Puerto Rico’s Women Entrepreneurs Are Doing What Trump Wouldn’t

With scant support from Washington, women business leaders are working to reshape Puerto Rico’s future. The odds couldn’t be steeper, or the stakes higher.

On September 20, Hurricane Maria lashed the island of Puerto Rico with fierce winds and rainfall that led to waist-deep flooding, widespread power outages, and devastating infrastructure damage. Just three weeks later, President Donald Trump was already putting Puerto Ricans on notice that the federal government’s support would be limited. Despite all that, Lote23, a food park in the San Juan neighborhood of Santurce, has emerged largely unscathed. Surrounded by palm trees and colorful high rises on three sides, the park’s 16 food kiosks managed to stay standing despite wind speeds of up to 156 miles per hour.