Meet Mara Smith, the founder of Inspiro Tequila

Mara knew she always wanted to start a company, it just took her longer to get there. She has always been interested in learning about how companies were founded and took a specific interest in company CEOs’ stories. Originally, she wanted to start an ice cream company as she took a particular interest in consumer products and food. She also liked taste testing and trying out new food. Specifically, she wanted to expand the gluten-free market, as she felt like the options available for those food products were incredibly slim. Mara Smith got her inspiration from her time being an attorney, working on corporate strategy. She primarily worked on research and due diligence, which is what piqued her interest in alcohol, particularly because there are so many regulations and compliance issues. When she started looking more closely into the ingredients she was drinking, she realized that tequila had lots of additives and wanted to make one without them. In addition, she wanted to help female consumers because they are traditionally overlooked.

In her life, Mara was traditionally risk-averse, as she was a CPA, then an accountant, and subsequently a lawyer in a large firm. She always wanted job security, which is why she didn't think of being an entrepreneur until later in her life when doing corporate strategy and research. While doing different acquisition strategies, she was inspired to take off her blinders and look at all of her options. When deciding to start a business, she wanted to build something physical, which she could see. This inspired her to think about tequila and start making connections, specifically looking at distilleries. Once her oldest child graduated high school, she was driven to go for it and start. Specifically in February 2020, when she got started, she found that she had more time to do stuff, especially since COVID was happening at the same time, she had more time to dedicate to brainstorming different facets of her company. When choosing a distiller, Mara wanted to find a distiller that would allow her to stick to her priorities of being healthy. This led her to stumble upon an amazing master distiller, who was not only talented but could also serve as representation in the distillery community as only 5% of spirit brands are owned by women.

During this process, Mara knew that she wanted her company to involve women in every step of production, by looking to hire women and female chefs and production managers. In addition, all national sales and marketing are done with either women-owned sellers or diverse suppliers. They try to focus on social media, marketing, and PR that centers around women. Since they are a small brand, they are able to be selective with who they are working with.

Although Mara had thought out a lot of the development of Inspiro Tequila, they have faced a lot of unplanned obstacles. COVID especially made it hard for Mara to go down to Mexico for production, which made the whole creation process hard. Although there were setbacks, Mara learned to adapt to the online world, specifically the ability to make connections online and via Zoom, which allowed her to meet other female leaders and founders. Mara also had trouble adjusting to her new life, especially because she had so many different hats and roles, making it harder to delegate and give other people control.

Once Mara had gained more experience, she wanted to start the Purple Bicycle Project which was a way for Mara to give back to female founders via mentorship and funding. The name came from an experience in Mara’s childhood where she was told she could not ride such a large purple bicycle, but she spent all day practicing and eventually riding, defying expectations. She wanted to use this memory to inspire herself and other female founders by funding pitch competitions and mentoring in the community.

Mara believes that it is never too late to follow your passions and start the projects you wish to start. She strongly stands by the fact that there’s no getting around the difficult work and with research and resources you can always find support. Through listening to mentors on podcasts, or reading newsletters and books, you can always find resources to help you make it through the rough patches and persevere. Most importantly, Mara believes in community building and relying on others through the lonely journey of creating a business.

You can support Mara and Inspiro Tequilla by connecting with her on Linkedin, following their social media, and finding their website online to learn more about the programs and support she offers through her purple bicycle project. Additionally, if you’re over the legal drinking age in your country, reach out to more healthy choices of alcohol and try to support brands like Inspiro Tequila when reaching for a drink!

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