South Florida

Mother, Daughter Duo Using Purse Creations to Help Puerto Rico Recovery After Hurricane Maria

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  • A mother and daughter duo is hoping to create change with their own creations - bags that the 10-year-old girl designs herself.

A mother and daughter duo is hoping to create change with their own creations - bags that the 10-year-old girl designs herself.

“I love to play sports with my friends, I play soccer, volleyball, and basketball,” Paulina Anchia tells NBC 6 Morning Anchor Sheli Muñiz.

But, the youngster also has a talent that takes her from the court to a canvas.

“I took some drawing classes so I started drawing different things,” said Paulina.

Those drawings ended up inside of purses that she and her mother, Beatriz Martinez, created.

“I saw in Paulina this talent since she was little,” said Martinez.

It is now an entire line of purses called Beamina.

“In life, you have to be happy with who you are, you know, you have to be fearless to be yourself and that’s one of the reasons for the project,” said Martinez.

The project does more than that. It helps families in Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria. In fact, last year, Paulina and her mother filled bags with supplies to help going town to town to deliver them.

Beamina goes beyond that by raising money for the Ricky Martin Foundation. The foundation works to put an end to human trafficking. South Florida is one of the top spots in the country where people are exploited for labor, commercial sex, or domestic work.

“People should have the same rights to live, have fun, go to school. We wanted to create a better world with more happiness,” said Paulina.

When Muñiz asked about people who might think she's too young to be doing all this, Paulina had a quick answer.

“I’m turning 11,” responded Paulina.

Beamina is an online only store. You can visit the website to learn more.

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