Now in her third year of business, producing mild, medium and hot Alaskan Heat salsa, Garcia is selling her products in gift and specialty shops in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Homer, Palmer, Valdez and Wasilla. Now she has her eye on Asian markets.

Garcia was one of several entrepreneurs on hand for the recent Asian seafood buyers' conference, hosted in Anchorage by the state Department of Commerce and Economic Development. She packed her display area with several sizes of her Alaskan Heat jars, inviting the nearly five dozen conference participants to try her salsa.

"I always knew Asia would be a market," said Garcia, who brews up batches of her grandmother's secret salsa recipe in a rented commercial kitchen in Anchorage. "They love spicy food."

The next day, Garcia got a second chance to offer samples of her product, as conference attendees took a trip on the Alaska Railroad south to the Kenai Peninsula, where conference participants toured a fish plant. En route, everyone dined on various Alaskan fare, including Alaskan Heat salsa. The conversation soon turned to salsa music and dancing, the saucy and diverse music and dance popular in many Latino communities.

The guests wanted a demonstration of salsa dancing, so during a stop along the route, Garcia borrowed salsa music CDs from a family friend and put on a demonstration of salsa dances.

Garcia said she tries to do an average of one event a month to introduce her salsa to other potential customers. Most recently that included the governor's picnic on Anchorage's park strip, and the Arts in the Park celebration, both in Anchorage.

She also does speaking engagements, including recent talks to the women's networking breakfast, sponsored by the Alaska Small Business Development Center, and at the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce.

Garcia came to Anchorage in the early 1980s, and initially worked for major oil companies Arco Alaska and BP (Exploration) Alaska Inc. She later attended Alaska Pacific University to pursue a degree in organizational management, with an emphasis in human resources.

As a senior-year project, Garcia developed a plan for marketing the family salsa, a recipe she learned to make after her mother suffered a stroke and could no longer cook. Garcia did her own marketing surveys, setting up tables and handing out samples, then had tasters fill out questionnaires.

That marketing plan became the basis for Alaskan Heat. She set out to make as many contacts as possible, many of them coming from wholesale trade shows, like the Alaska Wholesale Gift Show, held every year in February.

Part of selling a product is image and the Alaskan Heat face is Paco the red moose, "who experienced the real Alaskan Heat," Garcia said. Sporting a gold sombrero, Paco is featured on all Alaskan Heat product labels. A small, soft, stuffed Paco also is part of an Alaskan Heat gift bucket, along with a small jar of salsa. The bucket, wrapped attractively in cellophane and ribbons, is a good seller.

Garcia said the secret of her success is in closely the guarded secret recipe for the salsa. She recommends it for use on tacos, burritos, taquitos and chips, soups, stews and chili.

While summer visitors may snap up the salsa at local gift shops, Garcia said she is working with her contacts from the recent Asian seafood buyers conference to send her product overseas. She's also planning new products; up next is chili verde, salsa green. Later additional salsas and other product lines will come online, she said.

Garcia said she is also doing the planning and groundwork now for anticipated expanding business, including a bar code system for inventory tracking, so as her business grows internationally, she will be ready.