Launching a Brand that Celebrates her Culture with Sandra Velasquez
Listen on: Apple | spotify | google
Meet Sandra Velasquez
Sandra Velasquez is the founder of Nopalera, a Mexican Botanical Bath & Body line based in New York City that is currently sold in Nordstrom, Credo Beauty, Free People, and over 300 independent retailers nationwide. Prior to launching her company, Velasquez worked as a sales & distribution manager for several CPG brands across multiple categories including food. Sandra also works as a mentor to emerging CPG brands and teaches online classes about sales strategy.
Episode Highlights
During this episode of The Food Means Business Podcast, we discuss:
Sandra’s transition from musician and college administrator to working with CPG brands before eventually launching her own
The importance of sharing your knowledge, especially the truth, with others
Launching a brand that celebrates her culture and identifying “brown space” opportunitiesUsing empathy when communicating with others
Why she took a year to develop her brand’s mission and core values and how this foundational work informs the decisions she makes in her business
-
00;00;00;01 - 00;00;12;15
Djenaba
Hello. Hello and welcome to the food means to this podcast. I am really happy today to be speaking with Sandra Velasquez and I would love for you sort of to give us a little bit about yourself before we before we jump in.
00;00;12;24 - 00;00;17;05
Sandra Velasquez
Yes. So I the short version, first of all, thank you for having me.
00;00;17;07 - 00;00;18;12
Sandra Velasquez
I'll be there for you, as always.
00;00;19;18 - 00;00;36;14
Sandra Velasquez
So the short version is that I was a musician for the majority of my adult life. Then I fell into CPG sales and I did that for five years and now I am a brand founder of a beauty brand called Move by Letter. So that's the short CliffsNotes version we have.
00;00;36;15 - 00;00;52;05
Djenaba
We have a lot to unpack there, but I wanted to first Dove, despite acknowledging you, I know that we don't know each other well, but we have been acquainted over the past couple of years. And I'm just honestly, I'm a fan. Like I am in awe of you and everything that you've been able to accomplish and then the person that you are.
00;00;52;27 - 00;00;54;21
Djenaba
So I just wanted to say, you're amazing.
00;00;55;11 - 00;00;57;15
Sandra Velasquez
You too, right? I get you. I mean, what you were.
00;00;57;15 - 00;00;59;26
Sandra Velasquez
Doing, you know, I'm like, I could never do that.
00;01;00;22 - 00;01;01;06
Sandra Velasquez
I never.
00;01;01;16 - 00;01;02;25
Sandra Velasquez
Run a food kitchen.
00;01;02;25 - 00;01;03;13
Sandra Velasquez
And, you know.
00;01;04;29 - 00;01;16;21
Djenaba
So so let's talk about your career path. So you are a musician? Oh, by the way, I was when I when I first met you at a time when my employees, I was like, do you know, she has in a band of like, of course she's in a band.
00;01;17;17 - 00;01;18;24
Sandra Velasquez
Like, just though.
00;01;18;24 - 00;01;27;29
Djenaba
Cause she's me anyway. So yeah. Please give us a little bit about your background. Like talk to me about like you, you know, making kind of career transitions that you've made over your life.
00;01;28;09 - 00;01;51;24
Sandra Velasquez
Yeah. So I honestly thought that my purpose on earth was to be a performer, a musician, because I had really been playing music since I was five and, you know, played in bands in high school and then went to music school for college and then moved to New York to live my musical dreams. Because I'm originally from California and now I've been in New York for 22 years, so I'm officially a New Yorker, but I moved to New York.
00;01;51;24 - 00;02;08;09
Sandra Velasquez
I really, you know, was on this trajectory, on this path to be a songwriter. I was like, this is my calling. I'm going to share stories. I'm going to celebrate my culture. Music is my platform. And it's really it's you know, it seems like a big jump. Like I was an abandoned now I run a beauty brand. What is the connection?
00;02;08;15 - 00;02;29;12
Sandra Velasquez
Well, the connection is that I'm really living out of the same mission, which is I'm celebrating my culture and I'm sharing stories. But now I'm just using a different paintbrush because, you know, music is really inconsistent, you know, in terms of revenue. You know, it's great. I had a lot of great opportunities. You know, I got to play Central Park SummerStage.
00;02;29;12 - 00;02;40;16
Sandra Velasquez
I played Celebrate Brooklyn, but, you know, I had my music featured in television shows, but, you know, you can't rely on that. So I always in New York, as you know, you have to have five jobs. Yes.
00;02;40;16 - 00;02;41;01
Sandra Velasquez
Right. Okay.
00;02;41;13 - 00;02;58;01
Sandra Velasquez
So there's like SNL skits about that. Right. So so I always had a day job, you know, and I always picked like I stayed in the same kind of easy day job. I worked at Barnard College at Columbia University as a college administrator, really? Because it gave me like the school schedule. So I had like all summer off.
00;02;58;01 - 00;03;12;16
Sandra Velasquez
I had a month off for Christmas break, a month, you know, two weeks for spring break. And those are the times that I toured or, you know, our albums. So I was like, Great. I have my life figured out. That's what I'm going to do. I'm just going to, like, have this, like, easy day job that doesn't suck my energy so that I can then live my dreams of being, you know, a musician.
00;03;13;00 - 00;03;31;11
Sandra Velasquez
And I did that for a long time, right? Like 17 years. And until I kind of fell into CPG really just again out of the blue, someone asked me, Hey, my family's going to start this like beverage company, can you help us? And to me, it was just an opportunity to get out of, you know, working in an office.
00;03;31;21 - 00;03;45;20
Sandra Velasquez
So so I jumped at the opportunity and then that turned out to be very, very difficult. But I learned so much through the fraternity, through that experience. And then, you know, once I had that experience and did all the things and for seven hats, then I was able to go and work for other brands and do the same thing.
00;03;45;20 - 00;04;14;14
Sandra Velasquez
So then I work for different, you know, CPG brands, you know, specialty throws in bath and body. And during through that experience I just, you know, I documented my experience as a sales rep and and then I was able to go and share it with other founders to help them like to save them all the heartache and the headache of the not knowing and all of the expensive mistakes that I experienced firsthand with this, you know, startup that I worked for.
00;04;14;22 - 00;04;26;13
Sandra Velasquez
And that's how I started teaching, distill 1 to 1. So that became this other like revenue source. And, you know, I initially started it because I needed another job and I was like, What can I sell? Oh, my knowledge, I can sell my knowledge.
00;04;26;13 - 00;04;27;05
Sandra Velasquez
That's I guess.
00;04;27;18 - 00;04;40;01
Sandra Velasquez
Right. Because I was like, I sold guitars, I sold my clothes. What else can I go? Oh, I can sell my knowledge. Okay, great. So then I actually took a class to teach me how to teach a class. Right. Which sounds funny, but it was so valuable. It's so.
00;04;40;01 - 00;04;40;20
Djenaba
Good. Yes.
00;04;40;20 - 00;05;08;07
Sandra Velasquez
Yeah. I was like, because, you know, a lot of us have the curse of knowledge, right? Where we know what we know and we just assume everyone knows these things. But then they don't, first of all. And then second of all, how do you actually communicate this and break it down into digestible pieces? So that is so then I, you know, created destroy 1 to 1, which is, you know, for me class that I've been teaching since 2019 specifically to food and beverage founders, specifically about distribution, because to me that was the niche that nobody told anybody about.
00;05;08;07 - 00;05;24;17
Sandra Velasquez
Right. Everyone wants to talk about like marketing and how do I get into stores? And I'm like, okay, but who's going to be the person that actually delivers it to the store for you? Right. That's the distributor. Okay. What margin are they taking? How much does that cost? How do you get them to care all of these things that you know, a lot of new founders don't think about.
00;05;24;26 - 00;05;51;12
Sandra Velasquez
So that has been really successful. And I've built a really nice community of, you know, there's about like 200 founders that have gone through the class and we have like monthly calls still and everyone, you know, still helps each other out, which is really great. And, you know, like I said, I started it as a another revenue stream, but I really have enjoyed like I really enjoy imparting knowledge and like, you know, pulling back the curtain to help people to speed up, you know, the process because CPG, you know food food and is tough.
00;05;51;25 - 00;06;11;18
Djenaba
Now as it is so important and thank you for you know having that platform to be able to share with entrepreneurs because I, I started my business similarly because I was like, I can't find a kitchen and I can't find any information about how to even get started. Like I didn't even know what the health department and like getting a retail food license and like I had I, it took me months to figure that out.
00;06;11;18 - 00;06;25;08
Djenaba
And once I did, I was like, I have to share this with other people. Yeah. When I started my course as well. So I totally, I can totally relate. I feel like there's some people, so many people want to hold everything close to the vest and it's like, why write it?
00;06;25;09 - 00;06;41;23
Sandra Velasquez
Like, you're not you're not losing anything, right? By giving, you know, by helping other people. And in fact, you know, and and I tell people upfront, I'm like, listen, you're going to take this course and no where at any point in time am I going to say, and you are guaranteed to succeed because it still ultimately comes down to you, do you have a great product?
00;06;41;23 - 00;07;03;13
Sandra Velasquez
Are you going to put in the work? Like, I can give you the information, but then what do you do about it? You know, so, you know, it's tough and like I think helping each other, you know, is we need to and we actually owe each other the truth. That's really the thing is like it's that was the thing that that still kind of like burns inside of me where I'm like, why didn't anyone just tell us when anyone does tell us?
00;07;03;13 - 00;07;10;16
Sandra Velasquez
Like, this is how it works. This is how much it costs. Like, this is what you have to do because then you can decide like, do I want to move forward with this.
00;07;11;13 - 00;07;12;29
Sandra Velasquez
Or do I not? Because I thought this.
00;07;12;29 - 00;07;20;21
Sandra Velasquez
Was going to be fun and this is really hard. You know, I really expensive or there's no money here or whatever, you know. So I just feel like we owe each other the truth.
00;07;21;04 - 00;07;38;18
Djenaba
I think that is such it's such a good point. I mean, so often, like, I'm on LinkedIn and I'm like, some people are like, I've raised this much money, I've done this thing, look how great I am and you are great and I'm so happy for you. But at the same time, you were crying in the corner two weeks ago because you didn't know, you know, you didn't know what you were going to do and how your business was going to move forward.
00;07;38;18 - 00;07;40;08
Djenaba
So why not share all those things?
00;07;40;08 - 00;07;53;19
Sandra Velasquez
Yes. So I love sharing the valleys. Like, let's talk about how hard it is because we can just go on Instagram and LinkedIn and see all the wins and all, you know, all of like the money people have raised. But like let's talk about, you know, damaged product. Let's talk about lawsuits. Let's talk.
00;07;53;19 - 00;07;54;28
Sandra Velasquez
About returns.
00;07;54;28 - 00;08;00;04
Sandra Velasquez
Let's talk, you know, like let's talk about unanswered emails, you know. So, yeah, it's really important.
00;08;00;19 - 00;08;19;06
Djenaba
So, so okay, so now so you took the leap, you left you you were a musician. You moved with you as a, you know, your as your night job and your day job in college administration. And then you took the leap into going into CPG. Yeah, I've done that for a while, have taught a course and then all of a sudden you decided what?
00;08;20;17 - 00;08;23;05
Sandra Velasquez
And then again completely unplanned, right?
00;08;23;05 - 00;08;26;16
Sandra Velasquez
Like you know how they say it's like, you know, you plan, you know, and God laughs.
00;08;27;22 - 00;08;28;17
Sandra Velasquez
So.
00;08;28;26 - 00;08;46;22
Sandra Velasquez
And so then I was, I knew that like CPG was not actually where I wanted to to, to, to stay, right? I was like, okay, I'm good at this. And actually what I learned and I always want to tell other founders is to like whatever you did before has definitely prepared you for what you're going to do next, even if you don't know exactly how it has in some way.
00;08;46;22 - 00;08;51;29
Sandra Velasquez
And I'm sure that was the case with you, too. Right. It's true. Did not come from CPG. You came from publishing, right?
00;08;51;29 - 00;08;53;11
Djenaba
Right. Exactly.
00;08;53;11 - 00;08;57;23
Sandra Velasquez
But that definitely like whatever you learned and whatever you did there, like I'm sure it is helping you now.
00;08;58;04 - 00;09;03;09
Djenaba
Right. It has completely informed my business and my life.
00;09;03;09 - 00;09;03;24
Sandra Velasquez
Yes.
00;09;04;07 - 00;09;14;02
Sandra Velasquez
Yes. And so, you know, I just I'm like, I don't care if you were a waiter. I don't care if you were like a Broadway if you were a janitor or something that you did before is going to help you in the next thing that you do trust.
00;09;14;10 - 00;09;15;01
Djenaba
Absolutely.
00;09;15;01 - 00;09;47;16
Sandra Velasquez
So I then I became I found myself unemployed because I had to leave a job. And then I was like, great. I'm 43. I have no savings. I have a child. I live in New York. And the answer is not like going and working for yet another brand. That's not going to pay me enough, you know? And so I felt this like lightning bolt of responsibility and like self-responsibility was like, okay, it's time to, like, step into it, Sandra, like, you know, build your own thing.
00;09;48;17 - 00;10;04;15
Sandra Velasquez
And so I really became an entrepreneur and started my brand, I don't wanna say out of desperation, but it felt like I was my back was up against the wall. It's like, okay, I'm in my forties now. Like, if anything's going to change, it's going to be because I have to make a change. It's not going to be it's not coming externally to me.
00;10;04;15 - 00;10;22;28
Sandra Velasquez
It's like I have to make the change. And I because I had been in CPG and a sales rep and in stores and noticed that on store shelves I'm seeing like, you know, like French brands, Italian brand names like if it has a European, Western European name like oh it's expensive and that's yeah, like everyone is like, yeah, that's, that's right.
00;10;23;08 - 00;10;47;26
Sandra Velasquez
And then, but I've seen like no products in that space in like the premium space that are really like marketed to, really speaking to, to me and to the Latino consumer. Mm hmm. And I'm like, why? Because we are the largest minority group. And at the same time, I'm seeing, you know, brands like ALAFIA and like Nubian Heritage and Moisture brands that are, you know, with like really celebrating their African heritage and doing a great job like really overtly on their packaging.
00;10;48;17 - 00;11;14;14
Sandra Velasquez
And I'm like, again, why are there no Latinos doing this? So I really had this lightning bolt moment like, okay, it's going to be me. I'm going to be that person that fills that space because I had the experience and sales. I understand like, you know, the fundamentals that like sales, marketing, you know, branding, distribution and I am an authentic founder like this is my culture and I have already been sharing stories about my culture, you know, for my entire adult life through music.
00;11;14;24 - 00;11;33;17
Sandra Velasquez
And so I really felt like I understood people. And I think that that's really the most important thing when you're going to go create a brand or a company is like understanding people, the people that you're serving through. So that was the lighting bulb moment. That was the summer of 2019, and the first person I called was my designer and I said, I'm going to start this brand.
00;11;33;17 - 00;11;45;28
Sandra Velasquez
I didn't even know what the products were. And so it was like I just knew what the mission was. And I think that's even more important, right? Because you need to know, like, what is this about true and what is the why? And, you know, who are we making this for? And, you know, where is it going to live?
00;11;46;11 - 00;12;04;03
Sandra Velasquez
And that branding process took like a year. So like I worked in silence for a year, like I had to get get another CPG job and I knew that again, it was temporary because I was building at night, on weekends, slowly, like working all the time. And, and then I launched November 2020 and then it took off pretty quickly.
00;12;04;03 - 00;12;11;14
Sandra Velasquez
So then I was able to give my 30 days notice to my last CPG brand that I worked for, I think like four months in.
00;12;12;03 - 00;12;12;26
Djenaba
Oh that's great.
00;12;12;26 - 00;12;15;25
Sandra Velasquez
Yeah. That's really now. Yeah. So, and then here we are.
00;12;16;11 - 00;12;31;29
Djenaba
So I, so I love that you didn't know what you were going to create, but you figured out what space you wanted to be in. So it was just, just because, you know, we're talking, I'm interested, like what made you what beauty products and and, you know, soaps in particular. Like what made you want to create those types of products?
00;12;32;29 - 00;12;45;02
Sandra Velasquez
Well, first of all, the beauty market, right. Is someone that has worked in CPG for food and beverage brands like I know that the margins are so low in for food and bad, right? It is rough. Like when people are like, I'm going to start a beverage brand. I'm like, Really?
00;12;45;14 - 00;12;47;24
Djenaba
Are you sure?
00;12;47;24 - 00;13;07;01
Sandra Velasquez
Like if you're selling something for 299, you have to sell a lot of those to make $1,000,000, you know? So beauty has high margins, which is why you see all celebrities starting beauty brands, right? There's a reason why you don't see all of the famous celebrities starting a drink company. And the reason is their margins are much higher.
00;13;07;01 - 00;13;23;08
Sandra Velasquez
Right. Because it is an aspirational category. Right. We're buying based off of how we how it makes us feel. Right. And so I wanted I knew that I wanted to create some kind of like physical product in the beauty space. I didn't know what the products I was like, am I making facial cleansers? Am I making lotion? I didn't even know.
00;13;23;08 - 00;13;48;26
Sandra Velasquez
I just knew that I'm creating a high end brand for, you know, to celebrate, you know, Latino culture. And I'm going to use the nopal, the cactus as my anchor and my star ingredient and like my springboard for storytelling because it is the most Mexican plant ever. And and so that was really and I knew that I wanted it to be in the premium space because again, there's already plenty of like kitsch and.
00;13;48;26 - 00;14;05;26
Sandra Velasquez
Q And I knew that I was not trying to create an Etsy brand, right? And that is like no shade thrown to people on Etsy. Etsy is great. I go on there to buy. Sometimes there's only things that I can, you know, that I want that are only on Etsy. But I just knew that the opportunity like where can I actually fill the void within the premium space?
00;14;05;26 - 00;14;16;20
Sandra Velasquez
Because that is where I did not see any Latina branded products, you know, that were marketed and branded at that price point. So that to me, it was really about identifying the opportunity.
00;14;18;01 - 00;14;18;11
Sandra Velasquez
I had.
00;14;18;11 - 00;14;20;28
Sandra Velasquez
The brown space opportunity just because, you know, in business.
00;14;21;28 - 00;14;25;00
Sandra Velasquez
In business, people are always like the white space, the white space. I'm like, you.
00;14;25;00 - 00;14;30;26
Sandra Velasquez
Know, what is the brown space look? Because that is where y'all are leaving money on the table. Guys, we spent a lot of money on beauty.
00;14;31;00 - 00;14;51;19
Djenaba
Yeah. I love, like. Okay, so let's I'm going to switch gears a little bit here I am. I took your distro talk class. Yeah, it was really great. It's a variety. Stay up late at night. But other than that.
00;14;52;08 - 00;14;52;23
Sandra Velasquez
Yeah, yeah.
00;14;53;03 - 00;15;12;16
Djenaba
It's just me because I go to bed early. Yeah, but one of the things that I thought was really important was and my biggest takeaway was the way we communicate with people. And I have to imagine that for a food and beverage brand or even a beauty brand, it's the same our commute, the way that we communicate with someone that we want to purchase our product or even to our customer, trying to get up in front of them is really important.
00;15;12;26 - 00;15;15;23
Djenaba
And you speak a little bit about the importance of communication.
00;15;15;23 - 00;15;34;24
Sandra Velasquez
Yes, that is the magic. The magic is in the communication. And I like to remind people that clarity and brevity are your best friends. Yeah. Okay. Like, you know, if you're confused, you lose, like, what is this and what do you want? Like like, please get to the point, like, and people think that they're being rude by writing short emails.
00;15;34;24 - 00;15;50;11
Sandra Velasquez
And I'm like, the most respectful thing that you can do when you were writing a buyer is to be brief, because if you think that people have time to read three paragraphs in an email you are in, you have no idea what their life is like. So this is where, you know, it really is about empathy. You know, it really comes back to empathy.
00;15;50;11 - 00;15;58;12
Sandra Velasquez
It's like, can you put yourself in their shoes, you know, pretend that you were the buyer at Whole Foods? There is one of them and there are hundreds of you, you know. So.
00;15;58;17 - 00;16;05;23
Djenaba
So you mean no one wants to hear all about my organic free range farm for farm to table or.
00;16;05;23 - 00;16;11;10
Sandra Velasquez
Whatever we do? But maybe later you know, so.
00;16;12;20 - 00;16;29;19
Sandra Velasquez
You know, like, I just I'm bored with Whole Foods, New York City right this month. And now I'm just hitting shelves. Just 12 stores just to start is like a test. And there was no there was no anything. There was like literally like the buyer reached out to me on LinkedIn based off of how the product looked. I think this will I think this will work really great in our SAT.
00;16;29;20 - 00;16;37;12
Sandra Velasquez
Can you send me your info, your ingredient info? Here it is. Next thing I know, fill out these forms, you know? And I'm like, so are we onboarding.
00;16;37;22 - 00;16;39;11
Sandra Velasquez
What is happening right now.
00;16;39;11 - 00;16;58;13
Sandra Velasquez
You know? In other words, there was no like, let me tell you my story. Let me give you my pitch deck. There was no trade. They were like, This looks great. We want this in our set. Let's talk money, right? And like, boom, right? I mean, yes, that's amazing onboarding, but it was but there was no you know, and again, I think it just really speaks to your product has to stand for itself.
00;16;58;13 - 00;17;10;11
Sandra Velasquez
Right. And even if you are using the pitch that it's mostly like pictures and big numbers and you are narrating, you know, and no one wants to no one reads, you know. So I think.
00;17;10;11 - 00;17;11;19
Djenaba
No one reads. Yeah.
00;17;12;02 - 00;17;21;11
Sandra Velasquez
You know, and even like when I when I worked at Barnard College, people would come into my office all the time. Excuse me? Where the bathroom and like, literally, gentlemen, I had a sign on my door that said, the bathroom is this way, and.
00;17;21;11 - 00;17;22;07
Sandra Velasquez
People still.
00;17;23;03 - 00;17;23;18
Sandra Velasquez
Did not.
00;17;23;18 - 00;17;26;25
Sandra Velasquez
Read. Right. And so I just want to remind.
00;17;26;25 - 00;17;42;09
Sandra Velasquez
People, like, don't expect anyone to read the right, but anyone to remember that you wrote them, don't take it personally when people don't write you back. So, you know, empathy, right? It sounds like, well, how do what does that mean? Right. It just means like you have to undo it. You have to put yourself in the other person's shoes.
00;17;42;09 - 00;18;00;23
Sandra Velasquez
Like when you are selling something, it is not about trying to convince people to see things your way is about telling them what the opportunity is for them, what's in it for them. And that goes to whether you were talking to a buyer or whether you're talking to your customer. Right. What is in it for them? Like if I want to join your food space, what am I going to get out of it?
00;18;00;23 - 00;18;14;19
Sandra Velasquez
That's what I want to know, right? Maybe one day I'll go and look and read your story on the wall once I'm in. Okay. But I want to know, like, what is it like? How much does it cost? What do I get? Like, what? The hours, you know, like, tell me the things that I need to know for me, you know?
00;18;14;24 - 00;18;36;12
Sandra Velasquez
And so I think that's really important for people to to remember that. And the way that we talk is also we change our language based off of who we're talking to. Right. If you're talking to investor, we're talking about different things. We're talking about you're talking about different things. Everyone's always about like their again, their needs, right? The investor needs to know how are they going to make their money back and how same, right.
00;18;36;12 - 00;18;42;11
Sandra Velasquez
The buyer needs to know what are we going to do to support sales. Right. And our customers need to know like, what does this do for my skin.
00;18;43;29 - 00;18;44;08
Sandra Velasquez
Right?
00;18;44;15 - 00;18;49;01
Sandra Velasquez
Everyone needs to know different things. But again, you to put yourself in their shoes. And that's that's what I mean by empathy.
00;18;49;10 - 00;19;09;27
Djenaba
Yeah, that's that's such, such important points. Thank you. I have to tell you one thing I do. They are when I go to the grocery store is I'm like, okay, this is out of stock. And I'm like movie like I was, I can't remember what product it was, but it was it was definitely like a small brand. And I remember moving the cardboard back to like see if there was more product behind it and there wasn't.
00;19;09;27 - 00;19;13;29
Djenaba
And I was sad, but like, I really like, I literally walk around and turn labels around.
00;19;14;02 - 00;19;15;28
Sandra Velasquez
Yes, yes. Merchandizing.
00;19;16;01 - 00;19;16;24
Djenaba
Merchandizing.
00;19;16;24 - 00;19;18;01
Sandra Velasquez
Oh, my God. I love it.
00;19;18;27 - 00;19;21;20
Sandra Velasquez
Yes. They every all customers help out here.
00;19;21;20 - 00;19;22;20
Sandra Velasquez
Okay. It's true.
00;19;22;20 - 00;19;39;24
Djenaba
It's really one we want to support them for sure. So let's talk about building your brand a little bit more. I think that is really interesting that you took the time a year to figure out kind of what you wanted to do and where you wanted to go. Can you give us a little some tips on brand building?
00;19;40;09 - 00;19;57;13
Sandra Velasquez
Yes, brand building is like I'm a very visual person, so I like to explain, like give people visuals. You know, in New York, right, when you walk down the street, you see like a construction site where it's like, you know, boarded up and there's like a little hole where you can see what's happening inside. And you see there's like a big hole in the ground.
00;19;57;13 - 00;20;18;00
Sandra Velasquez
And, like, people are working, like, clearly building the foundation, but you have no idea. And that's usually like a picture somewhere that says like condo coming soon, right? Right. Starting in the low two millions. Right. But that that part is like is is the magic is like is that foundational work when no one can see what it is, no one knows how pretty it's going to be like.
00;20;18;00 - 00;20;35;21
Sandra Velasquez
No one really cares because it's all boarded up. You know, there's no applause, there's no money yet. And so that brand building work, you know, me taking a year to really work on the brand and I'm talking about, you know, not just we're not talking about like we made a logo and it took a year, right? You're talking about like, what is the mission of this brand?
00;20;35;21 - 00;21;00;15
Sandra Velasquez
What are our core values? What are the things that we stand for? What are the things that we do not stand for? Right. Like you never hear me talk about anti-aging, for example, in our messaging because it's on my do not we do not stand for this list. All right. So I really compare it to like writing a religion, you know, like you have to be a fanatic, like about your brand, about what it stands for, what it means, because everything that you do once you launch comes from there, right?
00;21;00;17 - 00;21;21;05
Sandra Velasquez
Like you don't need to. It shouldn't be difficult to come up with like messaging or Instagram post or emails because it's literally all stemming from that foundation. You're just saying the same things over and over. You're educating people about this or you know, and so really doing those exercises and then also, yes, working on the copy that's going to go on the products.
00;21;21;05 - 00;21;40;08
Sandra Velasquez
Right. That is also part of the brand. Right. Because that's also you know, your brand is ultimately like how does it make people feel? That's what that's what a brand is. Right. And really understanding what you're actually selling is really important. Right. Like Nike does not sell shoes. They sell excellence. True. Right. Like, I don't really sell soap.
00;21;40;08 - 00;22;00;27
Sandra Velasquez
I sell cultural pride, you know. And so to really understanding like what you're really selling because again, that's also going to help you as you market your product and talk to your audience and your customer base. And and then the branding did take you know, nine months because a good designer will present you with like five different options and ways that it could go.
00;22;00;27 - 00;22;16;26
Sandra Velasquez
And they were all radically different. So this is not five versions of what you see today. This is like five completely different directions. That could have been the brand. And, you know, once we selected a direction, then we're like refining and tweaking, you know, like what we call our cactus goddess. You know, we were like, Can you make her darker?
00;22;16;26 - 00;22;40;13
Sandra Velasquez
Can you make her look less mad? Can you, like, raise your eyebrows a little bit? You know, all of this tweaking and then now we're talking about, you know, how we put it onto the packaging, right? Like laying it out and like getting, you know, color dropdowns and like making sure that the colors are correct and which side of the paper are we going to print on all of these things ultimately, like is about, again, how it makes the customer feel when they hold and look at your product.
00;22;40;26 - 00;22;47;13
Sandra Velasquez
So that takes a long time. You know, if you're if your brand is done like in a day, I would be worried.
00;22;47;29 - 00;22;49;01
Sandra Velasquez
Yeah, I'm like.
00;22;49;13 - 00;23;07;20
Sandra Velasquez
Unless it was like 20 white people around the table and you really like stayed up all night, you know, to come up with all the messaging and everything and the design. Okay, then maybe. Right. But it does usually take some time for a really if you're really interested in building like an iconic brand, right. Because my desire was to never have to rebrand, ever.
00;23;07;25 - 00;23;22;26
Sandra Velasquez
Right. Which is I see a lot of brands do that. They come right and they're like, okay, this is good. You know, I paid for my logo and like, we're at a launch and then like, you know, two years later they're like, now we have to rebrand because we realize that, you know, this is confusing to our customer or this is not really correct, right?
00;23;22;26 - 00;23;26;10
Sandra Velasquez
I don't want to ever rebrand like I'm done.
00;23;26;10 - 00;23;27;01
Sandra Velasquez
We spent the nine.
00;23;27;01 - 00;23;29;22
Sandra Velasquez
Months and now we're going right like now this ship is moving.
00;23;30;09 - 00;23;45;00
Djenaba
I think it's so important because it's like very much foundational work in it also helps inform who you hire. But it is a very it's a very clear here's our vision, here's our brand, here's what we stand for and it doesn't work for you are not like, are you going to be the right fit for our company or not?
00;23;45;00 - 00;23;49;06
Djenaba
Are we the right fit for you? I kind of it just makes so, so much sense.
00;23;49;06 - 00;23;56;10
Sandra Velasquez
It helps with everything, right? So it's like, yes, it dictates like who you're going to bring onto your bus and which is that's a whole other podcast episode like.
00;23;56;20 - 00;23;57;01
Sandra Velasquez
Everyone.
00;23;57;01 - 00;24;10;15
Sandra Velasquez
Should be very, very particular about who they bring on their bus. Right. And I'm saying that as like a former like touring musician. Yes. Like, okay, you're going to sit in this bus, you know, like in this band for like, you know, 15 hours. You need to like those. You need to love those people. Right? Right, right. Okay.
00;24;10;15 - 00;24;29;22
Sandra Velasquez
To be everyone needs to be aligned and like why you're doing this and where you're going, because there's so many studies that show like it's not even about people's resumes. It's like they have to be aligned with the mission. Right. And because people can learn how to do things, you know, but like, are you down with this? Like, are we looking in the same direction?
00;24;30;02 - 00;24;31;22
Sandra Velasquez
Because that's the most important thing.
00;24;32;17 - 00;24;34;23
Djenaba
That is so, so true.
00;24;34;23 - 00;24;35;22
Sandra Velasquez
Yeah, that's true.
00;24;36;14 - 00;24;53;25
Djenaba
So, Sandra, I'm going to I'm we have something at Hudson Kitchen called the money bell and I rent we bring the money bell when we're celebrating something that sometimes it's new business. Sometimes it's just I don't know, some people bring it when they get their paychecks. We have our employees there, but I'm winning. What are you celebrating right now?
00;24;53;25 - 00;24;55;09
Sandra Velasquez
Oh, first of all.
00;24;55;18 - 00;24;56;27
Sandra Velasquez
I want to have a money bell in my hand.
00;24;57;01 - 00;25;04;24
Djenaba
You got to get one. Okay. I was like on Amazon, I think it's like 40 bucks and it's like silver. And we like it literally is so loud. You just ring it, ring it, ring in.
00;25;05;11 - 00;25;06;17
Sandra Velasquez
My little lady hate me.
00;25;06;17 - 00;25;07;21
Sandra Velasquez
But I love this idea.
00;25;08;27 - 00;25;32;27
Sandra Velasquez
I love it. Maybe I'll get a gong, because. There you go. Quiet. Yeah. The money. The money gone. Okay, so what am I celebrating? Well, you know, I honestly, to me, it's a practice like to remember for all of us, right? That are business owners that we have to celebrate our our progress and our wins. And and I like to document it because it's really easy for us to get caught up in the day to day minutia.
00;25;32;27 - 00;25;40;17
Sandra Velasquez
And you feel like sometimes you feel like you're not going anywhere. Right? Right. But then I look back to like when my life was like three months ago and yeah, we are going places, right?
00;25;40;19 - 00;25;42;03
Sandra Velasquez
So I could.
00;25;42;03 - 00;26;04;23
Sandra Velasquez
Do I always want to go faster, of course, but that's just because I'm impatient, right? So, you know, what am I celebrating now? I'm celebrating honestly. Like, just me. My like, my mindset level up is, you know, I mean, to even celebrate, right? It doesn't have to be like a physical thing that you're celebrating, you know, because, you know, as I mentioned to you before, we started this podcast, like I was previously just working off a small working capital loan, right?
00;26;04;23 - 00;26;20;29
Sandra Velasquez
And like chugging along and I was like, and then I'm seeing like people raising millions of dollars for a brand that hasn't even launched. And I'm like, You know what? We've already proven concept. We're already in like 400 stores. I've been in 50 magazines, I've been on NBC, The Today Show. I'm actually coming out in The New York Times this Sunday.
00;26;21;01 - 00;26;21;23
Djenaba
Amazing.
00;26;21;23 - 00;26;39;09
Sandra Velasquez
Keep an eye out for the Sun routine section. I'll be there. And you know, we have loyal fans. I'm like, okay, we need we need a cash infusion. So I'm celebrating the fact that I have now leveled up in my mind that we deserve more and we don't need to wait to ask for it, that there are people out there that want to help us grow, that believe in us.
00;26;39;22 - 00;26;47;07
Sandra Velasquez
And so now so that's something that I'm currently celebrating like today that I'm like, okay, I'm going to go out and raise $1,000,000 by September.
00;26;47;20 - 00;26;48;09
Djenaba
Fantastic.
00;26;48;09 - 00;26;48;26
Sandra Velasquez
I mean.
00;26;49;21 - 00;26;50;29
Djenaba
I bet you raise more.
00;26;50;29 - 00;26;51;10
Sandra Velasquez
Okay.
00;26;52;03 - 00;26;54;06
Sandra Velasquez
From your mouth to God's ears, then I'm okay.
00;26;54;06 - 00;26;55;29
Djenaba
Seriously? Seriously.
00;26;56;00 - 00;26;57;07
Sandra Velasquez
Okay. Yes.
00;26;57;16 - 00;27;01;01
Sandra Velasquez
Like bring on the 3 million here and there. You guys. It you know.
00;27;01;08 - 00;27;03;08
Djenaba
We're going to level up the money that we're going to ask for.
00;27;03;16 - 00;27;08;06
Sandra Velasquez
Yes. Thank you. It's all happening right here live on this podcast, y'all. That's right. You are witnessing this.
00;27;08;06 - 00;27;30;23
Sandra Velasquez
Level up right here, real time because. Yes. And so that is you know, you have to believe in yourself before other people do. And that's a constant lesson for any entrepreneur. Right. So that's I'm celebrating that. I think that's that's the biggest thing. And, you know, just little things like I hired someone to help me, like, redecorate my bedroom because I work in at home.
00;27;30;23 - 00;27;40;08
Sandra Velasquez
And so I'm either like sitting here at this desk, which is my living room, which is where I work. And then my bedroom was just ignored and I would just like, you know, it looks like a college bedroom, right?
00;27;40;08 - 00;27;41;26
Sandra Velasquez
I'm like, I'm 35, okay?
00;27;41;26 - 00;27;58;03
Sandra Velasquez
I really I need a real bedside table, okay. Because my my partner is a musician, right? So, like, this is embarrassing. Like both of our bedside tables work on, you know, like the boxed room, you know, that was her bedside table. I was like, well, we are not in college, okay? So, you know, he was like, I have a gig.
00;27;58;03 - 00;28;00;15
Sandra Velasquez
I have to take the bedside table. I was like, This is unacceptable.
00;28;00;16 - 00;28;03;03
Sandra Velasquez
Okay, so.
00;28;03;27 - 00;28;15;07
Sandra Velasquez
So, so I hired someone, you know, so that was like a good decision because I was like, I need my bedroom to be a sanctuary because it's like I work all the time. Yes, I want to walk into my bedroom and I want to feel like I'm walking into a spa.
00;28;15;26 - 00;28;17;00
Djenaba
Yes, that's amazing.
00;28;17;00 - 00;28;38;25
Sandra Velasquez
So I'm celebrating that. So every time I walk in, I'm like, this is a good decision. Like, it's still in process right now. I'm celebrating that. I'm coming out of the New York Times, the sun, you know, and and really, honestly, it's just like a daily practice of of maintaining mental health and staying focused and and clarity. It's really easy to get pulled in a million directions.
00;28;38;25 - 00;28;43;28
Sandra Velasquez
It's true. So I'm celebrating that I hired an executive assistant. That's life changing.
00;28;44;03 - 00;28;46;01
Djenaba
Yay! So good.
00;28;46;08 - 00;28;46;17
Sandra Velasquez
Yeah.
00;28;47;14 - 00;28;49;04
Sandra Velasquez
So lots of things to celebrate.
00;28;49;04 - 00;28;53;07
Djenaba
Honestly, I'm so happy for you. This is. This is amazing. This is so great.
00;28;53;07 - 00;28;54;16
Sandra Velasquez
Somebody ring the money bell for me?
00;28;54;16 - 00;29;05;21
Djenaba
Yes, exactly. I will for sure. We'll ring it for you when I get to the office. So where can our listeners find you and find out about your courses and masterclasses that you have going on?
00;29;05;28 - 00;29;23;14
Sandra Velasquez
Yes, I am like all over the all over these Internet stories, but it's really out of control. I was like, How is it that I have five Instagram accounts? This is unacceptable. I really need to just like pare it down here. So I, you know, if you're looking for my brand, right, and if I let out, you can just Google that.
00;29;23;14 - 00;29;47;12
Sandra Velasquez
No political that will come up. It's also our Instagram handle. You know my for food and beverage founders you know distro one, two, one. The class that I teach is you can find that at a destroyed tor.com and you can join the waitlist for the next class. This is the last year that I'm teaching the class live. That's my plan is to start teaching the class because now I'm running my own business and also now teaching beauty founders about that industry.
00;29;48;17 - 00;29;52;29
Sandra Velasquez
So definitely if anyone is has questions about distribution like 2022 is the year, y'all like.
00;29;53;27 - 00;29;54;13
Sandra Velasquez
Okay.
00;29;54;13 - 00;30;16;14
Sandra Velasquez
And then I recently launched, you know, my own website under my full name, Sandra Lilia Velasquez, where I'm trying to provide resources for both food and beverage and library founders. And I have a, like a private entrepreneurial newsletter that I send out. I'm just like, it's just real talk and resources. I'm just like sharing things as I'm moving through, building my own brand because again, like, that's the most valuable thing.
00;30;16;14 - 00;30;21;06
Sandra Velasquez
Like, we need to hear from people that are in the trenches. Like, tell me what it's really like to work with Nordstrom.
00;30;21;17 - 00;30;21;24
Sandra Velasquez
Let me.
00;30;21;27 - 00;30;22;20
Sandra Velasquez
I'm going to tell you the.
00;30;22;20 - 00;30;23;09
Sandra Velasquez
Truth. Right.
00;30;23;09 - 00;30;24;06
Sandra Velasquez
And it's not going to be what you.
00;30;24;06 - 00;30;25;00
Djenaba
Think, right?
00;30;25;21 - 00;30;34;02
Sandra Velasquez
You know, that's that's the stuff that I love to share with other founders is is the truth and then the nitty gritty. Right. So so those are all the places. Yeah.
00;30;34;25 - 00;30;36;07
Djenaba
Thank you. Thank you so much.
00;30;37;13 - 00;30;38;10
Sandra Velasquez
Thank you.
Description text goes here
Connect with Sandra
Recommendations from the episode: