Belli’s is a project that started in August of 2013 when our kickstarter was launched. Our doors opened only months later, in October 2013; however, the beginning of Belli’s was an accumulation of work & experience that founder, Alexandra Curatolo ha
s been involved in for years. After volunteering at the Pilsen Community Market, she became very interested in supporting local farmers & focused her graduate studies on local food systems at the University of Illinois- Chicago’s Urban Planning program, concentrating specifically on community development & local food hubs. One of her last projects at the university included starting a not-for-profit farmers market that helped the Pilsen community market achieve a 501 c 3 nonprofit status in order to support health & education initiatives in the Pilsen neighborhood. During this time, she also became more involved in urban agriculture after growing her own food at nearby community gardens & started juicing much of her own harvest to make many of the combinations we sell today. She discovered how much nutrition affects our bodies both physically & mentally through her own physical feats from marathons to triathlons. Her knowledge on nutrition includes almost 10 years of experience, both trial and error, from raw vegan to master cleansing and then to juicing. All of this led to a project that became a business that we now know as Belli’s, named after the founder’s French Bulldog Belli.
