Leonardo was born in a rural area of the Pisac region at the upper end of the Sacred Valley. His parents were too poor to care for him, so they sent him to live with relatives in the Urubamba area. He spent the majority of his childhood herding sheep in the mountains surrounding the Sacred Valley rather than going so school. Thus, he struggles with Spanish. (Quechua is his mother tongue.) He also inherited a genetic type of osteoporosis which doesn't allow him to perform heavy physical labor. It's hard enough to find work in Peru without these disadvantages. He was employed most recently caring for a hotel at night - 9 hours per shift, 7 days per week. He received food and a place to sleep, but no money whatsoever. He now earns a good wage with flexible hours weighing out and packaging Sacred Valley Salt.

Elsa's husband abandoned her and their two daughters about 5 years ago. To provide for herself and her daughters, she took out a sizeable loan to start her own small sewing shop. Orders for Sacred Valley Salt pouches have been a welcome boost for her business. She has 2 years remaining on her loan, and once it's paid off, she plans to begin saving so that her daughters can attend a university when they get older.

Señora Vilma is a native Quechua speaker; her Spanish is very limited. For nearly her whole life, her primary source of income has been selling salt in the local market. Her family also has some land that they farm, but this alone isn't enough. Selling salt from the family's ten salt ponds in Salineras de Maras is the additional income supplement they need. Although for countless generations, the Sacred Valley inhabitants have used salt from the nearby salt ponds, recently an outside company called Salisal has started trucking in cheap, iodized, anti-caking-agent-rich (up to 1%) refined salt. This company has also been behind rumors (an effective marketing technique in the area) that non-iodized salt from the Sacred Valley is poisonous and causes birth defects. Local demand for locally produced salt has thus fallen, and at times Señora Vilma spends the whole day in the market only to sell a kilo or two of salt. She has been thrilled to receive orders for Sacred Valley Salt 100 kg at a time.

This is a trade school dedicated to helping rural Peruvians to escape poverty by training them in basic useful skills such as carpentry, sewing, and ceramics. They are known for holding classes at flexible hours to allow students to work during the day and study at night or on weekends. They are also known for having very reasonable pricing for their courses and fast turnaround for students pursuing certifications in their respective fields. Making pouches for Sacred Valley Salt, many students are able to put their newfound skills to work for the first time and start making a living wage even before receiving their certification. Much of the funding for the school itself comes from projects that the students perform, such as making pouches for Sacred Valley Salt. This, in turn, allows the school to keep tuition affordable for the students.