucia. Although there are some businesses that do harvest their sea moss like that in St Lucia, the majority of sea moss harvesting is done by a process of marine aquaculture. It is similar to horticulture but in the ocean. This is actually a very healthy & sustainable way of harvesting sea moss. Wild crafting sea moss means that you’re forging for the sea moss in natural eco-systems. If the demand is high and we’re taking without giving the industry wouldn’t be able to maintain the yields that it’s able to offer.

We’ve also written a blog on our page to help our audience understand the differences – https://www.seemosstlucia.com/post/wildcraftedoroceanfarmedseamoss-whichonisbetter

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

We’ve never received capital for our business. We have self-funded our entire businesses. We began with small amount of product and we were able to expand our business by reinvesting all our earrings back into the business. This has been our business model since the start. We feel that by self-funding we are able to be fully present in all aspects of our business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.seemosstlucia.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/see.mos/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeeMosStLucia
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@seemos2183
• Other: Linktr.ee https://linktr.ee/seemos

Image Credits
Maya Rose is the photographer for all imageshttps://www.instagram.com/mayarose.photo/