It’s been a journey with multiple setbacks for Gabrielle Lattery, who, in 2020, left her job working in brand management and marketing in the corporate space to manage her own business full-time.

Since then, she and her husband have been giving customers a way to show loved ones that they are in their thoughts, in a very Jamaican way, through their business Ryga Legacy.

Ryga Legacy is an online, retail store that offers customers keepsakes and gift solutions.

Their offering includes: glasses with Jamaican quotes, gift boxes, and plant-based, health and wellness products.

Gabrielle Lattery, Ryga Legacy co-founder, shared with Our Today, the origins and meaning behind the business.

Each customer interaction is more than just a sale, according to Lattery, “our packages are always about giving clients and customers options, – we take people through and help them find something that they need or love”.

Gabrielle grew up in an environment with women entrepreneurs, her mother, aunt’s and their peer; this gave her enough understanding to know that running a business is a lot more working hours than what is seen on the surface, which caused her to initially pursue a corporate job.

“Growing up with my mom and my aunt’s running their own business, I already had the sense that entrepreneurship was a lot more hours working than corporate and I wasn’t interested in being a part of that” said Gabrielle.

Her husband, Ryan Lattery, always had the vision of ‘family freedom’ which meant being free enough financially to be as present as you would like to be with your family.

Gabrielle’s views on entrepreneurship changed when she had a child of her own; she pointed out spending summers with her child as something that her family did with her that she feared being unable to do with her own son.

“The concept of a two-week vacation was difficult when I realised my own upbringing, and that’s when my views towards what my family did really changed- and when I can say I really got on my husband’s team,” said the businesswoman.

When starting out, the Lattery family faced many setbacks in their earlier journey, including acts of god, and getting squeezed out by competition. They found success when they targeted their business around helping people and other positive influences in their lives.

Unfortunately, very soon after, Gabrielle was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) -an autoimmune and inflammatory disease where the immune system attacks healthy cells and causes joint inflammation and pain among other health conditions.

“When you choose to do things by yourself you can only get so far but when you look to connect with people and you’re in pursuit of similar things, it makes it so much easier,” she added.

“One of the reasons we also distribute plant-based, health and wellness products is because I needed to find good grade supplements for my illness, -products that were plant-based, organic to keep the inflammation under control because I did not respond well to regular medication,” said Gabrielle.

“Over time as we met more people who create those products and met people such as others with RA or lupus and I thought I could help them, and that thought grew into that part of our product offering,” she added.

Gabrielle credits the support she has received over the years as a key part of what allows her to keep growing her business and to one day achieve her goals.

When asked about her goals for the business, she said it was all about expanding to create something that can bring her husband home and that can be passed on to her son.

They are now looking to expand into the Caribbean and are already in the United States, Canada and, as of December 1, will officially be in The Bahamas.