Kandit’s Johnnie Rosario to be featured speaker at Chamber businesswomen event

Johnnie Rosario, Kandit’s chief operating officer, and one of the company’s three incorporators, will be the featured speaker of the Guam Chamber of Commerce’s Chamber Business Women’s Network event “Conquering Obstacles: Be Human, Be You.”

The February 23, 2023 event will start at 11:30 a.m. at the Guam Chamber of Commerce office in Hagatna.

“We envision that this event… will feature a personal tidbit on how you overcame life challenges to be in the successful place you are in now and some tips and tricks that you can provide to others who may be going through similar challenges themselves,” said Rebekah Mendiola of the Chamber committee in her letter of invitation to Ms. Rosario.

Ms. Rosario indeed has overcome several challenges in her 43 years of life. The mother and grandmother had to drop out of school following the births of her two eldest children when she was 14, and 16, respectively. She went on to earn her GED then joined the Guam National Guard.

Early in life, Ms. Rosario – like many of us in Kandit – became addicted to methamphetamine. In order to afford her drug habit, she became a drug dealer and eventually was convicted in federal court for manufacturing and trafficking methamphetamine.

In early 2018, Ms. Rosario became a victim of the corruption of the Mandana Drug Task Force. It was then, when she quit trafficking and abusing drugs. Within months, she became one of Kandit’s three incorporators, building a business from the ground up.

Ms. Rosario has led Kandit’s financial rise over the past nearly-five years. Under her financial prowess, Kandit went from a company of volunteers (we literally paid producer Eric Rosario with pugua for months) to a payroll that has expanded to six staffers and one correspondent doing business in both Guam and in the CNMI under a separate business license: Kandit Commonwealth.

Throughout this period, Ms. Rosario has dedicated thousands of hours to assisting other addicts to get off the drug, helping them through the basic processes of getting their lives together and finding employment.

She is the daughter of Mariquita and the late John Rosario of Sinajana.

We truly could not be more proud.