Today we’d like to introduce you to Sierra Cordova.
Sierra, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My husband and I are both outdoor enthusiasts. We traveled many places, seeking outdoor adventures, before settling near family in Lehigh Acres. We quickly realized a couple things: we have so much unexplored beauty here in our backyard, this is rapidly growing area where young people need safe and fun recreational activities, and we can build the type of community we want to build our family in. With this business, we get to share our love of outdoor adventures and promote sustainability of our beautiful waterways, all while meeting amazing people.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Like every great business, we started with nothing but an idea and a garage. So, as you can imagine, it hasn’t always been easy. I remember one of our first struggles was just figuring out how we were going to open a kayak outfitter, without direct access to the water. Which is a pretty huge hurdle! Another challenge we really struggled with later was figuring out how we were going to store the paddles upright, so the water didn’t pool inside and rust them. Some things you know are going to be challenges when you take that first leap of faith to start a business, and other things you just have to learn as you go, I guess.
In the end, we figured out how to deliver kayaks to local waterways and how to turn a broom holder into a paddle holder. With every one of these challenges, I am so grateful to get to work through them with my husband, Daryl (co-owner). We both share so much passion for this vision we have, and it’s been so fun bringing it to life together.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
What makes us unique is how community centered we are. One of our proudest ways we center community through our work is through the creation of the Lehigh Acres Paddle Club (LA Paddle Club). A local resident sparked this idea to us when he shared that he really wanted to meet other Lehigh residents who shared his love for exploring our waterways by paddle craft. We set out to design this paddle club, which we would ultimately decide to host completely free of cost with hopes to bring adventure to those who cannot normally afford to kayak but still have the desire to be a part of this community. To us, bringing together others who share our values, is one of the small ways we hope to inspire those who inspire others.
We also want to share that we actually learned a lot about “business” from a group that’s not a business at all: Lehigh Acres Run Club. From them, we have gained insight into how to successfully engage with the community, promote our events, and grow our reach. We hope to work with other local groups to continue to learn how to better serve our community.
Our biggest lesson throughout all of this is to continue to focus on serving the community, and in turn, the community has supported us.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We would invite any local groups to reach out to our email, Instagram or Facebook to connect with us about possible collaboration. We have always been open to new ideas and we welcome discussion at any time.
If you aren’t ready to collaborate but would still like to show support, a follow on any of our socials, or sharing our info with a friend in the area would mean a lot to us.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://vintagepaddlellc.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vintagepaddle?igsh=NDNtaDkyb3RsbGtw&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/16jw4rERL8/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Image Credits
Carpe Diem Photographs
