241915346891068 Ep. 29 The Mentorship Series Part. 3 Featuring Isabel Cueva, Vanessa Arroyo & Jose Rodriguez - The Nopalera Podcast

Episode 29

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Published on:

10th May 2023

Ep. 29 The Mentorship Series Part. 3 Featuring Isabel Cueva, Vanessa Arroyo & Jose Rodriguez

Sandra continues a new four part series of providing mentorship to entrepreneurs of various categories in our community. Part 3 features Isabel Cueva of mayaluna a kids clothing line that helps littles celebrate their latin@ culture through modern and aesthetic designs. Vanessa Arroyo of Seres footwear and Jose Rodriguez of Calaca coffee.  You will hear excerpts of questions asked from different stages of each entrepreneur's process and Sandra’s transparent explanations and advice in response. This episode we’re covering topics of marketing channels, fears, and finances.  Muchas gracias to all the mentees for bringing their stories, curiosity and courage.  Our hope is that the topics covered will help and inspire you to forge ahead with your own entrepreneurial path with more knowledge and confidence.  Courage is Contagious!

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A Los Angeles native and proud Mexican-American, Isabel Cueva started her career as a math teacher and transitioned to corporate event planning in the non-profit and tech sector for 10 years. She decided to take a step back from her career to raise her daughter, Maya. During this time, she looked for children’s clothing that would celebrate her Latina culture but could not find anything but stereotypical, cheesy designs. Isabel is currently working to solve this problem through the creation of mayaluna.

Vanessa Arroyo is the creator of SERES footwear and is a shoe design & development specialist that has worked in the industry for over ten years. She was born in Chicago to a family of Mexican immigrants, and in 2016 she relocated from New York City to Guanajuato where she continued her work in footwear. This was an unexpected journey of self discovery where she experienced a number of epiphanies - all of which challenged her thoughts on what it means to be a Mexicana born in the USA. She thought about what it means to be "ni de aqui ni de alla" as the saying goes and she realized, to be is ... ser es... all of the versions of her at once.

Jose Rodriguez, an art school dropout, started Calaca Coffee with his friend Christian. The two started the business as a way to foster community and have a safe place for anyone to enjoy a nice cup of coffee. Initially, the pair had a coffee garden but unfortunately had to shut it down. Now they are trying to scale up their direct-to-consumer program.

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About the Podcast

The Nopalera Podcast
If you are a bootstrapped entrepreneur/founder ready to build a business that can scale, this podcast is for you.
My name is Sandra Velasquez and I am the Founder of Nopalera, a Mexican Botanical Bath & Body brand that celebrates an elevates culture. I founded Nopalera with a vision to change the cultural perception of the value of Latino goods in the marketplace while inspiring my community to stand in their worth. This podcast is a mix of solo episodes and conversations with industry friends where I discuss the strategies, systems, ups & downs, of building a brand from the ground up. I am very passionate about providing access to my fellow entrepreneurs about what it's really like to build a business that can scale. If you are a bootstrapped founder too, this is for you. This is for us.