About Bonitas International

Anyone can create a product that solves a problem OR makes people feel good about themselves. Sisters-in-law, Lisa Harrington and Kimberly Martinez, were inspired to create a product line that does both. Their mission began 19 years ago. Lisa worked as a pediatric nurse and was required to wear an employee ID badge. Her 8 year-old daughter Katie created a beaded necklace for her mom to wear so she could “remember her” while she was at work. Lisa clipped her ID to the beaded necklace and a new product category was born! Her co-workers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital loved the concept and were clamoring for one of their own. Lisa and Katie created a cottage business making and selling these beaded ID necklaces that allowed for creative expression and personality at work, replacing the boring “shoe lace” style lanyards and badge reels provided by the hospital security department. Lisa shared the overwhelming response to her ID necklaces with her sister-in-law Kimberly, at a family Christmas dinner. Kimberly, a former Fortune 50 executive and mother of 3 who had been downsized as a result of the events of 9/11, saw a huge business opportunity in Lisa’s story. Fueled by adrenaline and outline a rough business plan on the back of a Christmas card envelope. The following morning she convinced Lisa that they needed to free working women around the world from the fashion disaster that comes from wearing an employee ID badge and Bonitas International was born! Read their story