Paris Hilton Creates National Fund to Help Women Business Owners After Disasters

Celebrity entrepreneur Paris Hilton has established a nationwide recovery fund to assist female small business owners affected by natural disasters. The initiative stems from her successful efforts helping women entrepreneurs rebuild after the 2025 Los Angeles fires that also destroyed her Malibu home.

Celebrity entrepreneur Paris Hilton announced Monday the creation of a nationwide program designed to help female small business owners recover from natural disasters, expanding her charitable work that began following the devastating 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.

The media personality and businesswoman is contributing $350,000 to establish the Back in Business Recovery Fund, with plans to collect at least $1 million by March’s end.

“Women-owned businesses are really the heart of so many of these communities,” Hilton shared with The Associated Press. “I want to be able to lift up and support them, shine a light on them and really make a difference in their lives.”

The program represents a collaboration between Hilton’s charitable organization 11:11 Media Impact and GoFundMe.org, the nonprofit division of the crowdfunding platform. GoFundMe.org will provide $100,000 toward the fund’s initial launch.

Following the LA wildfires, Hilton and her partner organizations distributed more than $1 million in direct financial assistance to 50 female-owned small businesses. The fires also claimed Hilton’s Malibu residence.

The destruction of her family home, where she was caring for her young children, proved “very emotional,” Hilton explained, leading her to consider other mothers who had lost both their homes and their means of supporting their families.

Individual grants reaching $25,000 supported owners of various enterprises including childcare facilities, bakeries, bookstores, dance studios and beauty salons damaged by the Eaton fire, which ravaged Altadena. Recipients used the funding for rent payments, employee wages, equipment replacement and reconstruction efforts.

According to the Pasadena Women’s Business Center, which also received funding to offer technical support and mentoring to affected businesses, 90% of grant recipients remain operational one year later.

Among those who benefited was Renata Ortega, who operated her floral design business Orla Floral Studio from a converted garage beside her Altadena residence, which she shared with her husband and three pets.

Ortega faced uncertainty about continuing her business after flames consumed both her home and workspace, destroying all her floral supplies and event equipment.

“Nothing prepares you for that amount of loss,” she shared with The Associated Press. “I didn’t think I was going to be able to get back on my feet because it took me years to be able to come up with the inventory I had.”

She also expressed concern for her employees and the flower market suppliers who relied on her business.

The financial assistance enabled Ortega to secure a deposit for new studio space and acquire an essential floral refrigeration unit. Orla Floral is now “booked and busy,” she reported. She retained her existing workforce and plans to add another team member shortly.

Ortega attributes much of her recent success to the grant funding. “It directly went into getting us back into business, but actually back and better than ever,” she explained.

Beyond financial support, the assistance provided Ortega with emotional encouragement as she simultaneously rebuilt both her home and business.

“You have to keep going and you have keep pushing and fighting forward,” Ortega reminded herself, “because if somebody like Paris Hilton notices your story and thinks you’re important, then you have to believe in yourself and also think that you’re important.”

Hilton also supported recipients as a patron, wearing clothing from apparel retailer Crop It Like It’s Hot at the Coachella festival and hiring food vendors including Carmela Ice Cream and Hot Shrimp Mami for her personal events.

These connections motivated her to “think bigger” about a national program, Hilton said. Her experiences as a woman, mother and business owner also influenced her decision.

“For so much of my career, I’ve been underestimated,” stated Hilton, who is the great-granddaughter of hotel empire founder Conrad N. Hilton. “I’ve worked very hard to show people that there’s much more to me.”

Despite women owning 14.5 million businesses in the United States—representing 39% of all enterprises according to Wells Fargo—female entrepreneurs, particularly minority women, receive significantly less investment funding compared to men through venture capital and traditional lending.

“They are the most undercapitalized and underresourced, and particularly if primary caregiving responsibilities are falling on them too, sometimes that leads to increased recovery burden,” explained Rebecca Grone, director of 11:11 Media Impact.

Similar to the Los Angeles initiative, the Back in Business Recovery Fund will provide unrestricted financial grants, working alongside approximately 150 local women’s business centers throughout the nation.

Partnership with these centers will enable quick identification of affected women and provide access to both funding and a network of business owners facing comparable challenges, according to Amanda Brown Lierman, executive director of GoFundMe.org. “It’s really key to the success.”

Decisions about activating the fund will also involve consulting with women’s business centers to evaluate disaster impacts, Brown Lierman noted.

While funding goes directly to business owners, the broader goal targets entire communities, Grone said. Preserving businesses protects employment and tax income while maintaining community character that draws displaced residents home.

“You don’t want to come back if the community isn’t thriving, so as folks are rebuilding their homes, the things that are familiar and make a community feel like home are equally as crucial,” she observed.

A YouTube documentary series titled “Back in Business” also debuted Monday, featuring several Los Angeles business owners. “I hope it really inspires others to want to donate and give back,” Hilton commented.

Multiple LA grant recipients, including Ortega, will accompany Hilton Monday afternoon to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange, commemorating International Women’s Day, which occurred March 8.

This will represent one of her most meaningful moments, Hilton said, “showing the power of women when they come together.”