Embracing familia, land, and comunidad, one mezcal at a time 

“Los Changemakers” is a video series that follows the journeys of Hispanic and Latinx small business owners in the US as they navigate the dynamic landscape of entrepreneurship. Through this series, we’ll explore what inspired these entrepreneurs and how they empower others within their communities. 

Click here to load media

Rosalinda and Elizabeth Mendoza are sisters who grew up between farmlands in Washington state and their grandparents’ home in rural Michoacán–places that taught them about the hard work that goes into agriculture. The Mendoza sisters now lead Mocel Mezcal, an artisanal mezcal brand that brings together their backgrounds and highlights their culture and heritage. We talked with Rosalinda about going from a career in tech to leading an award-winning mezcal brand.

As a child, Rosalinda worked with her family in the fields, and there she learned about familia and comunidad. She carries that community-oriented view into her business practices today and attributes Mocel’s success to it. Here are some questions we asked Rosalinda about her journey.

Can you share your personal background and journey that led you to become a small business owner? 

My sister and I were born and raised in rural Washington, two hours east of Seattle, in the Yakima Valley. Our family immigrated from Michoacán, Mexico, to the Yakima Valley as farm workers. Both regions are similar in the sense that there’s a lot of agriculture and a lot of bounty, so we grew up with a deep appreciation for what it takes to make real food and beverages.

Michoacán has denomination of origin for mezcal. We noticed that there wasn’t a lot of Michoacan mezcal in the US, so there weren’t many people from our community telling our stories. We wanted to share a new perspective of Mexico that is less known and yet so beautiful. That really was our main motivator to start Mocel.

As a child of immigrants, I felt this deep sense of gratitude and responsibility for all my family’s sacrifices. I used to work in tech sales, and my sister is an AI and tech privacy attorney. When I decided to leave tech and jump into entrepreneurship, it was hard because I felt our family had worked so much for us to have a better life here.

However, I couldn’t have imagined the overwhelming support we received from our family, our mom, our tías, and from my husband in creating Mocel with my sister. They have been our biggest cheerleaders.

What is a day in your life like?  

It’s different every day, especially when you’re a small business owner because you wear so many hats. When I’m in Michoacán, I will be in the fields, at La Vinata (place where mezcal is distilled) or working at the bottling facilities. In Seattle, I will be at our warehouse receiving our shipment of mezcal and unloading the palette or working on content creation at a coffee shop. On other days, I’m meeting potential customers; I recently went to Portland to do a mezcal education session for bartenders, and l met with beverage directors to walk them through a tasting and see if they’re interested in carrying Mocel at their bars.

What ways has technology played a role in the growth and success of your business? 

Technology has played a role in the way we connect with our team in Mexico and our consumers and in our team’s internal communications. We use Microsoft 365 for collaboration, particularly OneDrive, where we share assets and documents for collaboration. Outlook is our go-to for email communication. We just started dabbling in AI for marketing to help us put together emails and subject lines as a starting point.

Technology has also played a big role in connecting with other Latino entrepreneurs. That’s how we’ve connected with a lot of amazing Latino chefs to do collaborations and pairings.

Can you describe the importance of cultura and tradition in your business? 

Making mezcal is very family oriented. My relationship with the farmers and with everyone that we partner with in Mexico feels very personal. For instance, I’ve had moments when I’m watching the distillation for hours, and during those times, some of the most profound conversations unfold.

We are part of a co-op that is made up of agave farmers and mezcal producers. One of the fascinating things about the families is that a lot of them have connections to the US; they have worked in the US, have family in the US, and so our relationship with them is built on trust.

This family-oriented mindset is reflected in our product. Our distillation process and methods are very traditional, the way that families in Michoacán have been doing it for hundreds of years. It’s a very honored and time-intensive process. From our packaging to the way we do tastings, we are focused on mezcal education and trying to help establish a mezcal culture in the US that considers its history, its people, and the land.

How do you actively engage and give back to your local community and to the broader Hispanic and Latinx community through your business?  

As far as the community piece, I think about it in two ways: here in the US and Michoacán. In Washington, we are involved in the startup Latino community and mentor students who are pursuing their MBA. We’re a founding advisory member of the Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Program at the University of Washington.

We’ve also partnered with up-and-coming chefs, and it’s been great to see how we’ve been growing together. We collaborated with a Filipino American restaurant in Seattle called Archipelago. When we met, I shared with them the history of Filipino influence in Michoacán mezcal because of the Manila Galleon. The Archipelago team came to Yakima and we did this community event where we highlighted the connection and contributions of Mexican and Filipino immigrants in the Yakima Valley through this shared history, food, and mezcal.

In Mexico, we’re involved with an association of mezcaleros in Michoacán. Unfortunately, Michoacán doesn’t have many systems in place to export spirits abroad, like Jalisco or Oaxaca. We support them setting up some of the requirements needed to export abroad.

What legacy do you want to leave behind with your brand for future generations? 

The legacy that we want to leave through Mocel is for people to tell their stories. Many times, we see problems, and we say they should do this, or they should do that. But we should ask ourselves, “Why not us? Why don’t we make the jump into entrepreneurship?” Because when we do, that will benefit all of us. I think about if we were to have more Latina entrepreneurs—all the incredible ideas that we’re missing out on. The world can only be made better by those stories being told.