Our Work
We a Panchitas Place wish to bring to light an empowering movement of strong Mexican women who are breaking barriers in a male dominated field. These are their stories that we hope will continue to promote equality for all people, that yes we can too. We have always been proud to work with select vendors that help us keep our traditions and culture. Now more than ever we are proud to be Mexicans, Daughters & Sons of Panchita.
Yola Jimenez
Yola Mezcal
Yola Jimenez Is Making Mezcal With Women’s Empowerment in Mind.
Handcrafted and organic, YOLA Mezcal follows a distinctive recipe from 1971 passed down to Yola Jimenez’s grandfather.
As granddaughter and cofounder, she and her cofounders Lykke Li and Gina Correll Aglietti preserve the 400-year-old tradition of artisanal mezcal making and distilling on the premises of their farm.
Founded and run by women, YOLA Mezcal’s all-female hand-bottling facility is proud to promote autonomy and economic independence for their partners in Oaxaca and across borders.
Its all-female operation also prioritizes offering childcare and direct pay for all workers.
Sources: emperifolla magazine, weallgrowlatina,
Ana Maria Romero Mena is one of the first Official Catadores of Tequila and is widely regarded as one of the most trusted, respected, and awarded tequila authorities in Mexico. In an industry tied to doing things how they have always been done, Ana Maria Romero Mena is known for making up her own traditions. In 2007, Ana Maria published The Aromas of Tequila: The Art of Tasting, which identifies the various sensory notes found in tequila and explains how each scent develops over time.
Mijenta Tequila joined forces with Women's Earth Alliance, Women’s Earth Alliance.
WEA has a longstanding commitment to supporting women in the food and agriculture industry. In 2006, 30 women from 26 countries met in Mexico City to create a framework for transforming the world. Although women make up almost half of the world’s farmers and produce more than half of the world’s food, they own only a small percentage of the land and often have little to no control over the land, farm inputs or distribution of profits from sales of their products. WEA’s previous work in Mexico has included a partnership to help Indigenous women in 4 states across the country secure rights to their traditional lands and protect them from being developed by the Mexican government. The program supported land rights training for an emerging national network of Mexican Indigenous women advocating for their rights to land and property.
Ana Maria Romero
Mijenta Tequila
sources: pursuitist.com, mijenta-tequila.com
Melly Barajas Cardenas
La Gritona & Leyenda de Mexico
Melly Barajas Cárdenas has built a growing distillery business with a work force made up almost entirely of women.
In 1999, she opened her own distillery, Raza Azteca, in Jalisco. At the time, according to an estimate from Mexico’s Tequila Regulatory Council, which certifies tequilas with designations of origin, eight or nine of the 79 tequila producers were women. (Today, the number is 12 of 152, or 8 percent.)
“To be a woman in this industry requires a lot of work,” Ms. Barajas Cárdenas said. “It’s a man’s world. When I started, people told me: ‘A woman in this industry? You will not make it.’ I grew off of those comments.”
​It’s been 25 years since Barajas took on the male-dominated industry, and now she’s considered a leader and mentor.
sources: nytimesmagazine
Bertha González Nieves is co-founder & CEO at Casa Dragones. She is a Mexican business woman, whose career is rooted in the consumer luxury goods market. Forbes identified her as one of the 50 most powerful women in Mexico.
She has been named one of Mexico’s top young business women by Revista Expansión, Mexico’s leading business magazine. Fortune featured her as the most innovative woman of food and wine.
Previously, González Nieves was a top executive at Grupo Jose Cuervo International, the largest tequila company in the world, when in 2007 she decided to go small.
She is the first woman to be certified as ‘Maestra Tequilera’ by the Academia Mexicana de Catadores de Tequila, the organization recognized by The Tequila Regulatory Council.
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"It doesn’t matter if you’re a man going into a woman’s industry or a woman going into a man’s industry, have passion for your idea or brand, and you will inspire other people to have passion for it as well."
Bertha Gonzales Nieves
Bertha Gonzàles Nieves
Casa Dragones
Sources: natfluence.com
Dafna Mizrahi & Melissa Del Savio
Enter Dafna Mizrahi and Melissa Del Savio. Dafna, a Mexican chef, restaurateur, winner of ‘Chopped’, and a woman of influence by the age of 27. Melissa, an industry insider and fashionista who came up 'behind the stick'. Today, she’s a respected aficionado of all things sales and distribution—and what’s crave-worthy behind the world’s most notable spirit brands.
With roots in Mexico, upstate New York, and the Deep South, this power duo's vision has been to create a genre-bending, wellness-driven, lifestyle brand. An authentic juice from Jalisco that is true to Dafna's Mexican heritage and Melissa’s experience. A beautiful tequila that stands out in a sea of brands synonymous with mediocrity and machismo in the U.S.
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​Trailblazing a new way to tequila while remaining rooted in authentic Mexican heritage—that’s the Curamia way.
Sources: curamiatequila.com
Curamia Tequila
Lucy Pistolas our part of the newest line up.
As describe by her creators, She is a symbol of the ongoing fight for women to be respected, recognized and valued for their contributions.
Women during the Mexican revolution played an extremely important role. Some fought in battle. Some cooked, cleaned, and marched next to the soldiers, many times with their children on their backs.
Some cared for the wounded. Many women sold their belongings, most often their only items of value, to join the fight for justice and equality.
They were strong, determined and fearless.
Lucy is our tribute to these women who fought to reclaim the lands where our mezcal distillery stands today.
Their mission is to share a spirit that is unique not only for its cultural and historical significance, but also for its region, production methods, flavors and versatility.
Intentionally fun and unconventional to represent bravery and vibrantally colorful to represent our Mexican culture.
Alicia Garcia Barron
Lucy Pistolas Mezcal
Sources: curamiatequila.com