ERICA ZUNIGA CHIPMAN
Personality of the Month February 2011
My name is Erica Zuniga Chipman and I am a Garifuna woman, an entrepreneur, vocalist, actress, and dancer. My husband, Nelson, and I are the Founders and Owners of Weyu Le: Nourishing Your Life Naturally®, an organic and natural foods’ company based in Los Angeles, California.
I was born in Los Angeles to Belizean parents, Eric Zuniga of HopkinsVillage and Emma Petillo Zuniga of Dangriga (formerly known as StannCreekTown). My three older siblings were born in Belize before Dad migrated to Los Angeles, then Mom a year later. Even though I was their firstborn in America, my parents emphasized the importance of knowing the Garifuna culture to me and my younger siblings. They both taught us Garifuna and English, but Garifuna was the only language spoken at home. Due to the persuasiveness of my parents to the school’s principal at the time, I was enrolled in 1st Grade at Saint Odilia Catholic School at the age of 4-years old, bypassing preschool and kindergarten. An excellent, but very shy student, I wrote my first poem in the 4th Grade and found that the written language was one way to convey my thoughts to others.
My first visit to Belize was at Christmas time when I was 10-years old. My parents decided that I and my two younger siblings were old enough to travel to see the relatives that we had never met, but always heard about. Mom’s siblings and mother, Dominica Vicente Petillo (Granny), resided in Los Angeles, so I grew up knowing them. However, her father, Robert Petillo (Grandpa Dunn), lived in Dangriga. Some of Dad’s siblings lived in Chicago, Illinois and his parents, William Zuniga (Grandpa Billy) and Victoriana Williams Zuniga (Grandma), and other siblings lived in HopkinsVillage. At LAX airport our parents tearfully sent us with my mother’s sister, Gloria (Aunt Glo), to stay in Belize for two weeks. I had never been away from home, so understandably I was terrified to go. When we landed in Belize, we went to Dangriga for a day. We were still with Aunt Glo, so we weren’t as scared.
However, the next day, Aunt Glo took us to HopkinsVillage to visit Dad’s side of the family and went back to Dangriga. As we sat in my grandmother’s thatched roof hut, we cried and cried as she and our cousins tried to soothe us. In the ensuing days we became more comfortable about not having electricity (only gas lanterns and candles), using the outhouse (when it was still light outside), and the street lights on the road that were only lit on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We never did get comfortable with the mosquitoes and sand flies, but who would. We went with our cousins to bathe in the sea every morning, cut trees in the woods for kindling for the cooking hut, picked cashews to roast, got water from the well (which my cousins balanced on their heads), and visited the village. Since Hopkins was a small town back then, everyone knew that we were coming before we arrived in Belize. One day some kids called us “merry-go-round”, a slang variation of Merigein (Me-ri-gein) which means “American”. Little did they know that we knew how to speak Garifuna and we understood every word they said to us. So, I responded back proudly, “Garifuna nuguya” (I am Garifuna) and they never bothered us again.
Christmas came and went. We drank & ate coconuts straight from the tree, ate fryjack, hudutu, fish, and other traditional dishes. Even though my Mom is an excellent cook, I can’t even describe how different the smells and tastes of the foods were in Hopkins and Dangriga compared to Los Angeles! It was as fresh as the Garifuna land and sea that it came from and that we grew to love. At the end of the two weeks, Aunt Glo came to take us to the airport and send us back to our parents. Of course, at this time we didn’t want to leave. As we said our goodbyes to our grandmother, grandfather, and cousins, I realized we had been “back home” as my parents and older siblings used to say. I could now put faces and places to the names they had told us about. It would be another four years before I went back.
This time Dad decided we would drive to Belize and our entire family went the summer I was 14-years old and going into the 11th Grade. Five days after leaving Los Angeles to Arizona to Texas to Mexico, we arrived in Belize and three days later in HopkinsVillage. We had a wonderful time again and I even danced punta for the first time outside of my grandfather’s wooden house. I didn’t have a choice since all of us had to because my father was videotaping the entire time. Now, we have the memories forever immortalized on film. I haven’t been back to Belize since then and I am truly overdue for a visit.
Fast forward a few years of attending college and/or working full-time, I graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) and received two Bachelor of Arts’ degrees: one in English and one in Theatre. While at USC, I spent a school year studying theatre at the British American Drama Academy (BADA) in London, England, and traveled to France, Scotland, and Ireland during my semester breaks. I also hold an Associate Degree in Spanish from WestLos AngelesCollege. While acting in different theatre plays and singing at different venues, I worked at various jobs that offered me the flexibility to continue these creative pursuits. I have been an elementary school teacher, an academic tutor for children and adults, a choir director for children and adult choirs, an executive assistant, and even a health food magazine editor.
Nelson and I were married in January 2005 and in 2007 we decided to change our eating habits. Realizing that we had a limited choice of tasty vegetarian or vegan foods to buy, we began creating our own healthy recipes. I blame my Mom for creating delicious meals for me while I was growing up. It was her bar that I set for myself to create tasty, appetizing vegan food. We also realized that our family and friends were suffering from different minor-to-serious ailments. After they tasted our creations and encouraged us to market them, we began the research to find out how to start a business. Choosing the name of the company could have been a large undertaking, but it was decided early on that it would have a Garifuna name; firstly, because I am Garifuna and, secondly, to have a platform to teach others about Garifuna culture.
In March 2008 we launched Weyu Le: Nourishing Your Life Naturally®. “Weyu Le” means “This is the sun” or “This is the way”, and together, “weyule” means “today”. We began at the Hollywood Farmers’ Market in order to test our healthy food products. My Cashew Spread & Dips and Nelson’s Cashew Ice Creams received positive responses from our fellow vendors and customers there, so we decided to sell them at the Culver City Farmers’ Market. We were well received there as well.
On August 25, 2008 Weyu Le® was launched in its first store – Pacific Coast Greens (P.C. Greens) in Malibu, California. We systematically launched in a new store every month thereafter. Initially, some marketing people suggested that we change our company’s name because they said people wouldn’t be able to pronounce it and also to change our logo. I stuck to my guns because it was my legacy that they were tampering with and what better way for people to learn about a culture than through its language. Almost three years later, Weyu Le: Nourishing Your Life Naturally® is currently in 14 health food stores in Los AngelesCounty and OrangeCounty. Last year, we added my Macadamia Spread & Dips line and Nelson’s Raw Food Cuisine menu and are still expanding.
I am still the shy type, so I am in charge of the behind-the-scenes part of our business - bookkeeping, invoices, website, paperwork, letters, emails, designing our fliers and business cards, etc. Nelson is not shy, so he handles the deliveries, demos, and public relations. It is a win-win for both of our personalities.
Since the 4th Grade, when I realized I could convey my thoughts through words on paper, I have communicated my “Garifuna-ness”; as an entrepreneur with my food creations, as a vocalist through song, as an actress through theatre. I began to take dance classes - flamenco, tap, lindy hop, jazz, and cha cha - last year for conditioning and fun and have added dancer to my list of creative accomplishments. This year I am taking choreography and will incorporate punta into one of my routines, so I can communicate as a dancer through physical movement.
I believe there is no limit to what I can learn and do. A few years ago, I never envisioned that I would be a chef or a dancer, but I am. I am looking forward to the other avenues that will present themselves in the coming days and years in order for me, as a Garifuna woman, to express myself. My life’s journey has always been stimulating.
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