Island Stylez

About Island Stylez

Island Stylez brings island pride to everyday life with apparel, jewelry, gifts, and accessories celebrating Guam, the CNMI, and Pacific Island communities. Based in Vacaville, California, and owned by Maria and Tim Santos, the business connects with customers through its store, online shop, and festival appearances. Its collections help Islanders and their families celebrate their heritage wherever they call home.

Since Fall 2025

Project Description

Maria and Tim Santos at a festival, in their booth

"It is such a relief to have help with our website and not have to worry about figuring it all out ourselves. The support has been fantastic, with clear communication throughout the process and continued help afterward."

Maria Santos Co-Owner, Island Stylez

Our biggest challenge was figuring out the direction for our website and giving it a more modern look. We knew it needed work, but finding the time to sort everything out while running our business was frustrating. We needed help turning what we had in mind into an updated website.

After working with Upendo, the biggest change was relief. We had someone helping us move to a more updated system, and the website became something we did not have to worry about figuring out on our own. Having that help took a concern off our plate.

The support has been fantastic. Throughout the process, there was constant communication about what we were looking for and what to expect, and that support continued afterward. If you are wondering whether to spend the money on help like this, I understand that feeling. For us, it has been a relief to have someone help us make the transition instead of trying to handle it all ourselves.

From Upendo Ventures:

Maria and Tim are busy running Island Stylez in a challenging retail market.

Our role is to make their technology one less thing they have to carry.

We manually migrated their entire product catalog from an aging Network Solutions ecommerce system to Shopify, then configured and customized the store with a reorganized catalog and an ecommerce SEO plan.

We also developed about a dozen logo concepts and helped them choose a design they now use on their clothing, bringing a more consistent identity to their business.

Our partnership continues beyond the launch: we review Google Analytics and make updates each month, maintain content on request, and publish blog posts and festival announcements when they send us the details. What used to be difficult to share can now start with a simple message to our team.

We also helped secure their domain and establish secure, branded email addresses, and we continue managing their DNS, domain security, and firewall. Whether they need a website update or help understanding a questionable email or software vendor notice, they have someone to ask.

That is what running on Upendo means to us: practical, ongoing help that lets business owners focus on their business. We are honored to be that partner for Island Stylez.

By the way, I started as their client in 2019.

Will Strohl, Founder & CEO, Upendo Ventures