UCF Business Incubation client hires Mindy Kerkvliet in new role
Orlando, Fla. (May 10, 2023) – As more people and organizations look to LOOLA to provide its unique solar-powered lanterns, the company has started to increase its company’s staffing.
One of the first hires is Mindy Kerkvliet as product coordinator. In this role, Kerkvliet will primarily oversee the company’s supply chains and distribution efforts. Kerkvliet will be dedicated to improving our supply product and chain performance on material and product, manufacturing, and corporate initiatives.”
“My passion for the environment has led me to take action to help protect it,” Kerkvliet says. “As such, I am excited to pursue my greatest passion to positively impact the environment by helping with our new recycling plastic initiatives while giving them a second beautiful and transformative life through our product vision within this category.”
Kerkvliet comes to LOOLA, and Orlando, from Taiwan, where she worked as a Senior housing agent for seven years at Taipei Rental Elegant Realty. In that role, she assisted expats and families in finding suitable apartments and houses in Taipei.
She was even featured twice on HGTV’s House Hunters International.
“To scale this company, we need to bring on great people and having Mindy join us is a critical step in the growth of LOOLA,” says Teresa Guastella, owner and founder, LOOLA. “This is just the first of many new employees as we build our customer base.”
LOOLA started as a way to provide decorative lighting in outdoor events during the Covid-19 pandemic. Today, LOOLA offers two unique brand lines: the signature LOOLA brand, which focuses on home decor, outdoor living and hospitality businesses; and Totik, aimed at emergency preparedness, disaster recovery and harsh environments.
In both cases, the lights offered by LOOLA are great for indoor and outdoor alike but have the function and customizable aesthetics along with accessories, along with hours of light on a single charge.
Currently, the portable solar lights can be found online at loolalights.com, totiksurvival.com and at several independent retailers.
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For more information please contact:
For LOOLA: Teresa Guastella, 352-988-3483, teresa@studiocalathea.com
For the UCF Business Incubation Program: Michael Weiss, UCF Business Incubation Program, 321-281-8384, Michael.weiss@ucf.edu or Alan Byrd, Alan Byrd & Associates, 407-415-8470, alan@byrdconnections.com
About LOOLA:
Headquartered in Orlando, Fla., LOOLA is a gold standard provider of portable solar
lanterns and products for the consumer and professional markets. Operations include research
and development, engineering, manufacturing, sales, marketing, distribution, and customer
service. For more information, please visit loolalights.com/
About the UCF Business Incubation Program:
The University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program is a community resource that provides early-stage companies with the tools, training and infrastructure to become financially stable, high growth/impact enterprises. Since 1999, this award-winning program has provided vital business development resources resulting in over 300 local startup companies reaching their potential faster and graduating into the community where they continue to grow and positively impact the local economy.
With seven facilities throughout the region, the UCF Business Incubation Program is an economic development partnership between the University of Central Florida, the Corridor, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia Counties, and the cities of Kissimmee, Orlando and Winter Springs. For the 2017/2018 fiscal years, the activities of these participating firms have helped to sustain more than 6,725 local jobs and have had a cumulative impact of over $725 million on regional GDP and over $1.3 billion on regional sales. During the same period, the program has returned more than $12.00 in state and local taxes for every $1.00 invested in the program. In addition, for every $1.00 of public investment the firms also produced $118 of additional regional GDP and $226 of regional sales. For more information, visit www.incubator.ucf.edu