Elda Devarie

Elda M. Devarie, is a successful entrepreneur who built EMD Sales, Inc, one of one of the fastest growing International Foods Distributors in the Mid Atlantic Region serving grocers, restaurants, and wholesalers with diverse global products.

Born Elda M. Perez in Puerto Rico, she is the oldest daughter of four children, who from a very early age learned to follow their parents into the family business. She graduated from the University of Puerto Rico and worked for the second largest supermarket chain in the island. Her role as a military wife led her to move often, and brought her to Maryland.

E.M.D. Sales and Marketing Services was born in 1989. From its humble beginnings in a spare room of her home, to a storage facility, to their current 153,000 sq. ft. warehouse in Baltimore, Ms. Devarie has been able to significantly expand the ethnic food distribution business in the Mid- Atlantic Region.

Elda’s son, Roberto has grown in the business by her side. Since the tender age of four, mom and son have been inseparable. Elda started from the back of a van, moving to a used 18-foot truck, to today, a fleet of over 25 commercial trucks. Her company, EMD Sales today employs over 150 employees and services some of the largest supermarket chains, restaurants and ethnic stores in the area. In 2009 Elda and a small group of individuals from different backgrounds joined forces to start Bags of Love, a nonprofit organization focused on fighting food insecurity in the DMV.

Her commitment to her employees, her business, community and family are evident in everything she does. Elda and EMD Sales have been recognized numerous times for their business success and their charitable work. She is the recipient of a Maryland Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Small Business Award, the Greater Baltimore Committee Mayor’s Business Recognition Award, and has been named one of the Nation’s Capital Metro Area 100 Most Influential Latinos.