It’s beginning to look bright again for the holidays.

That means a very special Betty tradition we always celebrate around this time of year called Bright Friday is upon us.

Every year, we choose to raise the bar with a Betty Belts Cause Day while most retailers drop to rock bottom–prices, that is… & entice people to rush out in ravenous crowds to buy cheap, trivial things at Black Friday blowout sales.

But it’s on this awesome day that you’re invited instead to delight in choosing treasured Betty gifts from the sea that really matter to the people you love the most, while also giving to those who are in true need. This week on…

 Betty B. Bright Friday
25% of our gross sales (online and in-store)
will be donated to the
East Bali Poverty Project

Click on the links and this little video we made below to learn more about how this cause organization is reviving a once desolate and forgotten community by providing education, health care, sustainable agriculture and community economic development. You can support educating their youth for a bright future by visiting our beautiful Downtown Ventura shop, the Ocean Room Gallery & through shopping online this Friday.

EBPP Local school building & development

EBPP provides school supplies & learning materials

EBPP Dental programs

Local organic farming programs

EBPP making improvements access to villages through road repairs & maintenance

Thank you for helping us make a difference in so many people’s lives by supporting our small business. 

With loving gratitude,

Donna & the Betty Family

We appreciate and love all of you who come to say hello and shop for loved ones, but we see a possible little glitch ahead this season.

Due to restrictions our lovely Government has implemented (and not entirely sure if they will go full Scrooge) we have come up with a plan, something truly unprecedented for Betty Belts, but these are unprecedented times. We’ve thought long and hard about this, because, as you probably know we never do a sale of this magnitude, let alone, many sales at all. It’s not how we roll. In this most challenging time for humanity, our intention is to make the Holidays less stressful, more joyful, more affordable.

So starting today we are launching 10 Days of Christmas here at Betty Belts! 

SHOP BETTY B. ONLINE

YUP! We’re making Betty dreams come true with this special! As this first-ever event of this magnitude will fall right in the middle of Bright Friday, all purchases made that day (both online and in-store) will see 25% from your purchase go straight to the East Bali Poverty Project.

Bali has been hit incredibly hard by the lockdowns. Many families were left with no income. The poor suffered the most. Your purchase will benefit them this Christmas. 

Thank you for helping Bettybelts meet all your holiday gifting needs!

*This offer is ONLINE ONLY. If you are local, please shop online and choose in-store pickup! Why only online? It really helps this small business when you order online as the shop is only allowed a few people at a time! 

#weneverdothis #unprecedentedtimes 

This year, she chose not to celebrate with a big birthday cake & lots of presents (although the Shop Bettys did surprise her with a fun scavenger hunt & treats!)

…but, by asking you, the Betty Family, to show love & support towards a cause near & dear to her heart, The East Bali Poverty Project. EBPP is a NGO dedicated to alleviating poverty in the area & has been a recipient of frequent funding by Betty Belts via 1% For The Planet since 2008. Watch this cool, short video by David Pu’u to learn how EBPP is making a positive impact & lasting change for future generations to come.

If Betty brings joy & delight to your days with her gifts from the Ocean, please consider gifting back by chipping in just a few spare bucks if you can. A little goes a long way to keep this good work going. Donate & make Donna’s birthday wish come true. Mahalo!

12-31-2019     4 pm                

                                                          New Years Eve

                                                                                                               by David Pu’u

Donna is the founder and lead designer of Betty Belts, which is the main brand in her company, Ocean Ohana. She has asked me to pen an End of Year note from us to you all.

I am seated at the large monitor in her company’s newly expanded studio. My editor Josh and I, have just finished the last little film of the year for Betty Belts, and will premier the rough cut version tonight at 10:00 PM on Facebook and IGTV. It is beautiful and we made it for all of you who are supporters and friends of her brand. Here it is:

It is shocking to glance over our shoulder, and flipping the flash card of years deep into the deck of life, to when I first began to do brand development photography for this unique little female driven company in 2003, located in a garage in Santa Cruz, as a favor to my “German friend”, Donna von Hoesslin.

I had come aboard bringing some of my long term models and collaborators to help define the brand and push it into the editorial spotlight, as I was producing content for a vast number of publications and a massive international commercial agency, as well as a Cinematography stock supplier.

I did not need or want more work or responsibility. I did it because Donna was a friend, and having built a large number of companies, I knew what her challenges would be. I figured this was something, people like Mary Osborne, Holly Beck, Shawn Alladio and many other fantastic women I worked with, could supply benefit to, while we traveled around, and did our thing.

Donna brought her passion, life experience and oh my, MORE females, who were big fans of the brand, and liked the thought of modeling and doing all the ocean related activities that my roster and I would leverage into the international editorial sport and fashion arenas. At this point, Donna would send me the girl’s requesting to represent her brand’s resumes, and I would help select new brand representatives.

Cut to today. Donna is seated at her desk in the new studio and I am writing this blog. She has no clue what I am writing. Nor does she have much say in it. This is why.  A number of years ago Donna asked me to solve a business challenge. After that (She and I had fallen in love and moved in together after many years of being “just friends”, neither of us having any romantic interests in the other, whatsoever)  I told her she would need to find someone to shepherd her newly incorporated company, in order to establish a healthy growth pattern. That someone wound up being me.

Not many know this about Betty Belts. It is in the company charter that we not use our “charitable works” to help brand the line. We try to make sure good works are done in secret, as much as possible. We have deeply held beliefs and ethics which demand this. So it is only when we need you, who are the reason this brand is able to exist, to help us accomplish something we have determined to be worthwhile as a cause for action, that we will “go public” in our media feeds.

And you always rise to every single occasion!

The net affect is that this little company is able to punch FAR above it’s size and weight in establishing regenerative change. We do that. All of you and all of us, who work in various capacities. WE change things for the better. We help people. We lead them towards greater spiritual, emotional and environmental system health.

And we do this by being accurate with our resources and choices. Being transparent here, one of my jobs (Betty Belts has been helping fund me to do this for years) is to provide intellectual oversight and contribute on a high level to resolving challenges facing Humanity. For a variety of reasons I get called upon to analyze and work, both individually and in group, on issues of grave concern to both National, and sometimes, Planetary health.

So YOU are the ones making that happen, as you support Donna’s vision and Betty Belts brand growth, in more wonderful ways than I would be able to express in this blog piece, which waxes far too wordy.

As holiday began this season Donna expanded the studio and this is the space I write to you from, with it’s array of powerful computers, beautiful ring bar and apparel lounge.

We have the most extraordinary group of women working for the company right now. They are each incredibly diverse in talents, but share a comprehension of and dedication to the Ocean Ohana mission, and the Betty Belts Brand theme, which is remarkable to view.

In closing, our wonderful staff and larger new flagship type store, is here to serve you as 2020 rolls through the lineup upon the sea of time in this period of great, wonderful, and rapid change. We are here for you, and are both humbled and grateful to each and every one of you who push Betty Belts forward into it’s second big decade in our Ocean Inspired, Ocean Driven: ride.

Many mahalos from us all! A hui ho.

Team Betty Surfer Makena Burke

Shawn Alladio, head of K38 Ocean Rescue International with instructors from all over the world at a summit in Morro Bay this year.

Team Betty Surfer Maddie Malmsten

Team Betty Surfer Brooke Carlson

Donna

This week we created a short film featuring Ventura locals Deena Pace and her daughter Luella(Lulu).

Deena works as a delivery Nurse. We refer to her as being “Betty Strong” for a number of reasons. One of which, being that in spite of having a metal rod in her back to correct a severe scoliosis condition, she taught herself to surf, so she could go out with Lulu.

At age 11, Luella is one of the youngest surfers on Team Betty. Our founder Donna has been enjoying seeing her in the water, watching her grow her surfing skills at their local Ventura break, C-street (Surfers Point).

“I wanted to capture the feeling of those magical moments and memories in everyday surf sessions with the ones you love. I enjoy seeing these two in the water when I paddle out and watching them both improve their skills has been very gratifying. I’ve seen them stoked to paddle out even when conditions weren’t great, just for the joy of spending time in the ocean together.

I design jewelry for Ocean Lovers, people like this.

This exemplifies connecting people to the Ocean, which is what my brand is all about.” – Donna von Hoesslin Pu’u

The four-minute long film was shot at Solimar here in Ventura, a short distance from the Betty Belts shop in Ventura.

It gives some screen time to some of the Oceanlovers® Collection, which is a design line featuring hand made, sterling silver, ocean-themed jewelry designed by Donna.

But have you ever wondered how these colorful beach gems came to be?

This short film, produced and documented by David gives you a deeper insight into the journey of how the Betty B. Family–and Donna’s life –began revolving around sea glass, connecting to those who collect it, and bringing her and David to shores around the world on a sparkling hunt. Enjoy!