By Julie PriceIn her second year as a business administration student at Cal Lutheran, Hope Gonzalez has already built a remarkable résumé. At age 20, she is an award-winning entrepreneur, business owner and philanthropist, sought-after social media content creator and a top scholar, one of a select few to earn Cal Lutheran’s prestigious Steven Dorfman Scholarship.
Among Gonzalez’s many accolades, one moment stands out. It was Aug. 22, 2024, a beautiful Thursday evening at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara resort in Santa Barbara, where the Pacific Coast Business Times was hosting its annual Spirit of Small Business Awards gala. Gonzalez was there to accept a special Green Business Award for SPF805, the environmentally conscious company she founded in 2022 when she was a junior in high school.
Attending the awards banquet with her family, Gonzalez was overwhelmed to see the interim president of Cal Lutheran, John Nunes, and Mike Panesis, professor and executive director of the university’s Steven Dorfman Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, as well as other Cal Lutheran administrators in attendance at the event. They congratulated Gonzalez and chatted with her family. Nunes sat with them, taking time to get to know Gonzalez and her parents, grandmother and sister.
“It was unbelievable,” Gonzalez recalled. “I was the only student there, and they all came. I was so surprised. In that moment, you just feel like you chose the right place and you’re on the right path.
“Most people never even meet the president of their college,” she said, “and these people all came out on a weekday to support me. Cal Lutheran seriously cares so much for their students.”
Panesis, who has headed the university’s Dorfman center for 10 years, concurs.
“What sets Cal Lutheran apart is that we treat our students and their families as if they were our own,” he said. “We show up for each other.”
Logical progression
With her deep level of compassion, Gonzalez is grateful for the compatibility of her school’s strong ethic. “Cal Lutheran has been everything I planned for and more,” she said.
A natural overachiever, the Simi Valley native worked hard her entire childhood to get here. By the time she started high school, she had already begun to lay the groundwork for her current academic path — which is to earn her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in four years.
“I started taking summer school my freshman year of high school,” said Gonzalez, a graduate of Royal High. “I definitely had a plan. You had to have planned way ahead. I’ve never taken a summer off.”
Gonzalez’s college choice was clear. The youngest of three children, she always had aimed for Cal Lutheran, where her brother succeeded on the fast track, earning his bachelor’s in communication and master’s in business marketing in four years. His stellar Cal Lutheran experience inspired her early.
By the time she started college, Gonzalez was two years into owning SPF805, a thriving, charitable clothing brand with ocean-inspired designs. Through the company, Gonzalez has contributed thousands of dollars to marine life preservation efforts, with a particular focus on the vital coral reefs of Maui, Hawaii.
The coral connection
The arc of Gonzalez’s philanthropic life began in Maui, where her maternal grandparents — who live next door to her family in Simi Valley — have owned a condo for 48 years. “Every single summer, we all go to their condo for about a month …,” Gonzalez said. “I’ve been snorkeling the same coral reefs since I was 2 years old, and I started to notice that more and more dead coral was washing ashore. I started to really notice it at the end of elementary school.”
Soon after that, she watched the 2017 documentary “Chasing Coral,” which tracked the rapid disappearance of reefs, “and that really cemented it,” she said. “It really opened my eyes.”
“It’s been all my life,” she said. “My mom grew up spending time in Maui since she was 1 year old, so this awareness goes way back in my family.” And it’s not just about the coral reefs. “This is about all life,” Gonzalez said. “My mom works in dermatology, and she would always instill in us to use products that are safe to use in the ocean for the sake of every living thing.”
Feeding all that she’s learned is the environmentalism that’s in her DNA. “I have a family who loves the ocean,” she said, “and there’s no way you can love the ocean and not see what’s happening.”
The goal of SPF805 was always the greater good, and Gonzalez has given back generously, donating thousands of dollars to a Maui water-quality project and $1,000 to the Ventura County Surfrider Foundation.
Along her humanitarian journey, she also has honed her entrepreneurial skills. Today, in addition to her ambitious student schedule and the operation of SPF805, Gonzalez also works as a social media content and community specialist for Moterra Campervans and a brand ambassador for poppi soda, among other endeavors as an online content creator.
Making impressions
For now, everything in Gonzalez’s life revolves around her studies at Cal Lutheran, where, not surprisingly, she is excelling.
“Hope is an exceptional student,” said Panesis, who is one of her professors. “She regularly completes assignments ahead of schedule with very high quality.”
Panesis led the Steven Dorfman Scholarship interview process, which ultimately earned Gonzalez the coveted Dorfman scholarship. She was an obvious choice. “As a person, she is polite, well-spoken, receptive to feedback and mature beyond her age,” Panesis said. “Yet she is a relentless competitor who plays to win. For example, in the (2024) New Venture Fair, Hope entered SPF805 into the competition. She set a record for a first-year student, winning three prizes.”
She won awards for Best Startup for Good, Best Team and the People’s Choice. “My favorite one that I won was Best Team,” Gonzalez said, laughing. “It’s funny because I’m by myself. … But I’m very proud of the People’s Choice Award. I was the No. 1 choice out of all 60 teams. That was really cool.”
She acknowledges her competitive spirit. “One thing about me is I’m very goal-driven,” she said. “On the lock screen on my phone are photos of my dreams, so every time I look at my phone, which is very often, I’m reminded of everything I’ve done and everything I need to do to succeed.”
All for good
The bottom line is always to do good work. “My passion is using marketing to, I guess, serve a cause greater than myself, in whatever way that looks,” Gonzalez said. “Whether it’s helping college students or helping people in need or helping the ocean, I just want to use marketing to make life better.”
Her professional 10-year plan is to become a corporate senior marketing director. Always seeking balance, she’s also aiming for comfort in her personal life amid the hard work. “I would love to get married and become a mom for sure,” she said, “as well as own a house in Southern California.”
Cal Lutheran has provided an ideal foundation for her journey. “Everywhere you look, there’s so much support,” Gonzalez said, “from students, professors or counselors, or even guest speakers. … There’s so much opportunity for students. It’s just a very great place to be.”
For a list of available products and additional information on SPF805, the charitable online clothing company owned and operated by Hope Gonzalez, visit www.shopspf805.com.
