Tanama Designs is the brainchild of Kathy Mendoza. After years of creating images and sites for businesses and colleagues alike, she decided to establish Tanama Designs to provide more defined and focused services to the masses.

The word Tanama is of particular significance for Kathy. When she was younger, there was a cartoon that was “Katy La Oruga” (“Katy the Caterpillar). In the story, Katy goes through a series of adventures to find her purpose until one day she became a cocoon and eventually a beautiful butterfly. In her younger years, she was often called “Katy La Oruga” by her peers, something that eventually came to mean so much more than just a cartoon. She embraced the significance of the story and claimed butterflies as her symbol.

When it came time to name her business, the choice was obvious. She wanted to include a butterfly as her own representation of her progress, growth and experience. But she also wanted to showcase her heritage; she was born and raised in Puerto Rico. And in her years there she endeavored to learn words in the native tongue of Puerto Rico, Taíno. The Taíno are the indigenous people that lived in what is now known as Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba. Unfortunately, due to their somewhat docile nature, they were obliterated when the Spanish arrived in this continent. And although the Taínos are all but extinct, they still live in the cities that have Taíno names, in the traditions in our celebrations, in the food that we eat and in the words that have become part of our lexicon (eg, Huracán was a Taíno God that ruled over the weather). And it is from there that the word “hurricane” is derived.

For these reasons, she decided on Tanama, the Taíno word for butterfly as her evolution from a young caterpillar to a mature butterfly!tas congue.