Queer Women We Love, Red Hot Entrepreneurs, Wonder Women

Workin’ It 2011

September 19, 2011 Liz Gold

The Real L Word fans know Romi Klinger from her spot on the Showtime reality series, but this Pasadena, Calif.-born jewelry designer has lived a best-seller life since growing up in the care of two mothers and a father. Our cover girl has been a successful makeup artist, an apothecary buyer for Kitson, a co-creator of the famed lesbian event company PYT and a blogger at tenderomi.com. This year, Klinger and Vanessa Salazar founded HIJA Por Vida, a jewelry and accessories line exclusively sold through Love and Pride. Now solo, Klinger is moving forward with Casa Por Vida, her own jewelry brand inspired by Mexican and Native American designs. Her Web site, casaporvida.com, launches this month. “The best part of owning my own business is that I’m my own boss and I get a chance to do what I love,” Klinger says. “We make all these items by hand on our living room floors. So far, we’ve lost a lot of sleep—but, we’re hustlers and hard-workers. The fact is, when you believe in your product, work is a pleasure.”

2011’s Red Hot Entrepreneurs

Thanks to Jess Eddy, foodies searching for their favorite mobile grub truck need to look no further. With business partner Joel Potischman, this tech whiz co-founded Tweat.it (http://tweat.it), a free app for food vendors and eaters alike that tracks food trucks across the city, making our search for locally-sourced froyo and Korean tacos that much simpler. Though Tweat.it was built while Eddy and Potischman were still working full-time jobs, Eddy soon heeded the call for independence. A user experience (UX) design consultant with a background in graphic design, Eddy builds Web desktop or mobile-based services for technology based start-ups. “I made the choice to run my own business because I wasn’t getting that much out of my full-time jobs and I was being approached by start-ups needing UX help,” she says of her jump from freelancing to consulting. “When there is clearly a need [for your skills], it’s easier to pull the trigger.”