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

Earl Gray. Wasabi. Lychee Martini. When Natasha Case (left) and Freya Estreller decided to buy a truck to sell their distinctive ice cream sandwiches and cookies, they saw it as a nod to the Good Humor man— but he never had flavors like this. Launching their products at the Coachella Valley Music Festival in 2009, Case and Estreller returned to Los Angeles with a buzz and a foodie following. With flavor combinations named after architects (Case is a former Disney Imagineer and Estreller a former real estate developer), the duo now has a fleet of Coolhaus trucks in L.A., Austin and NYC, plus Whole Foods accounts and an L.A. storefront to open imminently. Keeping true to their original passion for local seasonal produce and gourmet products in edible wrappers, Coolhaus—a pun on the architect Rem Koolhaas—plans to expand internationally. “Dominate your niche, take risks and never stop challenging yourself to do more,” Case says. “Seeing the satisfaction and utter bliss an ice cream sandwich can bring to a person’s day—really, it’s unreal.”