Funding the Future for Minority Entrepreneurs

By Maria Veres

As a Latina woman business owner, Erika Lucas is passionate about sharing her success with others. Through her companies StitchCrew and VEST, she connects women and people of color with resources to grow their companies and careers. So far more than 130 people have participated in her programs. One of them is Edmond resident Ana Nuñez, who creates sustainable products for curly hair through her company, Vida Bars.

Erika Lucas: Helping Business Professionals Succeed

Before she became an entrepreneur, Erika worked in economic development and private equity. She saw firsthand how challenging it was for women and people of color to secure business funding. She decided to do something about it.

In 2017 she founded StitchCrew, which connects traditionally overlooked business founders with funding, mentoring, and resources. Three years later she started VEST in response to the disproportionate effect the pandemic had on women in the workplace. VEST supports female professionals and entrepreneurs.

Erika’s companies have strong relationships with organizations in OKC and beyond, including the Oklahoma City Thunder. “We were very lucky to partner with the Thunder because they understood the value of diversity,” she says. “To this day they continue to support us and amplify our message.”

She administers several programs through StitchCrew, including a beauty product initiative, an OKC Latino business group, a national group for Cherokee business owners, and more. Every program is different, but they share a common vision—to help businesses succeed and to build a more flexible, diverse workplace culture.

Erika is the mother of two daughters in their late teens. “They’re my inspiration,” she says. “My goal is to create a more inclusive community, and they’re my ‘why.’”

Ana Nuñez: Sustainable Beauty Products for Curly Hair

Like Erika, Ana was born in Chihuahua, Mexico. Also like Erika, she never planned to become an entrepreneur.

Ana’s family moved to the US when she was seven. By 2019, she was a single mother of two, living in the OKC area and working full-time in talent acquisition. She also had a problem she couldn’t solve: She hated her thick, curly hair. For years she straightened it with a flat iron. Then her daughter asked to straighten her hair too, and Ana knew she needed a better solution.

She searched for sustainable products for curly hair and came up empty. “So I decided to make my own,” she says. “There was nothing on the market like this, and it had to be done.”

With no chemistry background, Ana did online research to develop shampoo and conditioner bars for curly hair. Since all textured hair isn’t alike, she created six lines. Working from her kitchen, Ana spent months perfecting Vida Bars before launching in 2020. Her first collections sold out, and she realized she needed to scale.

That’s when Ana and Erika’s paths crossed. While Ana was participating in Meridian Technology Center’s Stillwater business incubator, she was encouraged to apply for StitchCrew’s beauty cohort program. Later she also became part of StitchCrew’s program for Latino business owners.

The support she received empowered her to build the Vida Bars customer base across the US and beyond. She moved her operations from her home to the Meridian Technology Center business incubator in Guthrie. Her next goal is to place products in boutique retail stores.

Ana stays in touch with Erika and the colleagues in her cohorts. “One of the things that’s near to my heart is seeing Erika be so successful at what she does and sharing that with so many of us,” she says.

Redefining Success

Erika and Ana have both experienced the struggles that women and people of color face in the workplace, especially as business owners, and they’re both working to level the field. For Erika, the ongoing connections that form through StitchCrew and VEST are a big part of that effort. “We’re very much focused on paying it forward,” she says.

As Latina moms, both women continue to work toward a world where the path will be easier for their children and the generations to come. “When we are welcomed and believed in and encouraged, we can become great partners in our communities,” says Ana.

Learn more about Erika Lucas, StitchCrew, and VEST at erikalucas.co. Visit Vida Bars at thevidabars.com.