Yauco - Naimah Saleh Castillo’s entrepreneurial spirit runs through her veins. However, she never thought that, at the age of 23, she would be a full-fledged entrepreneur in the world of lodging and tourism on the island.

She is the creator of the Casa Ámbar concept, in her native Yauco, which more than a guest house is an experience of reconnection with life and nature.

“It is a place to reconnect with your essence... a place of healing. Sometimes you forget who you are and what you do; you leave here recharged. It is also an opportunity for couples to recover time lost and reconnect,” explains the young woman with the same simplicity and ease that invades the house made with wagons, and where television is not included in the amenities.

Here, there was almost no time for trial and error, that classic rule of every entrepreneur. Nature forced Naimah to react quickly and rethink her strategy. The earthquakes and the pandemic threatened to ruin her guest house.

However, her centennial soul allowed her to move at a mile a minute on Instagram and Facebook to attract new guests.

Her family support network was key. Her mom, also an entrepreneur, and her sister, a hotel and restaurant expert, provided enthusiastic support. There were those unused containers available after her mother stopped renting them out two years ago.

“I told her the idea, but she said she couldn’t take care of it because she has a gas station, which consumes a lot of her time. It was an opportunity to develop leadership skills and realize my ideas, because I consider myself a pretty creative person and I was able, in this place, to bring out all those ideas. I am very grateful for that”, said the young entrepreneur, who then decided to transform the place.

About the unique rustic décor, she says it was there that she was able to use all her creativity. “I didn’t want to bring a store to this place, I wanted everything to have a little bit of history. The closet, for example, belonged to my grandmother. She had it in her room, with a lot of things on top of it. We gave it a little bit of love... I’ve also received second-hand furniture, which I’ve given my style. I know that no one will have the pieces I have here, because I even chose the fabric and gave it the color I wanted,” she says proudly.

Precisely, that cozy atmosphere is what attracts locals and tourists who have come from Spain, Canada, Slovakia, Portugal, and Cuba, guided by the Airbnb platform which shows this jewel of Yauco, an hour and a half from San Juan.

The container has a double bed, a small kitchen, a bathroom, two balconies, and a private pool. With a division to ensure privacy, tourists find “La Casita”, a concrete structure that opened just a few weeks ago and has a larger area, but equally relaxing and intimate, with a king bed, kitchen, bathroom, terrace, fire pit area and access to the river.

Between the mountain breeze and the birds sound, both rooms include breakfast service, prepared by Naimah’s mother, which the entrepreneur delivers herself every morning. That’s when she gets to know her customers up close.

“Yes, they are surprised, but they also motivate me. And I think I inspire them to take up those dreams that maybe they gave up as teenagers. They leave with something nice because I can give them a good example, although I am young, everything here is done very professionally, as my family has instilled in me,” she says.

Naimah has also faced big challenges as a businesswoman: she saw her dreams threatened after last year’s earthquakes in the southwestern region of the island and, later, the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“One of the biggest challenges was the earthquakes, from a fully-booked January to cancellations... and then, immediately, the pandemic came, that did not give us a ‘break’ to recover. But I remained calm, people recovered trust, taking their precautions, and they saw that the place was not affected. I went live on social media and showed that the place was intact, and little by little we filled up again. The fact that it was a container helped the structure not to be affected. Now, we have reservations until January 2022,” says the young woman, who is very active on Instagram.

Naimah has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, and plans to continue her studies to complete a master’s degree in Travel Journalism in Barcelona, Spain, “to combine both worlds.”

“I don’t want to limit myself only to the Airbnb platform, but to expand, continue with Casa Ámbar, and open other guest houses, at least two more in Puerto Rico. I’m also thinking a lot about the Dominican Republic... My sister has a restaurant, her husband is a chef, so I think we could combine businesses,” she says confidently.

She advises young entrepreneurs “to trust in their dreams and their creativity, not to be afraid to offer something different, and take advice from the voice of experience because it is very nice to see when a young person gives a modern touch to something that was already there”.

Casa Ámbar is 20 minutes from Yauco urban center on highway 372, km 7.4. You can find more information on their social media as Casa Ámbar PR and on the Airbnb platform.