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About the Founder:
As a lifelong environmentalist and nature lover, Founder Candace Vanderhoff learned early on that nature needs our help. Watching her childhood neighborhood evolve from a temperate forest to a new housing development was heartbreaking, but this experience fueled her dream to be an environmental architect and help nature. Over the years she worked in construction, economic development and design. Always a life long learner and passionate about other cultures, she made it a point to travel and see the world. From visiting woman's banks and credit unions in India to teaching on the tiny islands in Micronesia. This all came down to how humans choose to live, and what we want to leave the next generation. Her plan to address this, was to became a licensed architect. Today, Candace uses her design skills and passion to restore the earth. First, founding RainThanks & Greywater, a water conservation company, and then SoloBee, a way to help native bees. Today she designs shelters, books, tools, and t-shirts at SoloBee and encourages others to fall in love with nature, she needs us. 
About the Company:
We founded SoloBee to give you a simple yet elegant way to help solitary native bees thrive. We use salvaged wood to conserve resources and save trees. Our shelters are made by hand in our Lemon Grove, California workshop. Our mission is to inspire everyone to set out a beautiful shelter to give bees the home they deserve. By adding a functional art to the garden we can help bees, increasing pollination and join a worldwide community of SoloBeeKeepers. We love nature and know you do too. The bees and the earth have given us so much, if we can give a little bit back, the earth will thank us ten-fold. We participate in garden festival, restoration workshops and speak to groups in Southern California. The company adheres to sustainable and fair trade practices considering People, Planet and Profit as the business grows. Kapingamarangi Atoll - International Space Station image
Our name - Kaping, full name Kapingamarangi Atoll, a tiny microcosm of our fragile planet earth. This lush landmass is only a few feet above sea level, so is impacted by climate change and melting ice caps and will be under water soon. In 1998, Candace visited the atoll while living in Pohnpei and working as a volunteer teacher. She took the three-day boat trip to this isolated island and met the 400 inhabitants living off of the coconuts, swamp taro, local fish and imported rice brought in on the monthly ship. The atoll is a part of the Federated States of Micronesia, but has very little contact with the outside world. It has been inhabited for 1,000 years and has remained true to its Polynesian culture. After spending time on Kapingamarangi and seeing the fragile atoll as a microcosm of our beloved Earth, Candace returned to Los Angeles and began her career as an architect with a promise to use her knowledge and skill to create a world that respects the earth and all its inhabitants.
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Partners can be found here.
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