Sisters transformed family’s Latino mail order business into major player in health care products

By Lisa Petrillo

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    MIAMI (WFOR) — Salud, formerly called Salud Para Todos, is a family-owned and Latino-focused business founded by patriarch Dr. Rigo Pérez Diaz some 30 years ago.

The family emigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic in 1987, first to Florida, then to New York. New opportunities brought them here.

“It was the late 1980’s in the Dominican Republic. There was a tumultuous political regime. Everything was happening and he decided it was best to come here,” said Sarah Perez Jarrett, Diaz’s daughter.

Dr. Diaz, who is a naturopath and nutritionist, first opened a nutritional supplement store, selling vitamins and wellness products. Then one day he had an epiphany.

“He then quickly realized that he could also create his own product and better serve the community and that’s where Salud Para Todos was born,” explained his daughter.

What was once a small, Latino-focused mail-order company is now a major player in the health care products world, serving customers globally. That’s directly due to Dr. Diaz’s two daughters, Sarah and Hilda.

Sarah began working at Salud after graduating college in 2009 and is now CEO of the company. Her younger sister Hilda is COO.

“Let’s talk about being daddy’s little girls,” said CBS4’s Lisa Petrillo. “To take his business to this level has to be a very warm and fuzzy thing happening there?”

“Absolutely,” said Sarah. “It was an honor to be respected and to be considered by him to be able to carry the torch on into the future.”

The bulk of business remained in New York until the COVID pandemic hit. In order to save employees’ jobs, they moved their offices and everything else to South Florida.

“We had a hard conversation and decided to bring all of the supplements into my living room and together with my sons and my husband we packed over 100 orders every single day from my living room,” Sarah explained.

Petrillo asked the sisters what it feels like to be “girl bosses” and lean on their Latina heritage.

“For me, it means that we can inspire other girls, other women, other Latinas to really know that they can take the education and grow, ” said Hilda Perez.

“Especially as first-generation immigrants, we got here and expanded the businesses that we have. “

The sisters are also striving to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs on their weekly podcast called the Savvy Sector.

“We add our Hispanic heritage to it. We talk about how I’m making my cafecito, but at the same time I’m looking at PNL Worksheets,” Hilda said. “What does that look like? And we’re really sharing that knowledge. That’s something that’s really important to me because an entrepreneur and a girl boss come in so many different forms.”

“It’s about the challenges we face every day as women business owners and how we’ve overcome them,” said Sarah. “And giving other Latina, or Dominican, business owners a voice and allowing them to see that it is possible and that you’re not alone here.”

The next step for the sisters is to open a wellness center with an urban garden to help teach healthy nutrition right here in South Florida.

For more info, go to salud.bz.

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