Partner Feature: Ariana Ulloa-Olavarrieta

Ariana Ulloa-Olavarrieta is deeply rooted in the world of business development. With a degree in economics, a background in the banking industry, and a small startup company on her resume - Ariana was already considered a leader in her field. But she then went on to join the LIGHTS Regional Innovation Network because it was time for a change.It was time to help develop rural America.

“A new opportunity opened up for me,” said Ariana. “I wanted to help small businesses to take shape in rural areas.”

Ariana utilized her own experience with running a business to help others get their dreams off the ground.

“My sisters and I were all having babies,” laughed Ariana. “And being of Mexican descent, everything we ate growing up was made from scratch. My sisters are really good cooks and other parents at daycare noticed they were bringing in homeade organic baby food. I suggested we start a baby food company because of my background in business. It took off - and we started getting local and national press.”

Eventually, Whole Foods approached the sisters about selling their products in stores. But, they declined citing other opportunities at the time.

“I understand what my LIGHTS clients are going through first hand. It was a great experience. But, I now tell all my clients to make sure they are doing something they love. Things will get tough, and when they do you have to love what you are doing to keep going.”

Ariana brought her experience and passion for small business to LIGHTS and helped shape the regional service.

“When we came in, it was a pilot program. There was a big gap in services for entrepreneurs and we knew we wanted to fill it. Today, we have all types of businesses ranging from a grandmother who makes her own fudge to larger businesses that employee over 100 people.”

“The biggest successes are those that are thriving on any level. It’s those that are doing what they wanted from the start. I will never tell a client what they ‘should’ do with their business. I’ll have them tell me what their goals are and we will figure it out from there. I will push them to be where they want to be.”

Recently, Ariana helped a group of potential entrepreneurs in the Ignite Portsmouth Entrepreneurship Boot Camp. She helped to educate them on the basics of business ownership, the business model canvas, and more.

“What these types of programs do is fantastic. They help to identify creative business ideas and future entrepreneurs that need the support of their community. These folks want to create something in the community in which they live. I really enjoyed working with the Ignite Portsmouth contestants in particular because they all had clever ideas and really thought things through. They had great ideas and it’s going to make Portsmouth stand out and give the community there something new, something different.”

Ignite Portsmouth gave out $8,500 to five winners who participated in the pitch competition part of the program. Ariana said it was great to see the community come together in support of innovation.

“The business community came together and really supported the program,” she said. “And it was a contest, but it was great seeing the contestants work together and talk about connecting in the future. That’s what is going to make them successful. That is what is going to make people want to stay in Portsmouth.”