In 2019, Sandra Velasquez, a longtime musician most recently with the band Pistoleravisited her family in California and realized she needed a change.
There, she learned how to make soap. The recipe calls for aloe vera, which she doesn’t have. But her mother’s yard is teeming with nopals, a type of cactus that’s also a common ingredient in Mexican cuisine. She replaced aloe with nopal and was pleased with the results.
That’s when Ms. Velasquez had a lightbulb moment: She was going to start a natural botanical company based on cactus.
“It always bothers me that there aren’t any high-end Mexican beauty products,” she says, especially considering that Latest census data shows that there are 62 million Hispanic or Latino residents in the country.
She started Nopalera right before the pandemic hit, operating out of her Brooklyn home. Now her lotions, scrubs and soaps are sold in independent stores as well as in Nordstrom.
Velasquez, 45, lives in Kensington, Brooklyn, with her 14-year-old daughter and her partner, Sean Dixon, 45, a musician.
STRETCH, BERRIES I wake up naturally around 8 a.m., I try to warm up with a quick stretch, like 5 to 10 minutes, or whatever the coach has taught me. Lately, I’ve been trying to focus on eating a healthy breakfast, nothing big, like oatmeal and berries. I’m trying to have a better morning routine, because before, I didn’t eat a full breakfast and I was tired all day. Like I would check my email first and then eat something and I just can’t do that anymore. For the past four months, I have been trying to turn myself around and follow the path of good energy and wisdom.
QUICK CLEANING I like to go straight out of the house on Sundays. I don’t do a deep clean, I just want to clear things up. You’d better prepare the house and make it look decent.
CLARITY If it’s a nice day, I’ll 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 opens its gates near me every day, so that’s great. It was quiet there, almost no people. Usually, I’m out for about 30 minutes to an hour. Sometimes I walk and talk and jot down notes on my phone, but mostly I get my sanity by staring at the trees.
THE MARKET OF BRICKING My business was expanding so rapidly that I was at a point where I needed new capital to be able to purchase inventory. The good news is that some investors have now reached out to me, but they are always asking for additional information and updates so I have to work on my pitch all the time.
SQUAD SUCCESS Then I messaged my group of CEOs, regarding some of the minority women I met during a seminar for entrepreneurs. I need to surround myself with other people in the same boat. They are all badasses and we are each other’s listening council. We lived in different places so we started seeing each other every few months and treated it like a retreat. The next trip will be in Colorado. I am so glad I found my “Success Team”. They are wonderful women who always keep me going.
INSIDER INFORMATION 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 a lot of minorities, especially Latinos, who need to know how capitalism works. I have no secret. I’ll tell you how I grew my business, what mistakes I made, and how I wish I had known. It allows people to access information and has a lot to tell.
DAY TRAVEL Time to get out of the house! I’m trying to be a tourist in my own city. I’ll pick a random place to go, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, because I can and should visit it. I recently went to Governor’s Island with my partner, Sean. We walked around and enjoyed the view. Then we ate noodles for dinner in Chinatown.
EATING Back home in the evening, it’s time to lie down and relax. Sometimes, I would drink water on my front porch; Other times I watch a movie. I keep a diary and plan for the next week. I have a “No Mondays” policy at my company, so I look at what I can get done the next day before all my meetings start on Tuesday. It’s really surprising that I’ve been a musician and a night owl for so many years, because now it turns off the lights around 10 p.m.
Sunday Routine readers can follow Ms Velasquez on Instagram at @official.lv and her company is active on @nopalera.co.
