Sandra Velasquez
Founder, Nopalera
Nopalera Founder, Sandra Velasquez
It is said that constraint can breed creativity. This was certainly the case for Sandra Velasquez, who a few years ago found herself unemployed and with no savings. During this time, she began to ideate a beauty brand rooted in her Mexican heritage and in the iconic cultural symbol, the cactus. Her brand eventually became Nopalera, a Mexican botanicals bath and body-care line. As Sandra shares, “The idea for Nopalera was born from a place of discomfort. I was at a crossroads in my life.” Yet, Sandra’s firm belief in the impact a brand like Nopalera could have on the skincare market, elevating and celebrating Mexican culture, propelled her forward. Four years since the launch of Nopalera, the brand is now stocked at more than 700 retail doors, including boutiques, clean beauty retailer Credo Beauty, and notable U.S. retail giants such as Nordstrom and Kohl’s with plans for international expansion in 2025. Sandra sat down with Falta and shared her journey to founding Nopalera.
“The big, bold vision behind Nopalera was to build an aspirational brand that would disrupt the historically Eurocentric beauty space.”
Nopalera is a Latina owned brand, championioning the richness of Mexican heritage
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The building blocks
I launched Nopalera in the middle of the [COVID-19] pandemic. The idea for Nopalera was born from a place of discomfort. I was at a crossroads in my life. At the age of forty-three, I found myself unemployed, with no savings [and had amassed] credit card and student loan debt. And I was a single mother to a thirteen year old. It was one of those moments where either I was going to keep doing the same thing which got me here or I was going to do something completely different. At that moment, I felt compelled to build. It was time to build something big. The big, bold vision behind Nopalera was to build an aspirational Latina brand that would disrupt the historically eurocentric beauty space which has been dominated by western European brands. The only problem was that I had no money to start a business and I was a beauty industry outsider. So, how was I going to get these products made? I didn’t even know what the product was going to be initially. I just knew what the mission of the brand was. I enrolled in formulation school because I didn’t know how to find chemists and co-packers, nor could I afford them. So I studied for one year, got other jobs to support myself and [in parallel] began to build the brand. I worked on the branding for one year with my designer. Thankfully, she agreed to a payment plan for the branding because I didn’t have the money to fund the branding or art work. I’m very proud to say that I built my brand on a payment plan and launched [Nopalera] on November 2, 2020. It was like a magnet, really just validating that the community was long overdue and ready for a brand like Nopalera.
Establishing a network
I had no beauty industry or venture capital network, so I had to build it. I applied to each accelerator, pitch competition and grant. That’s how I built my network. Many of my competitors in my category have all worked at the big brands and that makes sense. You work for a big brand and then you say, ‘I’m going to go start my own brand’ because now you know how it works and you have the contacts. I started from zero. I’ve now raised institutional capital but I don’t think that was even on my radar when I first launched. I had no idea how this was going to go. Everything has exceeded my expectations of what I thought was possible and in a short amount of time.
Navigating the business landscape
You can only change the pitch deck so many times to acquiesce to people and their concerns. We’ve had retailers tell us we can’t be on shelves because they view us as an item brand, meaning we don’t have enough SKUs to justify shelf space. Meanwhile, investors want to see a tight SKU assortment and don’t want too many SKUs because they want to see that you have a hero SKU (a flagship product). There’s a lot of opinions and at some point you need to decide [how to move forward], based on the traction you’re having, the data and what you know is working.
Investing in yourself
A lot of people struggle with this idea that it’s somehow too late. Oftentimes, you graduate from college, you get a job, and say to yourself ‘Well, here I am’. So you don’t feel compelled or think it’s possible to start over and do something completely different. There are so many examples of people who decided to build their empires later in life - Julia Childs, Vera Wang, and others. And this idea that somehow you have to be 25 and have it all figured out is just not true. It also speaks to the power we all have within us [and that is that] if you commit to investing in yourself, you can always learn something new.
Nopalera products are powered by the nopal (cactus), with precious oils carefully extracted from the seeds of the nopal to create bold, rich products
“I’ve gotten so much input on all sides that it can get really noisy. At some point you have to say, ‘This is who we are and this is what we’re doing’.”
Leveraging your strengths
Before [Nopalera], I used to be a professional musician. I was the lead singer for a Latin band called Pistolera. We toured internationally and released albums. I’m comfortable giving interviews, being on stage and being in front of the mic. So this is not new to me. It’s just now, [I’m doing it] for a different brand. People often comment when they see me pitch that I seem so comfortable. It’s because I’ve been doing this for 20 years. Not pitching, but I’ve been selling the culture and getting people to fall in love with the vision and to buy in, throughout my entire adult life.
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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
