76: We're Not in Kansas Anymore with Aaron Stewart

Our fabulous friend Aaron Stewart has a passion for all things design and has worked most of his career in the home category. Growing up in rural Kansas, little Aaron would pour over the pages of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar dreaming of a big city life. Fast forward, he started his first company, Sové New York, a luxury bedding line whilst he was a junior in college with literally $4 in his bank account and within 3 years grew his business into a million dollar brand. When 9/11 hit and the world turned upside down he had to rethink owning his own company. With a brand-new BFA in Home Products Development from FIT, Aaron was hired as a designer for Martha Stewart Living. He then became Creative Director of luxury bedding company Sferra and later returned to Martha as VP of Product Development and Design. After 19 years of torturous NYC winters, Aaron convinced his husband, Fernando, that they should move back to Fernando's hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico, where they launched an award-winning home store and interior design firm Stewart-Rodriguez. Paradise isn't always perfect and balmy Island life presents its own challenges, surviving Hurricane Maria and reviving their business only to face the global pandemic proved yet another opportunity for creative success and Portococo was born! Reinventing and reimagining sanitizer in a stylish, sustainable way.

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