Meet Monique Bright-Rodgers

We had the good fortune of connecting with Monique Bright-Rodgers and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Monique, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I wanted to create a renewable energy and eco-friendly lifestyle business that catered to ALL people especially those that were being overlooked. The goal was to take a multi-tiered approach that allows us to be a seller, user, utility scale solar farm creator and distributor/supplier, so that we could help others generate wealth by starting solar companies of their own, no matter where they are in the world. We are seriously looking for new people who want to start or expand solar companies. I also wanted to reach the day to day elements of eco-friendly living, not just solar panels, or prefab building construction, but every element, including the fun stuff too.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What sets us apart from others is twofold. We don’t just sell a wide selection of tier 1 solar brands and solar components, interior and exterior LED lighting, LED solar street lights, electric bikes, electric golf carts, and electric micro cars and we also supply other companies with these items too. We also assist with training to create new opportunities for people who want to enter this market selling the best of what the industry has to offer. What I want the world to know about our brand is that We See You! We see families struggling to pay their electric bill. We see the people who are left without power for days after a storm. We see the people who bought solar but do not have batteries, so they still are struggling at night. We see Moms who are not spoken to directly in this clean energy movement. We see POC who are rarely spoken to at all and feel excluded in the world of renewable energy. We see people who want some of those new clean energy jobs that we hear about. We see you; we are you and we want ALL people to know that we want to help. We want to share what we have learned, to help you start your own solar business. We want to be of service. It was not easy for us to break into this green living marketplace in 2012, but we know there is room for us all. We need more solar installation companies, more sellers, and agents. We want to be catalyst for new companies to get started. We want to become your suppliers for your home or business and we want to train new people with the best, tier 1 solar products, and to keep you upgraded with new technology as it rolls out. We want to create leaders in this industry and to be a driving force in the renewable energy economy. What excites us is that we are now able to move into new aspects of the business. We are finally able to be creative and really showcase what this solar business can do such as rooftop gardens, electric bike rentals, weddings and events in the middle of nowhere…. We are starting with off-grid solar events in places without access to electricity here in South Florida. Our newest venture SOULAR ENT. Is a consortium of artistic and business collectives brought together by our daughter Kiah (Morefya.com), DJ Inspecta (@djinspecta on Instagram), family friend Andres Bedoya (drummer/photographer/solar sales) and us, TheSolPatch.com. We all share the same passion of melding our skills to showcase local talent, handcrafted organic herbal products, artistic events, and concerts, all powered 100% by solar. These SOULAR ENT. events will be available for streaming online through several platforms. We will eventually have these events all over the world.

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.
With Covid-19, we our activities outside of the home are definitely less. We go to the Swap Shop Drive-In almost weekly. It’s a great way to get out of the house and stay safe. We walk several times per week at our local parks in Coral Springs. We go to a few different ones to mix things up. Great food is essential, and we like Poke Bowls from Sovereign – Poke Soba Asian Kitchen in Sunrise and Finley’s Bahamian Restaurant in Pompano Beach. We try to support small businesses when we order takeout and delivery. For a less crowded beach day, we recommend Boca Inlet Beach in Deerfield and for strolls and culture, you can’t beat a trip to Wynwood in Miami.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First Shoutout goes to God who sustains us, and then to my husband and business partner Richard Rodgers. Our daughters Kiah, Kaycee and Kerina who work with us and have their own companies, our families and the solar manufacturers and other product representatives that we work with daily. We have a strong team in Panama led by Engineer Felipe Herrera and Yahanara Marciaga. They see the vision and understand the work and relationships needed to reach the goals of integrating high quality and affordable, clean energy into everyone’s home and business throughout the Americas and the Caribbean. We now have a 2nd solar company Sol To Soul Global, with Mr. Frederick Esters, who shares our big picture and passion to aggressively expand the solar marketplace to underserved communities while creating utility scale solar projects worldwide. This collaboration places our green movement directly in the path of those we want to help most creating clean energy entrepreneurs, jobs and resources. Additional Shoutout goes to Kaycee Rodgers our official model for The Sol Patch, and also the owner of the printable company, PrintAVybe, found on Etsy. Kaycee is leading our launch of eco-friendly printables for offices and homes, to reflect and display sustainable living on your walls. Kerry Babb of Paradise Group also gets a Shoutout. They have designed rooftop and urban gardens that utilize solar to create beautiful Circular Urban Food Hubs for Local Lifestyle & Tourist Destinations. This can be done anywhere in the world to establish food security. There are an endless amount of encouraging, like-minded socially conscious people who we consult with and learn from daily. I wish that I could list them all.

Website: https://www.thesolpatch.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesolpatch/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monique-bright-rodgers
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesolpatch
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesolpatchcom
Other: https://www.pinterest.com/thesolpatch/

Image Credits
Andres Bedoya