Meet Street Fair Merchant Laura Valenzuela!
Laura Valenzuela has only been a vendor at the Street Fair for two years but based on her popularity you would think she has been a staple for much longer. Laura makes custom tumblers and coasters personalized for her customers who love having a one-of-a-kind piece of art. It takes Laura three days to make one customized item and people love them.
Three days to make one piece seems like a laborious task but Laura found through the Covid pandemic it relieved her stress. She and her whole family work in the healthcare industry and not only were their stress levels high they were frankly scared. It turned out that the whole family enjoyed creating and jumped in to help start the business, even building a backyard studio.
Laura started her business making a tumbler for her sister because she wanted to give her a special and unique gift, now, she shares her talent with others who can meet her at the Street Fair and create their own unique gift.
In addition to her full-time job working at Eisenhour Hospital as a buyer she’s a College of the Desert student. Finishing her classes around her full-time schedule has been a labor of love as she dreams of becoming a nurse one day. Laura hopes to be accepted to the nursing program at COD so she can join the amazing nurses she sees every day helping people.
Her business at the Street Fair brings her happiness, working with her friends and family and being with the community. The extra money will help her pay for nursing school and Laura says she plans to stay at the Street Fair for years and is grateful to her fellow vendors for pushing her and supporting her to start her business.
Laura lives each day taking nothing for granted and believes every day is another day to better yourself. She never shied away from a challenge which now include some crazy requests for custom-designed cups. It shouldn’t surprise you that these are her favorite ones to make.
Non-Profits at The Street Fair
Saturday, January 21 – Voices for Children and Citizens of Climate Lobby
Voices for Children provides volunteer advocates to children in foster care to ensure they have every opportunity to achieve stability. Volunteers are called CASAs, which stands for court-appointed special advocates, and they often become the most consistent adult in a foster child’s life.
Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy organization empowering people to learn and educate about solutions to the climate crisis.
Saturday, January 28 – Guide Dogs of the Desert and LifeStream
Guide Dogs of the Desert provides mobility, companionship, and independence for the blind with custom-trained Guide Dogs. They have graduated more than 800 student/Guide Dog teams providing them with the gift of newfound confidence, independence, and mobility.
LifeStream has served the Inland Empire and surrounding areas since 1951, providing lifesaving blood products and services to more than 80 Southern California hospitals and medical facilities. LifeStream joined us in November and 20 donors gave blood, the majority being first-time donors.