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

Yereni, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Is there a heartwarming story from your career that you look back on?

One of the most touching stories from my career was meeting a stay-at-home mom who felt completely trapped in her daily routine:her home, her husband, and her children. Afternoons were fine, but in the quiet mornings, when the kids went to school and her husband went to work, loneliness would creep back and weigh heavily on her heart.

I met her at an expo where I was speaking about ceremonial cacao. She approached me curious, hopeful, and eager to find something that could help her navigate the emptiness she was feeling.

Months later, after practicing cacao meditation, she shared a beautiful realization: she had lost sight of herself—her dreams, her passions, her interests—because she had been living for her family alone. She told me: “I’m so grateful to understand that being a mom doesn’t erase who I am. When my family isn’t around, I can still create, build the business I put on hold, work on my designs, and even write a book.”

She started going to the gym, networking in small ways, and nurturing her own growth,without taking away from her family, who remained her heart’s priority. Later, I met her husband at a cacao night, and he thanked me, saying she was happier and had become the joyful woman he fell in love with.

This story, to me, is the true meaning of life balance: honoring your family while embracing your own dreams and personal growth.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am blessed to have grown up surrounded by cacao and mentored by Don Marín (Mu dad), a master of cacao and chocolate in Mexico, who taught me how to craft cacao genuinely for inner-healing rituals, using only elements that come from Mother Earth, wood, clay, stone, wind, fire, cacao, and all natural tree spices. This method preserves all the natural properties so they reach your body in their purest form, supporting a balanced life, an anti-inflammatory and anti-aging diet, and allergy-friendly cacao. Our products align closely with Ayurveda and Paleo principles.

My personal journey into the world of cacao and chocolate was deeply shaped in 2021, when I went through a serious car accident. This experience led me through a true “dark night of the soul,” facing adversity and health challenges. With the guidance of a psychologist, I began using ceremonial cacao to meditate deeply and align my thoughts with the positive belief that everything would be okay for me and my daughters. This personal experience taught me to value not only my family’s tradition but also the therapeutic and transformative power of cacao.

What sets our brand apart is remarkable: our chocolate is not just a treat that gives momentary pleasure : it is a complete sensory experience, made fresh, without fillers like industrial gourmet chocolate, and focused on health through simple, natural ingredients, sweetened with dates and monk fruit.

One of the things I am most proud of, and what inspires me to continue my father’s legacy, is the lesson he taught me: a business should start with love for others, and financial success will follow naturally. Many entrepreneurs do it the other way around, which is why few last as long in the market as we have. Our family has been dedicated to chocolate for 49 years.

To our clients and readers, I want to say that your holistic health matters to us. The modern diet of processed and frozen foods may satisfy the stomach for a while, but it does not nourish the soul or support long-term health. I want everyone to remember this question: How do you want to look and move when you are 80 years old?

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

In life, from the moment we are born, we often do what others tell us is best for us. Many times, our advisors speak from their fears or from their own life experiences. But your life is meant to be experienced by you, and perhaps around the age of 35 or 40, you realize it’s time to recalculate your own path, listen more closely to yourself, and start doing things that truly feel authentic and comfortable for you.

In my case, I had to learn to ignore what others would say. I stopped worrying about sustaining an ego that only made me feel frustrated because it wasn’t bringing me peace and calm. I could feel my stress increasing under the pressure of everyone else’s expectations. When I finally broke free from that straitjacket, my body and mind began to heal, and I started to evolve alongside the tribe that resonates with me. Together, we became a family—the cacao family.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I believe my reputation in the market is built on the authenticity of my family story, my Mexican indigenous roots, and continuing the work of cacao and chocolate,not as a trend or imitation, but as a true craft. I focus on making it easier for people to care for their health by bringing cacao directly from my family and local farmers in Chiapas, where I was born and where my father cultivated cacao. Everything I know and share with the community reflects my commitment to creating a positive impact and leaving a meaningful legacy.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://donmarin.my.canva.site/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chocolate_don_marin?igsh=ZXl4cWV0dWhlZTEx&utm_source=qr
• Linkedin: Yereni Ramírez
• Twitter: https://x.com/yerenicacao?s=21