Meet Elda Tolentino | Dog Treats baker & Sr. Administrative Coordinator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Elda Tolentino and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Elda, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
My thought process was to be able to provide a healthy homemade dog treat using organic ingredients from my regular green juice pulp I make and turn it into a small local business. Due to the pandemic I had to rethink the way I could make some extra money since the pandemic affect my family financially. I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia and that’s when I made the change in my life and started eating healthier by making healthier choices. I would use the juice pulp and mixed it with creamy peanut butter and give that to my three dogs (Toby, Daisy & Benito) because Toby my oldest has a very sensitive stomach and he is also epileptic I thought it would help him digest his doggy treats much easier. Earlier this year while playing with my dogs and thinking on getting a second job, I thought what if I make the treats for sale and I just adjust the ingredients to bake them and so I did just that!. I created three different flavors (veggie & fruit medley, apples and banana, and pumpkin purée flavor).

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
So I work for the State of Texas with the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. I’ve been there now going on fourteen years and I love my job. I started as a manager’s secretary and worked my way up to a Sr. Administrative Coordinator and I’m currently working with the department of Intellectual Property. It has. It been easy as a single parent to juggle with family and work but fortunately it has worked out for my kids, dogs (perrijos) in Spanish. The lessons I’ve learned along the way is to be a good listener, be there for others and share my knowledge cause that’s has molded me to the person I am today. I want people to know that each dog treat I make is with much love and the best ingredients for your pups to enjoy a healthy and tasty treat. My business is just starting and is small but making friends and getting the word out has helped me make extra money and new friends along the way. God willing and my efforts I put in each day, H-Town Dog Treats will keep growing. I also donate to different local dog shelters some of the dog treats because I want every dog to enjoy a good dog treat. I love my city where I grew up Houston TX! That’s why I had to go with H-Town to represent my city.

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.
H-Town has so many places you can go and it’s impossible to visit them al in just one week. But, if I was to take out for a week, I would have to take you to different type restaurants, discovery green park, the Houston Museum, I would take you to the Galleria Houston Food Truck spot which is amazing cause you get to hang out with your friends and try all types of foods all in one spot. We also have the NASA space center, we also have lots of cool art so I would take you to the mural Instagram tour which consists of driving through Downtown Historic District Market Square where you will see Houstonians showing off their art through mural wall paintings. That’s just a few of the many things Houston has to offer.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
OMG, a big shoutout to Alma Rosas for encouraging me to get into this business. She has mentor me since the beginning and she has also provided me with amazing ideas on how I can improve in my business so I’m very grateful to her. Also to my kids Minnie, Stephan, Emmanuel and my niece Irene for helping me with the cooking, baking, putting the labels on each bag, taking photos and videos of the dog treats.

Website: Under construction

Instagram: @htown_treats

Other: Email: htowndogtreats@gmail.com

Image Credits
Irene Tabora