We were lucky to catch up with Luisa recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Luisa, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I originally started Mexico In My Pocket as a blog. My mission was to share the beauty of Mexican culture with the world. Growing up in Dallas, Texas and being Mexican-American, I struggled with my bicultural identity because Spanish was my first language and I didn’t speak any English. This always made me feel like an outsider as a young child. It was difficult to make friends and some classmates even bullied me because of my culture.

When I look back, I’m sad for that little girl, but I’m also grateful that I had my parents and grandparents who taught me to fall in love with my culture and heritage.

When I grew older, I was no longer ashamed of my identity, but I still grappled with how mainstream media portrayed Mexico and Mexicans. As a journalist, I knew I had to do something to change the narrative so I launched a blog that focused on what makes Mexico such an incredible place.

Slowly, the blog gained thousands of followers and once COVID hit, we started receiving messages on Instagram from artisans asking us to help them sell their products because tourism was dead.

Having a large audience that was dedicated to celebrating Mexico, I felt a responsibility to do something. So at first, I began promoting the artisans directly, but then we faced two major hurdles along the way. The first was that the artisans wanted customers to wire them money, but clients were not comfortable with the idea. The second problem was that the cost of shipping for one item was extremely high.

Once I got furloughed from my job, I decided to learn how to use Shopify so I could help the artisans reach American customers. Having no money for inventory, I decided to list products via pre-order. When I listed the first product, the sales started coming in and I was able to send money directly to the artisans. It was an incredible feeling to be able to do something to help thanks to my Instagram community.

In the beginning, it was stressful because I had no idea what I was doing and we had zero funding. But I had a lot of grit and determination that allowed me to power through and be creative. One major hurdle was not having money for boxes to ship my products. I realized many people were placing online orders during that time. So I would run around my neighborhood in Brooklyn collecting old shipping boxes and reusing them for my initial orders.

After a year of packing orders out of my apartment, I began offering more products and I was able to open a brick and mortar shop in Brooklyn, New York.

Today that gift shop is four years old, but I will forever cherish the spirit and determination of how I got started.

Luisa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

First and foremost, I think of myself as a Mexican-American storyteller. and author, but I am also a gift shop owner that sells handcrafted items from all over Mexico. What I love about the gift shop is that it’s a vehicle that allows me to continue telling the stories behind the artisans who make them. It’s an introduction to Mexico, which allows me to help people who are unfamiliar with how culturally rich and diverse my heritage is.

We sell handcrafted beeswax floral candles from Oaxaca, milagro charms (miracle charms), bilingual children’s books, huaraches (Mexican leather shoes that mold to your feet!), alebrijes (hand carved and painted Mexican spirit animals), copal (an incense made from tree sap), and a mixture of home decor items including handcrafted paper flowers, coconut masks, and more.

Our main mission is to keep the traditions of our culture alive and to honor and celebrate the traditions and beauty of Mexican culture.

I am most proud of starting something that gives me purpose. I started Mexico In My Pocket as a blog that could allow people to learn more about the culture and today that blog has turned into a lifestyle brand, gift shop, and my first book “Mexico’s Day of the Dead” which allows me to keep fueling my mission every single day.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

If you open a gift shop, you’ll soon learn that selling gifts is not enough to keep business afloat. During the summer, families leave Brooklyn to go on vacation and sales can suffer tremendously. At first I panicked, but I refused to close the doors. That was when I knew I needed to introduce a new service.

Several of my gift shop clients who really enjoyed seeing my travels on Instagram would regularly ask me if I could plan a trip to Mexico for them. This is how we began offering group trips to Oaxaca and travel planning services for cities like Mexico City, San Miguel de Allende, and more.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

I answer every single direct message on Instagram. I really care about building relationships with my clients and I try to get to know them on a more personal level. Mexico In My Pocket was built thanks to community, keeping this value in mind, I treat my clients like family. I try to make an effort to get to know them, learn more about their story, and thanks to this mindset some of my clients have become good friends!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mexicoinmypocket.com
• Instagram: @mexicoinmypocket
• Facebook: @mexicoinmypocket

Image Credits

First headshot with flowers is Christine Chitnis
All of the other images are Erica Connolly