The Founder's Letter

Hi, I'm Jo.

I'm an artist who is building a dairy company. I'm also a founder who never stopped doodling in between pitches and team huddles.

For years I wore two separate hats depending on who was in the room. On Instagram, I was @montalut_ — the artist, the doodler, the woman who painted things she loved. In pitch decks and field calls, I was Johanna Pilar Erimez, Co-Founder and CEO of Atolita Group, working to build what I believe will be the Philippines' most important decentralized dairy network.

Here's the truth — right now, we don't have the farm yet. Negotiations are underway. The first cows are being sourced and will arrive in early 2027. Lands talks are ongoing.

On most days, I’m a founder building something that doesn't fully exist yet — holding a vision in the way you hold a painting that isn't finished, knowing with compelling clarity what it's going to be before anyone else can see it.

That feeling is not unique to entrepreneurs. Every artist knows it. You've committed to the canvas before a single brushstroke lands right. You believe in the thing before anyone else can see it. You keep going anyway.

That's what this newsletter is.

Doodles & Dairy is where I stop compartmentalizing and show up whole — as the artist, the founder, the mother, and the person building something in the gap between vision and reality.

Every issue: one doodle, one story from the field (literal or figurative), one honest update on what we're building, one question I'm sitting with.

If you're a woman trying to build something without losing yourself in the process — welcome.

If you found me through the cows — the art was always here too.

If you found me through the art — surprise, I'm also building a farm.

Pull up a chair. The cows are coming. So is everything else.

Atolita Group is building a decentralized dairy network across the Philippines — starting with our pilot farm in Bukidnon (target completion Q3 2026), and eventually scaling to hundreds of farms nationwide. We're also building Atolita Dairy, our products brand, and Atolita Academy, where we'll train the next generation of Filipino dairy farmers.

More on all of this as it unfolds. That's the whole point of this newsletter.

What's one part of yourself you've kept in a separate drawer — and what would happen if you let it into the room?

Write it down and hit reply. I read every one.

— Jo

Co-Founder & CEO, Atolita Group · Artist, @montalut_ · @doodlesanddairy

P.S. — If someone forwarded this to you and you want in, subscribe here: doodlesanddairy.beehiiv.com. Free. Always real. Never something I wouldn't want to read myself.