Born and raised with three sisters in the countryside of Michigan, Amado founder April Spence would describe her family life as marked by love, commitment, hard work, and generosity.
“In my family, business was always treated as a means for giving back,” she says. “I remember that my parents always lived that way.” Fostering an entrepreneurial spirit in their kids, April’s parents incorporated their children into different aspects of the family’s business right from the start. Through these experiences, April knew she would spend her life using business as a way to advocate for two of her deepest passions: orphan care and adoption.
Years later, April met her husband Brian at a gathering that her sister invited her to. She remembers sitting in the booth at the restaurant and this sweet, shy boy sliding up next to her. They colored for some time before she met his father, Brian — her sister’s friend who had recently moved back to Michigan with his son after adopting him from Guatemala. As April and Brian began to spend more time together, it became clear to them both that God had placed them on a path to walk alongside each other.
Together as entrepreneurs, April and Brian have always been passionate about purpose-driven businesses that create opportunity and honor collaboration. “No matter where we go or what we do, we want our lives to be a bold expression of God’s love for people,” April says. “At the end of the day, everything is for Him.”
April, Brian, and their three boys enjoy connecting with their community and exploring Guatemala where they currently live, work, and play.
“Amado means beloved.” That’s the first thing Amado founder, April Spence, will tell you when sharing about the heartbeat of her company.
Founded in 2019, the seeds of hope for this business were planted many years before. For as long as April can remember, she felt drawn to learn more about and support orphan care initiatives and adoption around the world. “There was no second guessing it,” she says. “I knew one day I would adopt. I wasn’t sure how it would happen, but I was always confident that it would.” Years later, it was no surprise the way April connected with a little boy who later became her son through adoption.
April, her husband Brian, and their three sons made a bold move to Guatemala, settling in the historic town of Antigua and the birth country of their adopted son. As they learned more about the culture, the people, the history, and the beauty of the country itself, the desire to create pathways for people to support their families and their communities using the skills and trades passed down to them from previous generations began to flourish. Pairing that with April and Brian’s lifelong mission to preserve families, support adoptions, and advocate for healthy orphan care initiatives, Amado was born.
Amado began as one pair of custom made shoes made by an artisan in Guatemala. Since then, they’ve expanded to more leather shoe styles, a variety of leather bags, purses, and accessories. What began as a dream now exists to provide beautifully crafted, high quality, sustainably sourced leather products that help support artisans and their families as well as adoptions and orphan care initiatives worldwide.
