Coral Gables teen’s innovative business helps her advocate for people with disabilities

Like many high school students, Coral Gables resident Bella Duarte-Crespo enjoys dress down days when she doesn’t have to wear her school uniform and will tell you that pop star Taylor Swift is everywhere from NFL games to magazine covers. As a junior at Coconut Grove’s Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart - Barat Campus, however, she’s busy with a different type of extracurricular activity.

Duarte-Crespo, 17, is the owner of Hidden Innovations, a company she launched with her mother, Teresa Crespo, in 2019 that creates underwear with pockets for personal items to help young people dealing with incontinence. As someone that has been challenged by spina bifida occulta her entire life, she has dealt with incontinence and wants to use her business to advocate for other people with disabilities.

Duarte-Crespo took time to discuss how she believes her business can allow her to advocate for others and how she balances schoolwork with a business.

How has your business connected to your mission of social advocacy for people with disabilities?

When it comes to my business, I’m very open to meshing whatever ideas I have with it. I’m really passionate when it comes to talking about disability rights, and I want to advocate more for the disabled community. There are many people with disabilities out there who could all benefit from my product and my business. Because of that, it went from fashion into advocacy to make a mark and make this not such a taboo topic for people.

We want to make it for everybody. Anyone can wear it. Because at first when my first product is more like a niche in the sense that it’s only people who suffer from that or incontinence periods, whatever. But now we’re kind of branching out to be like, hey, everybody is different in their own way, whether it be for mental disability, physical disability, whatever it is, everybody’s dealing with their own problems. And these are kind of general like empowerment. Yeah.

What was one moment in your entrepreneurial journey so far that affirmed your work?

Last year in September, I was invited by a platform called Fashinnovation to talk on a panel about inclusivity in the fashion world. It was amazing because I got to travel to New York so that I could talk on a panel. I was able to meet with the other panelists who were also women who were disabled people that were either influencers on social media or had their own business for adaptable clothing. One lady had a business specifically for people who use prosthetics. I was wowed that people would be willing to listen to me talk alongside these amazing women who already are established in the media. That was a surreal moment.

How has social media affected the growth of your business?

It’s really gratifying to realize there’s so many people out there who don’t even know me personally but already know about my business. It’s really nice to see feedback (via social media) from different kids who have been in uncomfortable situations at school, and I’m able to give them advice. It really touches my heart because they’re able to ask. They believe it’s safe enough to come to me for advice and to use my products and it really means a lot. I had one kid specifically who he and his mom emailed me, and not only did he say that this is the product for him and that he loves it so much, but he also gave us some feedback on what to do next time, which I absolutely love.

If I’m ever able to work with a huge company, whether it be Target, Disney or even an organization like UNICEF, I would love to not only just give my own advice and perspective as somebody with disability, but also to open the floor because there’s such a wide range of disabilities and there’s so many things that you never even think about.

Something as simple for a wheelchair user as the height of the sink can be crazy. I feel like it’d be so helpful to open up the floor and ask people what they want, what they need for themselves so that they can be more adapted to an accessible world.

What goals do you have for the next five years?

I want to continue working in business. Not only does it look good for college, but it’s something I’m really passionate about that I’m hoping to continue even when I go to university and hopefully manage myself. As much as I love my mom, she won’t always be there for me, I know, but also just being able to reach out to even more and more people.

I am trying to collaborate with a company that’s really going to value my opinion and value the needs of the disabled community, rather than just using me to check off an inclusivity box.