National Meeting Charity Turns to LOOLA for Key Event

Orlando, Fla. (March 31, 2023) – Across the country, The Search Foundation has given more than $1 million to event planners in need. It’s an industry effort that has helped hundreds of individuals over the years, including 40 event planners affected by Hurricane Ian.

At the organization’s recent fundraiser at Orlando’s Canva Event Space, the group turned to LOOLA to help light up the room in an upscale and sustainable way – through the company’s new solar lantern products.

During the event held on March 29, 2023, more than 75 lanterns filled the event space, courtesy of Orlando-based LOOLA.

“The Search Foundation’s mission is near and dear to my heart as I understand first-hand what an event planner faces when there are no events,” says Teresa Guastella, founder and CEO of LOOLA. “While I was honored to contribute and showcase these lanterns, it was essential those professionals who attended had a tremendous experience.”

Guastella formed LOOLA after her event planning business was shuttered during the Covid-19 pandemic. When restrictions loosened and events were being help in outdoor venues, Guastella developed these lanterns as a way to avoid cords, but still provide great lighting.

Since then, Guastella has permanently closed her event business to focus on LOOLA.

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 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.

The company also offers wholesale discounts on products, customized rentals, and on-site design services to businesses and hospitality companies.

“These lights are a great addition for any venue for design and branding customization purposes,” says Remmal Karamsadkar, owner, Canva Event Venue. This product will go viral once you get it on the market for everyone to see. I can see this product in places like the Ritz Carlton. I cannot wait to show it to my clients in every proposal we send out”

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