Sandra Velasquez: From making bars of soap in her kitchen to selling them in Nordstrom—with $110K in debt

What do you do after you lose your job, you’re $110,000 in debt, are raising a daughter, and you need to make ends meet fast? For San Diego-native Sandra Velasquez, the answer was starting Nopalera, a luxury brand of bath and body products using the nopal cactus. Nopalera is sold at over 400 retailers, including Nordstrom and Free People. Sandra Velasquez joins Bísness School to tell us why she launched a soap company when she herself is not obsessed with soaps, how she managed to build her business off of credit cards and how rejecting offers on Shark Tank affected her business. Plus, she answers questions from small businesses around the country.This episode was produced by Fernando Hurtado and Miguel Estrada and edited by James Jeffrey.Follow Nopalera at @nopalera.co.Follow Sandra Velasquez at @officialslv.Follow Fernando Hurtado at @byfernandoh. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.