Meet Monica Gonzalez | Wellbeing Enthusiast & COO of See Mōs

We had the good fortune of connecting with Monica Gonzalez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Monica, how does your business help the community?
Our business helps by providing local sea moss farmers in Saint Lucia build an economy based on sea moss. In addition, we are an environmentally and socially conscious company implementing the three pillars of sustainability into the DNA of our company. Those pillars are environmental, social, and economic. We support the environment in ensuring that our sea moss is sustainably harvested using a method of sea moss farming called open ocean farming. We support women farmers and help build the local economy by supporting the local farmers instead of sourcing from large manufacturers or businesses.

Sea plants play a vital role in a healthy ocean ecosystem. Not only are they a food source and a home to marine life but they also play a crucial role in the ocean’s ability to absorb greenhouse gases. They absorb more CO2 than trees and are instrumental in generating 50% of the oxygen we breathe. Sea plants are also extremely nutritional for humans. For all the reasons above, sea moss allows us to provide you with ‘healing’ from the Helen of the West Indies.

We also package our sea moss using biodegradable packaging – this includes the labels.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Our business is is a minority-owned, family-driven company providing the best quality sea moss from Saint. Lucia. As I mentioned earlier, our family harvests the sea moss from Praslin Saint Lucia and they ship directly to us. We look for the most sustainable ways to package and ship out. Our mission is to spread awareness of how healing this sea plant is for your health and wellbeing while keeping sustainability at the forefront of our well-being mission.

We wanted to make sure we weren’t just adding another product on the market that would be destructive to natural systems or that the packaging wouldn’t end up in landfills.

The interesting is that in the past few years, sea plants are being researched and studied as extremely nutritional food sources. In addition, they are also the least harmful crops that are grown.

I think this is what we’re proud of the most. We can close the loops in many ways.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
As a big foodie, I’d show them some of our favorite vegan restaurants in Miami.

For a daytime itinerary, I’d head over to Hollywood beach. We live here and love the local feel. I’d take them to Kay Rico in Hollywood for an amazing cup of cappuccino then find a nice spot on the beach for some R&R. Lunch would be at Doggies in Hallandale or Holy Vegan. Then, kick off an evening at Grove at Minty Z then head over to Sugar in Brickell for a nice city view. To finish a weekend night, I’d head over to Wynwood for a nice patio dance session at the Wood.

Once we’re ready to head home, I’d stop at the Vegan Perology food truck that sits in the area. A week-long itinerary would include snorkeling at Red Reef in Boca, kayaking at Oleta Park, and other natural activities. I’d also take them to Dubwise at Coyo on a Wednesday night.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Our business, See Mōs, is an entire family business. My husband is the CEO of the company, his brother and his girlfriend are the farmers who ship the sea moss to us here, I run all the operational aspects which include collaborating with our marketing team and finding packaging that aligns with our business.

I think our biggest shoutout would be to both of our families who encourage us to keep going, help us ideate and help us get the word out.

Website: https://www.seemosstlucia.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/see.mos/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeeMosStLucia

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW3rGPFAGrwZXgCa1tC62wg