"Office Hours" #12: 10 Great Hispanic- and Latine-Owned Brands to Shop in 2023
Hi everyone,
Happy Hispanic and Latine Heritage Month!
While Hispanic- and Latine-owned brands are worth celebrating — and supporting — all 12 months and 365 days of the year, they’re especially worth recognizing now.
Hispanic and Latine entrepreneurs have been making inroads in the venture capital world, starting businesses at higher rates than other groups in the U.S. and with Latinas reportedly spearheading this momentum. Latina venture capitalists in partner or managerial positions rose from just one in 2010 to about 10 in 2020, according to Harvard Business School data. Still, less than 1% of money doled out by the biggest VC and private equity firms has gone to Hispanic- and Latine-led enterprises, meaning that their projects or ideas often don’t get financed, or even heard.
Which is why, this September and October, we implore you to vote with your dollars and support this round-up of Hispanic- and Latine-owned brands to support all month long, and beyond.
Happy shopping!
Jenny & Melissa
Hedley & Bennett
Courtesy of English Latina Founder and CEO Ellen Marie Bennett, Hedley & Bennett’s industry-beloved aprons and workwear — represented by JBC! — feature a signature ampersand logo that can be seen on top chefs around the world. Growing up up part-time in Los Angeles and part-time in Mexico, Ellen recalls “playing soccer in streets and going to the corner to pick up fresh tortillas.”
Crediverso
Crediverso is a Hispanic-owned and -operated consumer technology company — also represented by JBC! — dedicated to providing legal and financial tools and educational resources for underserved and under-resourced communities, with both Spanish and English language capabilites. Crediverso’s newest product, My Pocket Lawyer, provides access to legal resources so that consumers, small businesses and freelancers can get help with complex legal issues, powered by artificial intelligence.
La Botica
Inspired by her Black and Afro-Dominican culture, artist and self-taught perfumer Dawn Marie West founded La Botica in 2018 as “a manifestation of her own self-care routine.” Today, the luxury fragrance house offers everything from home fragrance to everyday perfume, with each and every scent being made with handcrafted, sustainable, and often-vegan formulations centering on Indigenous ingredients from South America.
Farm Rio
Brazilian-owned (and Instagram-famous) global fashion brand Farm Rio has been around for more than two decades, getting its start as an indie brand selling clothing at a Brazilian marketplace in 1997. Founders Katia Barros and Marcello Basto work with local Brazilian designers, stylists, and artisans to develop the always-vibrant colors and prints that, Glamoursays, have since come to define Farm Rio’s brand.
Ceremonia
Founded by Swedish Latina Babba C. Rivera, hair-care brand Ceremonia launched in 2020 to celebrate our individual hair patterns, manifesting modern-day hair rituals that are intended to feed your hair from the roots outward. Using clean, original formulas with natural ingredients sourced from Latin America, Ceremonia is free of silicones, parabens, sulfates, phthalates, and artificial colorants, leaving natural formulas that come inspired by Babba’s Latine heritage.
Loisa
Longtime friends Kenny Luna and Scott Hattis were having trouble finding Latin foods that weren’t filled with MSG or artificial coloring and ingredients — so they founded Loisa , Latine-owned spice company Loisa on a mission to get pure flavor to all who want it, despite any systemic barriers that might get in the way. (Two percent of all sales are donated to organizations in support of food and social justice.) Loisa’s famed Flavor Trio Combo Pack ($29) — the “El Gran Combo” — features sazón, adobo, and sofrito, standards in many Boricua kitchens.
Saalt
Saalt , founded by Argentinian Cherie Hoeger, creates sustainable period-care products that aim to destigmatize menstruation. Cherie’s light-bulb moment came in 2005 during a phone call with a family member in Venezuela, who talked about the country’s severe political and economic instability and the struggle to get personal-hygiene necessities, like tampons and pads. The brand name reflects its mission: “We wanted to invoke a return to the natural, showing periods are something elemental and essential for life, just like salt,” Cherie told USA Today.
Lil’ Libros
Lil’ Libros is the number-one family-trusted bilingual children’s book publisher that has been built by and for the Hispanic and Latine community, creating books that showcase the quality and richness of its peoples’ stories. Since December 2014, the publisher has sold over 1.5 million books, with a global distribution reach that includes mass retailers like Target, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Walmart, museums like MoMA in NY and LACMA in Los Angeles, and over 2,000 independent retailers.
Progeny Coffee
In 2016, fifth-generation Colombian coffee farmer Maria Jose Palacio and her husband co-founded Progeny Coffee with a mission to bring Colombian coffee farmers out of poverty. Progeny works to cut the middleman out of the coffee supply chains, offering farmers — who, Maria says, usually tend to produce 15% below margin, a fair rate for their product. Through Progeny’s partnerships, the company improves the quality of life for farmers and their families, while also providing higher education to their communities.
Bomba Curls
Lulu Cordero, an Afro-Dominicana, created Bomba Curls in 2019 when she found herself suffering from severe traction alopecia and turned to the unique hair-care recipes used in her native Dominican Republic to formulate elixirs that promote hair growth and health. Now nearly five years in, Bomba Curls uses the unique elements of Dominican formulations and blends them with time-tested organic ingredients to naturally nourish the scalp, achieve luscious curls, and promote healthy hair growth.