Sandra Velasquez is the Mexican-American founder of Nopalera, an iconic and culture forward Bath & Body brand that celebrates and elevates Latino culture and Latinx goods. Sandra launched Nopalera in the middle of the pandemic from her Brooklyn apartment with no outside funding or savings while working as a CPG sales & distribution manager in New York City. The brand attracted dream retailers like Nordstrom, Credo, Free People, and over 350 influential boutiques nationwide in its first full year and has been featured on NBC's The Today Show, Telemundo, and over sixty national publications. She is the winner of the Valde Latinx Entrepreneur Grant, the Clean Beauty Summer School Pitch Grant, a finalist for the Black Ambition Prize, and won Latino Start-Up of the year at the L’attitude Match Up Conference. She is in this year’s Cosmopolitan x Undivided New C Suite and is currently participating in the Stanford LBAN Cohort 14 and True Beauty Ventures Bridge Mentorship Program. She raised 2.7 Million in her oversubscribed seed round in preparation for partnering with a national beauty retailer. Additionally, Velasquez hosts The Nopalera Podcast which chronicles her journey of building her brand in real time while sharing the stories of others in her community to inspire other entrepreneurs. In her spare time, she mentors other Latina founders.

In this episode, you'll hear about Sandra's journey in creating Nopalera, becoming a full-time entrepreneur, and staying true to her roots.

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