Update on a determined entrepreneur

Erika Moldenado is one determined business owner.

We caught up recently, eight months after I did a story on her new business.

She told me how she was doing, and the economy's effect on sales. It hasn't been all pretty, but this is one determined business owner.

Back in November, she started Oasis Tropical Fruits & Juices in Whittier.

Faced with the question of how she was going to make a living for her and her young son, she sold her homemade assortments of fruit snacks on the street. She sold to anyone from attorneys to truckers to restaurants.

With some good luck selling, and nudging from her clientele, she opened her fruit bar in November.

Unfortunately, the young, single mother started her business in the thick of the economic downturn.

"It's been a rough seven months," she said. "I'm glad I'm still here. But the way the economy has been...it hasn't been good on sales."

It hasn't been great on neighboring business either. The small plaza her business is in has lost several businesses.

But like I said, she's determined.

She's gone back to selling her fruit on the streets of Whittier again, getting the word out.

On Friday, she'd just returned from selling.

But it was a little slow. Perhaps people weren't interested because they were so immersed in the Michael Jackson news, she thought

As it gets warmer, maybe sells will pick up, she said.

But even if they don't, I got the idea that this business owner is going to keep trying.

"I'm not going to fail," she said. "I'm going to ride this out.... I'm faithful. It's going to be good."