Carolina Ramirez Nogales

I attribute my success to resilience and conviction. It hasn’t been easy, and there have been many moments of uncertainty, but I never lost confidence in what we were building. I kept going.

What sustained me was a deep belief in our purpose and the impact our work can have on families and farming communities. When you are willing to invest your savings and walk away from established careers, it’s because you have done the work, you understand the “why,” and you truly believe it matters. That clarity of purpose — combined with faith, persistence, and the courage to stand back up every time — has been my foundation.

The best career advice I’ve ever received is that my career should support the life I envision — not the other way around.

Work, relationships, and money are like bouncy balls. If you drop them, they can bounce back. But health and family are like crystal balls — if they fall, they can break. You can miss precious moments that don’t come back. That perspective has deeply shaped how I make decisions and set priorities.

Above all, never lose faith and never compromise your values. Success means very little if achieving it requires sacrificing who you are or the people you love most.

The advice I would give to young women entering my industry starts with the best advice I ever received: build a career that supports the life you envision — not the other way around. Success should not cost you your health, your family, or your values. Work and money can recover. Health and precious moments cannot.

I would also say: trust yourself. Something that I learned - of course, I came from the chemical industry, the food and beverages is not necessarily my area of expertise, but I'm also learning that a lot of the abilities, a lot of the skills that I developed throughout my career are all applicable here. Sometimes you tend to think that because you are not the expert, you don't know, or the decision that you're making may not be the right one. But I think within this journey it has proved that confidence in what we're doing, you know, of course, take the steps to educate yourself, or try to make the best decision with the best that you have, and trust in it, because nobody understands your business as you do, your purpose, how we started, what all the studies or data that you have looked into. If you started something, it's because it makes sense, and you know the reason for it.

One of the biggest challenges right now for small brands is uncertainty — especially around tariffs, supply chain costs, and broader social and economic pressures that impact both businesses and the communities we work with. When you’re a growing company, volatility hits harder. It affects pricing, planning, and access to capital, and it requires constant adaptation.

At the same time, there is a powerful opportunity. More people are becoming aware of the connection between what they eat and how they feel. Consumers are increasingly proactive about their health instead of reactive. They are reading labels, questioning ingredients, and becoming open to trying new foods that align with their values.

Generational shifts are also reshaping the industry. The mindset around “cheap food at any cost” is slowly being replaced with a deeper understanding of long-term health, sustainability, and transparency. For brands like ours, that creates space to lead with purpose, education, and integrity.

The values most important to me, both in my work and personal life, are integrity, faith, resilience, and purpose.

Integrity means doing the right thing even when no one is watching — building products we truly believe in, supporting farmers fairly, and standing behind our word.

Faith keeps me grounded. It reminds me to trust the process, especially during uncertainty, and to stay connected to something bigger than short-term wins or losses.

Resilience allows me to keep going when things get hard — and they always do.

And purpose is at the center of everything. I want my work to matter. I want it to nourish families, uplift communities, and create a positive impact without compromising health, family, or values. If success comes at that cost, it’s not success to me.