In 2019, Sandra Velasquez, a longtime musician, most recently with the band Pistolera, visited her family in California and realized she had to change something.
There she learned to make soap. The recipes called for aloe vera, which she didn’t have. But her mother’s garden had a lot of nopal, a type of cactus that is also a common ingredient in Mexican cuisine. She replaced the aloe vera with nopal and was pleased with the results.
That’s when Ms. Velasquez had a lightbulb moment: She was going to start a cactus-based natural botanicals company.
“It always bothered me that there are no high-quality Mexican beauty products,” she said, especially when you consider that the latest census figures show that there are 62 million Hispanic or Latino residents in the country.
She started Nopalera just before the pandemic and based her operations from her home in Brooklyn. Now her balms, exfoliants and soaps are sold in independent boutiques as well as in Nordstrom.
Ms. Velasquez, 45, lives in Kensington, Brooklyn, with her 14-year-old daughter and her partner, Sean Dixon, 45, a musician.
STRETCH, BERRIES Of course I wake up around 8am. I try to warm up my body with a quick stretch, like five to ten minutes, or whatever my trainer taught me. Recently I’ve been trying to focus on eating a healthy breakfast, nothing big like oatmeal and berries. I try to have a better morning routine because in the past I didn’t have a good breakfast and I was tired all day. Like I would check emails first and then eat something and I can’t do that anymore. For the past four months I’ve been trying to turn myself around and get on a path of good energy and brainpower.
QUICK CLEAN I like to clean up the house on Sundays. I don’t do a deep cleaning, just want to get things out of the way. It feels better to prepare the house and make it look decent.
BRIGHTNESS If it’s a nice day, I go for a walk. Sometimes I wander my neighborhood or go to Green-Wood Cemetery because it’s so close. Since the pandemic, the cemetery opened its gates to my area every day, so that was great. It is quiet there, with hardly any people. I am usually gone for about 30 minutes to an hour. Sometimes I walk and talk and take notes on my phone, but most of the time I get clarity by staring at the trees.
MARKET READY My business has grown so fast that I’m at the point where I need new capital to buy inventory. The good news is that some investors have come to me now, but they are always asking for additional and updated information, so I have to work on my pitch deck all the time.
SUCCESS SQUAD Then I text my CEO team, involving several minority women I met at an entrepreneurial seminar. I have to surround myself with other people in the same boat. They are all badasses and we are each other’s listeners. We live in different places, so we start meeting every few months and consider it a refuge. The next one should be in Colorado. I’m so glad I found my “Success Squad”. They are incredible women who keep me going.
INSIDER INFO Then I work on my newsletter. It is for anyone who wants to know how to start a business with $1,000. I didn’t go to business school, and there are plenty of minorities, especially Latinas, who need to know how capitalism works. I have no secrets. I’ll let you know how I’ve grown my business, what mistakes I’ve made, and what I’d like to know. It gives people access to information and there is so much to tell.
TOURIST FOR THE DAY It’s time to get out of the house! I’m trying to be a tourist in my own city. I will pick a random place to go, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, because I can and must visit. Recently I went to Governors Island with my partner Sean. We walked around and enjoyed the view. Then we ate noodles in Chinatown.
MEETING DRINKS Back home in the evening, time to lounge and unwind. Sometimes I have a drink on my porch; other times I watch a movie. I write in my diary and plan my next week. I have a “No Meetings on Monday” policy in my company, so I’m looking to see what I can do the next day before all my meetings start on Tuesday. It’s really amazing how many years I was a musician and a night owl because now the light is out around 10pm
Sunday Routine readers can follow Ms. Velasquez on Instagram at @officials.lv and her business at @nopalera.co.
