We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Claire Risoli. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Claire below.

Claire, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?

Right now, I manage our social media. I do work with someone who helps me create content. They come in twice a month and we shoot footage; photos and videos. She edits them and shares the files with me and I do the daily posts and I write all the captions. She also comes to all of our special events to capture the moments and we have created a library of content, if you will. I feel that I know the brand voice best which I why I do all of our posts and manage all of our engagement. In the beginning I used to do it all myself. But I also realized that I can’t do everything and I can’t do everything well. I did notice that as I started putting myself out there more… our personal stories and letting people see the faces behind Pocha, we became much more identifiable and it created momentum and more interaction. I would say to other business owners, start by doing it yourself… CONSISTENTLY. Grow your following and as you grow and have more of a budget for it, THEN start farming out pieces of the job. But the brand is YOU. Be vulnerable and transparent. People want to see the people behind the brand. Show your face. Show up for your brand.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a single mom and a I love to create and build things. I am the owner and founder of Pocha LA Modern Mexicana Kitchen in Highland Park. I am a first time restaurant owner with no prior commercial kitchen or restaurant management experience. Pocha LA started out as an idea on my vision board in January 2019. When I dreamt of Pocha, I wanted to create a brand that would bring people together, a place where people could gather and build community and share experiences and stories. There’s no better place, in my opinion, than to do that around food. I love hosting, entertaining and making people happy. So it just made sense. I chose modern Mexican cuisine because I wanted to share the flavors and memories of my childhood. My mom is from Sonora, Mexico and I am first generation Mexican-American here in LA. Pocha… why I chose to call my restaurant that name? Well, Pocha or Pocho was/is a term that many of us were called growing up here who might’ve been considered, “Americanized”. It was at one time considered somewhat of a derogatory term or at least a term tinged with a hint of negativity. To be honest, I hated being called it. It made me feel like I wasn’t Mexican enough for the Mexicans and not white enough for the Caucasians. As time went on, the term became more of an empowering one. I felt a sense of pride for both my cultures and I started embracing it and having fun with it. I stopped trying to prove my Mexican-ness and just really started enjoying who I was and the rich culture that I came from, along with the beautiful privilege of being American. So I decided to create not only a brand around that word but also somewhat of a movement. Of owning who you are, where you are from and enjoying it to the fullest. Our menu consists of many of my favorite dishes that I grew up with, along with many others that we have created and modernized without compromising tradition. On Sundays we offer a mariachi brunch and people come in large groups from all over to celebrate. It’s quite magical and what we’ve created makes me so proud. We signed our lease a month before the global pandemic so it’s been a wild ride. We have been through some tough times and all we really know is 4 years of a really challenging season. But no winter lasts forever and we are still here. Past survival mode and welcoming thriving mode.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I currently don’t have any investors and I started Pocha LA with my savings. I have another side business with a company called, Arbonne International. I have been building for over 13 years now. I am an independent consultant and I guess I am one of those people that you hardly ever hear about, that take it to the top in a network marketing business model. Arbonne is a health, wellness, and beauty company. And I aligned myself with the company back in 2011 when my son was just 1 year old. I was working in Latino Marketing and Advertising at the time and I was looking for a way to segue and make money with a home-based (phone-based) business so I could be more present for my son. I was passionate about the products but more so, about the business opportunity and I not only started building a client base but growing an international team. I got to the top of my company as an Independent Consultant, National Vice President in 4 years. I was the first Latina in Arbonne to achieve that level. As I started to generate a more significant residual income (earnings.arbonne.com) I wanted to diversify my financial portfolio and I decided to open Pocha LA with the income that I had saved. My Arbonne business not only helped me open Pocha LA but also helped sustain and subsidize it for the last 4 years of building it. My Arbonne business also continues to pay all my household bills like my mortgage and insurance, I honestly don’t know how new restaurant owners who don’t have investors survive. I could never have done it without having my Arbonne stream of income.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When I started Pocha LA, I had zero culinary or restaurant management experience. We signed our lease a month before the global pandemic and I had to pivot quickly. Sales were slim, and I quickly realized that I didn’t have the budget to hire all the positions that we needed so I had to learn them all myself. When my line cook would call out sick, I didn’t have a backup. I had to do it. I had to learn how to prep, be a line cook, be a dishwasher, a plumber, an accountant, a social media maven… I had to learn it ALL. We don’t realize what we are capable of mentally or physically until we have no other choice but to survive. These last 4 years have been some of the most character-building, full of growing pain years of my life. But I can no longer say that I don’t have experience. I now know every facet of my business and what each role requires and I can jump in any position at every given moment.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.PochaLA.com
• Instagram: @pocha_losangeles
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pochalosangeles
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-risoli-083bb6/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/pocha-la-los-angeles-2