Kristelle Siarza Moon
Owner of Siarza Social Digital in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Kristelle Siarza Moon launched Siarza Social Digital in 2014 to help businesses build connections through integrated marketing. She came to DreamSpring for start-up funding, which went toward basics like the agency’s very first computer.
By 2020, Kristelle’s business was growing by leaps and bounds. Then the pandemic changed everything. Kristelle’s clients — many of them in the hospitality industry — were among the hardest hit. Marketing budgets disappeared. Tens of thousands of dollars in contracts vanished almost overnight.
For the first time, Kristelle wasn’t sure if she could make payroll. She reached out to DreamSpring for support. As an approved lender under the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, DreamSpring guided Kristelle through the process and with their help, she was able to receive relief funding that enabled her to retain all of her employees.
"I had many sleepless nights, vulnerable moments and emotional phone calls,” she says. “I'm thankful that the DreamSpring community gave me the glimmer of hope I needed to keep our staff stable for the next few months."
It was one thing for her own business to survive. For Kristelle, a proud Filipina, the pandemic exposed a profound lack of support for the Asian American- and Pacific Islander-owned businesses around her. The experience prompted her to found the Asian Business Collaborative, a nonprofit that supports AAPI businesses in a culturally competent way.
A decade later, Siarza is a full-service digital agency with a team of more than 20, serving clients around the world. And as a DreamMaker and community leader, Kristelle is a vocal advocate for creating a supportive small business ecosystem that values culture, context, and economic opportunity.