We were overwhelmed by the many amazing entries for the $1000 Mom-Owned Small Business Grant. It was really tough to narrow it down. But without further ado, below are the five finalists in alphabetical order.
Now YOU get the final say.
Cast your vote below and help us choose the winner. The woman-owned business with the most votes by the end of the day on November 3rd is the winner of the $1000 grant from Comcast and ABQ Mom.
Thank you to Comcast.
Already a Business Internet customer? You’re eligible for Comcast Business Mobile with flexible data options on up to 20 lines. And if you’re not a customer, Comcast can help you find the right internet plan. If you are interested in learning more, click here or contact local representative Jason Ward by phone at 505-999-0213 or by email.
Check out our five finalists for the $1000 Mom-Owned Business Grant. (They’re listed in alphabetical order.) Scroll all the way down to vote below.
Love, Earth Apothecary
Celia Mansfield, Owner
Love, Earth Apothecary is a collection of gifts from Mother Earth made from potent, small-batch herbal offerings. The products span a wide variety from pure plant extracts, wellness blends, traditional salves and balms, sustainable body care, women’s health rituals, non-toxic cleaners, candles, and an ever-growing array of carefully and lovingly crafted herbal offerings. Not only do will you find earthly ingredients but also a more sustainable brand by offering all Earth-conscious packaging. All packaging for products are either upcycled, refillable, reusable, compostable, or zero waste. This includes all packaging used for shipping as the owner gathers boxes and packing materials from local recycling centers. All products are made exclusively from homegrown, wildcrafted, and organic plant material. The products are universal and can be used by men, women, children and those Beings with sensitive skin. Everything is free from artificial colors or fragrances, preservatives, or ingredients you can’t pronounce! Everything is created with the intention to heal and nourish. Love, Earth Apothecary works in harmony with nature. This means inventory is ever-changing as different plants and medicines become available in different seasons throughout the year. These small-batch apothecary goods are made in small and varying quantities and sold until they are all gone. This work is a passion and you can taste and feel the difference in these carefully crafted soil-to-soul offerings.
Love, Earth Apothecary was born because the owner, Celia, has seen the healing power of the plants and wants to be of service to humanity healing minds, bodies, and spirits. She is passionate about teaching others ancestral wisdom that our grandmothers would be proud to see us carrying forward. She revels in empowering humanity to take their health and power and back into their own hands. Celia gets so excited when working with plants, being in nature, and growing medicine in the garden. As a single mother, Celia has taken the past two years to stay home with her daughter and step back from my career as a social worker. Starting this business is a way for her to still provide for my daughter while honoring the precious time and reverence of motherhood.
If Celia wins the grant money, she plans to use it to pay some fees and get set up in some storefronts across ABQ. She is a New Mexico native, born and raised in the 505! She would also like to use this grant money to book some venue spaces to start teaching some classes in the community.
Milk It Lactation Services LLC
Condola Garrett, Owner
Owner Condola Garret’s passion for creating Milk It Lactation Services LLC comes from a deeply personal place. She’s seen firsthand the joys and struggles that come with breastfeeding, and she knows how overwhelming it can be. Becoming a parent is a beautiful yet challenging journey, and while breastfeeding is natural, it isn’t always easy. She started this business because she wanted to be the helping hand that she wishes more parents had—a source of compassionate, non-judgmental, and evidence-based support to make this process a little less daunting and a lot more empowering.
Breastfeeding is often painted as a magical bonding moment, which it absolutely can be, but the reality is that it can also be a tough and sometimes frustrating experience. Too often, parents are left feeling alone and unsupported when they encounter difficulties. That’s where Condola steps in. Milk It was created to be a safe space where parents can feel heard, understood, and equipped with the right tools to navigate their unique feeding journeys.
As an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), Condola has a goal to provide care that goes beyond just technical advice. She believes in looking at the whole picture—every family has different needs, goals, and challenges. Whether you’re breastfeeding, pumping, combination feeding, or transitioning to weaning, her approach is centered around meeting you where you are and helping you get where you want to go.
What drives Condola is knowing that she can make a real difference in someone’s life. Each success story, whether it’s helping a mother with latch issues, supporting someone who’s exclusively pumping, or guiding a parent through weaning, brings her a sense of fulfillment that’s hard to put into words. She loves seeing the confidence grow in the families she works with. Seeing a parent go from feeling unsure and anxious to empowered and informed—there’s nothing quite like it.
At Milk It, she’s worked hard to build a practice where families feel comfortable and supported. Whether she meets parents in person, at their home, or virtually, her goal is to make sure that parents have access to the resources and care they need to achieve their feeding goals. Every parent deserves to feel supported, informed, and confident in their journey, and she’s passionate about being that source of encouragement.
Ultimately, Milk It is about more than just breastfeeding support. It’s about empowering families, promoting confidence, and creating a community where parents can thrive. The work she does is incredibly rewarding, and she’s honored to be part of such a critical moment in a family’s life. For her, this business is personal, and that’s what drives my passion every single day.
If awarded this grant, she plans to use the funds to enhance her business’s marketing and advertising efforts. Reaching more families in need of lactation support is critical, and she believes that increasing awareness of the services Milk It provides will help connect those who may not know where to turn for help. These funds would allow me to invest in targeted marketing strategies and advertising campaigns that can extend her business’s reach, ensuring that more families can benefit from the compassionate, evidence-based care she offers.
Mrs. Sprinkles Ice Cream Parlor
Amanda Chavez, Owner
Mrs. Sprinkles Ice Cream was created to bring happiness and love to all through ice cream. Life is hard. But ice cream helps. At Mrs. Sprinkles, we really to try uplift spirits through kindness and giving. We partner with a lot of other locally owned small business mamas. We allow them to host classes free of charge at the parlor. We also give back to the community through spirit nights with schools near us and love to host animal rescues anytime we can. Our mission is to help others.
Owner Amanda Chavez is passionate and believes in her business to her absolute core. Does she think ice cream can fix everyday hardships? Nope. But she knows positive energy and happiness and looking for the silver linings and bright sides of life do, in fact, help. Amanda and her staff at the parlor hope to bring smiles and warm your hearts anytime you enter. If you’re having a bad day, we hope we can be the positive cherry on top. She loves to help other small local businesses get seen by sharing what others are doing in our local community and bringing awareness to as many other organizations as she can. She is passionate about looking towards the bright side in every aspect of life and helping others do the same.
Amanda intends to use the grant money to give back. Perhaps that would be hosting a charitable cause and helping them raise more funds and bring awareness. This Sunday she is hosting 8 families from cancer research of NM and giving back by hosting an ice cream social for them and their families. She also hopes to host an “angel tree” this Christmas to help those who are less fortunate.
Sweet Pea Bakery
Kathleen Sacoman, Owner
Sweet Pea Bakery was built around the belief that the best memories are made around the table with the people we love. Originally a home bakery in the Northeast Heights, the bakery is shifting to a shared commercial kitchen space in the fall of 2024! Sweet Pea has become known for cookie decorating classes, carmelita bars, and desserts that look as delicious as they taste. Keeping a focus on small-batch desserts and classic flavors, a portion of every purchase goes back into the Albuquerque community through donations to local organizations working to impact poverty in our city.
Owner Kathleen Sacoman never set out to be a bakery owner, but once she started this business, she knew it was something she could see herself doing for the rest of my life. One of my great loves is food. She loves to make it, eat it, and share it! When she thinks of how it can nourish not just our bodies, but also our hearts and minds when paired with special moments and the people we love – it makes this job even more incredible.
She’s made desserts for some of the happiest moments, such as weddings and baby showers. She’s also had the privilege of making cookies to honor loved ones who have passed away too soon or say goodbye to friends moving away. To be invited into some of the most memorable and important moments in people’s lives is a gift. And Katie hopes they feel the care and love that goes into what she makes.
Each cookie and bar tells a story and becomes the flavor of a memory. It’s the best job she could ever ask for and the one she never expected. Being a business owner is difficult, but she loves the space it gives her to dream and create, not just for myself but for my community as well. Whether it’s new flavors or ways to impact the community for good, this business will always be a way to show love to the city she calls home.
The bakery is making an exciting transition in the fall of 2024 from being a home bakery to working out of a shared commercial kitchen! This will allow the bakery to sell items wholesale to local coffee shops, which is not legal as a home bakery. It is an equally exciting and terrifying leap, but Katie’s hope is that this will allow some much-needed balance in her life as both a business owner and a mom.
With this transition comes additional equipment and expenses. The first thing she would purchase with the grant would be new equipment. With more ovens to bake, she will need additional/larger pans, as well as updated storage containers.
The second thing she would use the funds for would be the first few months of facility fees. She’s excited to move bakery supplies and stock out of her house. But with the move comes facility fees for renting the kitchen. Using the funds to pay these fees would free up space for her to hire an assistant baker and create the capacity to take on more wholesale clients. It’s not the most glamorous thing to pay for, but it’s expenses like these that make a big difference for small businesses. Creating that space to be able to hire help in the kitchen would be a dream!
The Village Refillery
Lauren Wenderoth, Owner
Imagine a store where your shopping routine aligns with not only your commitment to a greener planet but also your desire for an aesthetically gorgeous home. Welcome to The Village Refillery, your locally-owned refill shop in Corrales that makes sustainable living luxurious, without sacrificing convenience or affordability.
Their zero waste, bulk refill store is on a mission to tackle climate change and other local (& global) challenges, like water over-consumption, oil dependency, & biodiversity loss, by decoupling economic activity from the overconsumption of finite resources. By reusing & refilling containers with essentials like cleaning products, haircare, & locally made cosmetics, our refill shop enables customers to shop sustainably while supporting their own community.
Owner Lauren Wenderoth started this business for her daughters. She wants them to have the biggest inheritance imaginable – a healthy planet Earth. Before becoming a mother, she considered herself “eco-conscious” but in truth, she didn’t do much to shrink the ecological stain she was imprinting on this Earth. But she knew climate change was real, and her climate anxiety spiked after bringing life into this world.
Working as a dietitian in mental health exposed Lauren to the grim realities many in New Mexico (especially Indigenous communities) already face: food deserts; food insecurity; loss of open spaces for recreation; unsafe drinking water; & polluted air. Human-generated climate change has already come for the most vulnerable. This isn’t the life any parent wants for their children.
After the loss of her father, the cliché “life is short” slapped Lauren in the face, and she woke up to the fact that her career devoted to serving others was no longer serving her. In 2023, she made the terrifying decision to let go of a good-paying job in nutrition. She had no background in business, marketing, or retail, but she did have conviction. She knew there were many other moms out there freaking out about climate change – cringing every time they bought more plastic, feeling guilty for buying new bottles when their cupboards were packed with empty mason jars, and frustrated (really frustrated) that their buying habits didn’t reflect their values because our “big-box” retail systems wouldn’t allow it.
She knew these same moms also didn’t have the luxury of time. Reading ingredient lists on bubble bath to ensure child safety while shopping at Target with kids in tow is impossible. Yet we are desperately worried about what’s in our cosmetics and household products.
So she decided to create a trusted place for mothers (and all community members) to stock up on refillable, nontoxic cleaning essentials that are ethically sourced and sustainably made. She wanted to bring back the milkman model, but for all home products we would typically re-buy in new plastic. Lauren also wanted moms to be able to grab self-care, vanity items, or gifts while restocking dish soap. Retail therapy is real, and she would never want to take away that fun! Instead, she set out to create a line of refillable, natural skincare products as well as a store where we can shop in good conscience (one that is free of greenwashing and full of community connection).
If Lauren were to receive this grant, she would use it to pay for the salary of one of her best employees, Jasper. Jasper has been working as a retail associate for The Village Refillery since July 2024 through the New Mexico Workforce Solutions’ Youth Development Internship Program. This program matches low-income and/or marginalized New Mexican youth with employers willing to train interns who, for various reasons, were not able to attend or finish college. This state-run program pays the intern’s salary in full for several months, after which the employer may choose to hire them on at their own cost or look for a new intern. Jasper is dependable, motivated, creative, adaptable, and super smart. Lauren would love to hire them as a regular employee but will have trouble doing so at her own cost. This grant money would allow me to keep them on and move them into an operational management role so that she in turn may continue to move more into a leadership role within the company. This shift could open the door to larger profits that allow her to keep Jasper on staff for the long run. She’s really proud that in just one year of forming this business, she has been able to provide jobs to four NM women (herself included), three of whom are mothers. This grant would extend her ability to do so.
Wonderful option for families..