by Ondine Brooks Kuraoka

—[ live your dream ]—

At age 23, Marta Phillips was scolded by a college services physician for her skin’s accumulated sun damage. A native San Diegan, she was raised at South Mission Beach and spent every day in the reflective rays of the surf and sand, without sunscreen.

“Back then we thought a tan was healthy,” Marta says. After being educated by her physician she began protecting her skin.

Twenty years later, in 1997, Marta was at a crossroads after losing her job in sales. At that time, UV-blocking fabrics had become available. Marta realized her quest to protect her skin was much easier with the advent of these protective fabrics, and in that realization, her business mission was born.

Marta’s dream encompasses two overarching ideals. “One is to help people stay safe under the sun because the outdoors is my joy of joys,” Marta says. “And the other is to create a business the way I like to see it run.”

Marta’s family has been involved and supportive from the start. Her mom helped with accounting and her husband managed technical details; he launched SunGrubbies.com in 1997, when business web presence was rare.

SunGrubbies originally designed and manufactured their inventory but transitioned to retailing when it became clear that it made the best business sense. Marta advises potential business upstarts, “Get your education. I have an academic background in science but I went back to Mesa College because I didn’t know the difference between a knit and a woven.

I took fashion classes and accounting.” Marta also found helpful counsel with SCORE (Counselors to America’s Small Business). For years, the Phillips’ home was also SunGrubbies’ warehouse. “As of this year we have a showroom. My heart flutters every time I think about it, it’s so exciting,” Marta says.

sungrubbies.com