{"id":295147,"date":"2025-10-11T16:59:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T16:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/295147\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T16:59:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T16:59:11","slug":"zonta-pays-it-forward-by-awarding-10k-in-microgrants-to-6-big-isle-businesswomen-big-island-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/295147\/","title":{"rendered":"Zonta pays it forward by awarding $10K in microgrants to 6 Big Isle businesswomen : Big Island Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>   October 10, 2025, 2:30 PM HST  <\/p>\n<p>Zonta Club of Hilo awarded $10,000 in microgrants in support of Hawai\u2018i Island women entrepreneurs through its 2025 \u201cPay It Forward\u201d program, which are aimed at helping them start a new business or expand an existing business.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s microgrant recipients were Leslie Carroll of Lava Meats, Amanda Fox of I Ka Ua Farm, Monica Pezze of Alchemy Farm Hawai\u2018i, Melina Castro of Melina Castro Jewelry, Stephanie Hao of Maluhia x Malie and Delilah Perreira of Abundant Beauty.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.bigislandnow.com\/file\/bigislandnow\/2025\/10\/Zonta-Club-microgrants-10-10-25-BIN-feature-pic.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Zonta-Club-microgrants-10-10-25-BIN-feature-pic-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-411526\"\/><\/a>Zonta Club of Hilo awarded $10,000 in \u201cPay It Forward\u201d microgrants for 2025 to six Big Island female entrepreneurs. Pictured, from left, are microgrant recipients Leslie Carroll of Lava Meats, Amanda Fox of I Ka Ua Farm, Monica Pezze of Alchemy Farm Hawai\u2018i, Melina Castro of Melina Castro Jewelry, Zonta Club of Hilo President Laurie Higashi, Stephanie Hao of Maluhia x Malie, Zonta Club of Hilo Committee Member Wilma Matsumura, Delilah Perreira of Abundant Beauty and Zonta Club of Hilo Committee Member Jessica Gauthier. (Photo Courtesy: Zonta Club of Hilo)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Here\u2019s a closer look at each recipient and their plans for the microgrant funding:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>LESLIE CARROLL<\/strong> is proprietor of <strong>LAVA MEATS<\/strong>, which recently opened a storefront on Wai\u0101nuenue Avenue in Hilo. She makes sausages and other products from local meat purchased from small farmers on Hawai\u2018i Island. She will use the funds for rent, as she uses two separate places to process meat.<\/li>\n<li><strong>AMANDA FOX\u2019S I KA UA FARM<\/strong> produces value-added products, such as turmeric and ginger powder and macadamia nut toffee with turmeric and ginger. She intends to use the funds to purchase more eco-friendly packaging for her toffee products.<\/li>\n<li><strong>ALCHEMY FARMY HAWAI\u2018I<\/strong> is an apiary focused on raw, small batch honey, beeswax products and community mentorship. <strong>MONICA PEZZE<\/strong> will use her microgrant to maintain her apiary and purchase more efficient beeswax melting equipment.<\/li>\n<li><strong>MELINA CASTRO<\/strong> is a metalsmith and jewelry designer based in lower Puna and also teaches jewelry-making classes. Her microgrant will be used toward essential tools and equipment to enhance and expand her jewelry-making workshops at <strong>MELINA CASTRO JEWELRY.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>STEPHANIE HAO<\/strong> creates individually designed sustainable fashion through her <strong>MALUHIA X MALIE BRAND.<\/strong> The money she was awarded will be invested in essential equipment and supplies to increase production efficiency and improve garment quality.<\/li>\n<li><strong>DELILAH PERREIRA\u2019S ABUNDANT BEAUTY<\/strong> is a luxury skincare studio located in Hilo. She plans to use her microgrant to expand community outreach efforts, upgrade essential equipment and expand skincare retail and client education.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cFor the fourth year in a row, we saw a record number of applicants for the grant,\u201d said Zonta Club of Hilo President Laurie Higashi in an announcement about this year\u2019s microgrant recipients. \u201cIt\u2019s inspiring to see so many women entrepreneurs in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD<\/b><b>ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPay It Forward\u201d microgrants are funded each year through Zonta Club of Hilo Foundation, donations to which are tax-deductible.<\/p>\n<p>Visit the <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/zontahilo.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zonta Club of Hilo website<\/a><\/strong> for additional information.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Zonta Club of Hilo is proud to provide a financial boost to these six well-deserving women-owned businesses,\u201d Higashi said.<\/p>\n<p><b>ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD<\/b> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"October 10, 2025, 2:30 PM HST Zonta Club of Hilo awarded $10,000 in microgrants in support of Hawai\u2018i&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":295148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[150857,150858,150859,150860,150861,14887,14888,150862,746,150863,150864,150865,150866,150867,150868,150869,150870,150871,150872,49419,159,150873,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-295147","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-150857","9":"tag-abundant-life","10":"tag-alchemy-fam-hawaii","11":"tag-amanda-fox","12":"tag-awarded-to-6-big-island-businesswomen","13":"tag-big-island-news","14":"tag-big-island-now","15":"tag-delilah-perreira","16":"tag-environment","17":"tag-expand-existing-business","18":"tag-helping-women-start-new-businees","19":"tag-i-ka-ua-farm","20":"tag-lava-meats","21":"tag-leslie-carroll","22":"tag-maluhia-x-malie","23":"tag-melina-castro","24":"tag-melina-castro-jewelry","25":"tag-microgrants","26":"tag-monica-pezze","27":"tag-pay-it-forward","28":"tag-science","29":"tag-stephanie-hao","30":"tag-united-states","31":"tag-unitedstates","32":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}