Today we’d like to introduce you to Edelle Schlegel, Rane Roatta.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
It started with a search for local bananas. Rane went vegan about eight years ago and wanted to source local good quality fruit. He rode his bike to homestead and connected with local farmers. His friends saw his amazing fruit and started to ask for him to get some for them.
Then friends of friends messaged Rane on facebook asking to ship them fruit.
Rane and I met about four years ago briefly in California and immediately connected.
I was one of the people he shipped a box of bananas to.
I will never forget how surprised and excited I was to discover all these banana varieties.
We then met up a year later in Hawaii and fell in love and decided to create a website together.
I moved to Miami a few months later, and we launched miamifruit.org and have been shipping fruit all over the country ever since.
Almost a year ago, we purchased a 2.5-acre fruit farm in the Redlands, and have been growing a lot of the fruit we sell.
We used to do local markets as well, but since the online business has taken off, we haven’t had much time for it. Our friends/volunteers sell Miami Fruit at the Southwest Community Farmer’s Market every Saturday, and occasionally we all do local events.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has definitely been a windy road. Mostly a lot of fun and fruit, but we definitely had some struggles. Selling fruit is not the most lucrative business because it is perishable and expensive. We pay fair wages for farmers, and it is very important for us to keep the people who grow the fruit happy no matter what. Our bosses are also our customers. We have a large range of customers from the most grateful humans in the world, to people that will always find something to complain about so we are always working on ways to improve fruit quality and shipping time.
We have also had very close friends of ours learn everything they know from us and while representing our company at the farmer’s market, decide to start their own fruit company with an influencer that we gave a lot of fruit too. They now use photos of OUR fruit to sell fruit from farms that we showed them. It can be frustrating at times and make me feel like I can’t trust people completely, but then I remember that every struggle is just a learning lesson and opportunity to grow.
My advice to women especially women that co-run a business with a male partner is to discover your strengths and put a lot of energy into what you are good at. Find people or ask your partner to help you with the stuff you aren’t so good at. Collaboration is one of the key factors to succeed. If you are a creative person, then use that to your advantage and create a lot of unique content to promote your business.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Miami Fruit – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
We will always be proud of the way Miami Fruit grew organically. Rane used to ride his bike with a custom trailer to fruit farms and ride all the way back to Miami to put the fruit in boxes. When we started the business, we had no influencers, no money, and no idea what we were doing.
Every skill we have now is through a series of a lot of trial and error.
Rane and I are also avid athletes and when we first launched the website. Rane was training for an Ironman triathlon, and I was training for a marathon. I think that those races helped us gain the skills and mental capacity to never give up no matter how hard it gets.
We also believe in giving back to our local communities, and we love supporting our friends every chance we get. Whether it is having farm days with friends and local gardeners, or supplying fruit for free potlucks or homeless feedings, we love to share the abundance and believe that the more good we can put out there in the world the better.
Our mission is to help people connect with nature through amazing exotic fruit and community.
Often it feels as if the media, by and large, is only focused on the obstacles faced by women, but we feel it’s important to also look for the opportunities. In your view, are there opportunities that you see that women are particularly well positioned for?
I believe that anything we set our mind to, as long as it is a good thing to ourselves and the community, we can achieve. Women are sensitive which is a skill we can use to our advantage. We can direct our content to appeal to peoples emotions. Emotional connection is a great way to get people to empathize with you and your mission.
I love writing long, detailed captions about what we are up to and creating beautiful photographs of our fruit. I think that as a woman I just have a great eye for the artistic details that have helped grow our business on social media.
I think that women have an advantage when it comes to marketing ourselves on social media. It can be extremely professional and tasteful as well. I think a good caption and good lighting goes a long way.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.miamifruit.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miamifruit/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FruityMiami/
Image Credit:
@sway.photos @kingkongfilms @sowsproutgrow
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