This February 12 will be held the Super Bowl LVII, one of the most watched events worldwide. While the Kansas City Chiefs face the Philadelphia Eagles, Mexico will be present thanks to the entrepreneur Imelda Harley, native of Sinaloawho will sell tamales during the game.
It should be remembered that brands pay between 6 and 6.5 million dollars just to advertise during the broadcast of the meeting. However, Imelda’s business, Happy Tamaleswas chosen and invited to be part of the program Super Bowl LVII Business Connectty bring Mexican gastronomy to the great event.
“I am very proud that my tamales are going to be present at such an important event,” the 52-year-old entrepreneur told the agency EFE. “It’s not about money; it is about the opportunity to share who you are, ”she added to the local outlet. 12News.
Hartley and his team are preparing a total of 7,500 tamales for the Super Bowl: 5,000 regular size for events and another 2,500 sample size for Taste of the NFL 2023.
How did Imelda Happy Tamales get to the Super Bowl?
born as Imelda Ontiveros in Culiacán, he migrated to the United States “by accident” at the age of 14. She later adopted the surname Hartley from his ex-husband, originally from that country.
“I arrived at the border in Baja California. I was walking along the beach when I saw a lot of people looking to buy coconut water. I went there and suddenly someone told me that I was already in the United States. Of course, at that time there was no wall, it was other times,” the Mexican told EFE.
After twenty years of marriage plagued by domestic violence, Imelda left her husband and moved to Phoenix, Arizona. As a single mother of 14 children (11 of them still living with her), she began making tamales to feed them. She then prepared them for parties and she decided to sell them on the street, in front of a laundromat, to generate income and support her family.
Seeing the potential of his product, he decided to enroll in some business programs, where they provided him with advice and tools to start a business. In 2015 she opened Happy Tamales, her own business dedicated to the iconic Mexican snack, which currently operates as a dark kitchen.
“When I empowered myself and educated myself about the cycle of domestic violence and what it does, I went from being sad to being happy. That’s why it’s called Imelda Happy Tamales,” Hartley explained to 12News.
Their tamales are not just “green, red and sweet”, but they carry names like ‘Feliz’, ‘Ganador’ and ‘Resiliencia’. “I decided to give them an identity,” said the creative entrepreneur.
His company also employs people seeking to escape domestic violence. “The most important thing is that they need to feel like they have someone they can trust, someone who understands them, someone who has been in their shoes,” he said.
Editorial Team The editorial team of EMPRENDEDOR.com, which for more than 27 years has worked to promote entrepreneurship.