MADEIRA, Ohio — The mother of an 11-year-old Tri-State boy with a rare, fatal condition quit her almost 20-year career at Procter & Gamble a year and a half ago so she could spend more time with him and her other children.
“My kids are in those critical years before becoming teenagers, and I feel like my most important job is to enjoy them right now and to teach them, especially values,” Leslie Guzman said.
Now, Guzman is taking that job worldwide.
On May 3, she launched – via Kickstarter – "Lupita," a new family tradition for the holidays inspired by the Catholic belief in Our Lady of Guadalupe. The story behind it is the appearance of the Virgin Mary to a peasant in central Mexico in the 1500s to ask that a church be built at what is today considered the most popular Catholic pilgrimage site in the world: the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.
Packaging for Lupita
Lupita includes a doll and a book – much like its predecessors, Elf on the Shelf and Mensch on a Bench (also started by a Cincinnati entrepreneur). But in this story, Lupita is a young girl who witnessed the appearance of the Virgin Mary and now comes to children each Dec. 12 (Our Lady of Guadalupe’s feast day) through Jan. 6 (Three Kings Day) to watch over them.
And to teach them to practice kindness.
Each night, children are instructed to report to their Lupita doll what good deed they’ve conducted that day.
“During the past few months, I’ve bounced ideas off my kids to incorporate values into the tradition,” Guzman said. “Above all the ideas, they liked best the idea of having a nice, enriching chat every night about their daily life. Together (with my kids), we have come to the realization that there is no magic in these chats individually, but the magic is in making it a habit that we want to bring to life via the tradition.”
In addition to 11-year-old Diego, Guzman, who divorced from her husband in July of 2013, also is mom to 9-year-old Mateo and 7-year-old Pablo. Diego has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic disorder that causes progressive muscle degeneration and weakness. It has no cure.
Diego is in the fifth grade at Madeira Middle School and, even though he’s in a wheelchair, he’s seeking more independence, Guzman said. One of the reasons the self-described “helicopter mom” quit her job was to make sure Diego could handle his independence and go places by himself, and to make sure his peers are educated on how to treat him, despite his differences.
Guzman, who is originally from Mexico, hopes that although the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Three Kings Day, which commemorates the belief in the three wise men’s visit to see Jesus after his birth, are traditionally celebrated among Hispanic cultures, the invention of Lupita will bring people of all faiths together.
“Embracing traditions outside of our own is good for us to become more diverse and rich and so we know what’s happening outside of ourselves,” Guzman said. “I’ve seen the Christmas tradition getting cold and materialized with kids only thinking about the gifts they’ll receive. I thought it was lacking something. I wanted to bring everyone together with something that would make the Christmas season a little warmer and with a tradition that’s close to my heart.”
Lupita founder Leslie Guzman with her son, Diego.
So far, Guzman’s business partner, Karl Meves, said Lupita has financial backers from the United States, Mexico, England and Switzerland.
Each doll-and-book set costs $35, and Guzman and Meves hope to raise $20,000 by July 6 on Kickstarter to help fund the business. To date, the campaign has raised $3,160.
Meves said a portion of the proceeds from each Lupita set sold will go toward a charity – likely Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, or End Duchenne, a nonprofit organization focused on finding a cure for the disease.
Meves said he hopes to sell more than 50,000 dolls over the course of the first two years and that the business will continue to scale from there.
“We have a manufacturer set up in place, and we have a designer in Europe who’s putting out amazing images for us, so we just need to get out there and keep growing it,” Meves said.
Guzman said she has no plans to apply to appear on “Shark Tank” – the ABC show for budding entrepreneurs looking for investors that Neal Hoffman, Mensch on a Bench creator, has appeared on – but that it’s something she’s considering.
To learn more about Lupita, to buy a Lupita set, or to pledge as a financial backer, visit Guzman's Kickstarter page.
You also can learn more about Lupita via its website; its Facebook page or via Twitter – @LupitaTradition.
