How Three Latina Founders Joined Forces to Reimagine the Future of CPG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAr5Lgvc1KE

During a time when many consumer-packaged goods (CPG) brands, especially those led by women and underrepresented founders, are struggling to survive, three founders made a bold, unconventional decision: they combined forces.

Could this be an emerging trend, especially amid tariffs, economic uncertainty, and changing consumer demands? A rebellion of some sort against the current way of operating CPG businesses?

“You hear all the stats about underrepresented founders and women-owned businesses. And people say they want to support you, but then when you need the actual support from the team, the capital, and the access, it often falls flat," said Stefanie Garcia Turner, founder of TUYYO Foods, a premium Latin American beverages company. “So for me, it became: if I can’t do this the traditional way, then what is the nontraditional way?”

This is the story of how Stefanie, Regina Trillo, founder of Nemi Snacks (2022 Pitch Competition Winner), plant-powered, cactus crunchy sticks made with Mexican spices, and Jocelyn Ramirez, founder of Todo Verde (2024 Business Tools Grant Winner), chef-formulated Mexican seasonings, came together to build something bigger than any one of them could alone.

“I was losing steam… not because I didn’t believe in the business,” Regina said. “But because I didn’t want to keep doing it the same way.”

Jocelyn had already started to plant the seeds. She and Regina had initially talked about merging, but after Stefanie approached her separately, Jocelyn knew it was time to get everyone on the same page.

Last summer in Chicago, the three founders locked themselves in a room and began mapping out how this new enterprise would come together. For three days, they took personality tests, co-founder questionnaires, and asked themselves the hard questions:

• What are our values?

• How do we communicate?

• How do we deal with conflict?

• What happens if this goes wrong?

“It was a lot of really good conversation to get to know each other beyond the friendships we already had as peers in the industry,” Jocelyn said.

Additionally, the women brought in their individual retailers and customers into the conversation to make sure they had their buy-in before moving forward.

Now, the hard part: how do you merge three distinct companies? Jocelyn, Stefanie, and Regina built a team around that included experts in supply chain, finance, brand design, and legal affairs, recognizing that they were charting unknown territory.

Additionally, they had to let go of their brands as they knew them.

“The three of us were all aligned in saying, this is not about us personally,” Regina. “This is not about ego. This is about building a stronger brand.”

All three women identify as Latina, each living in different parts of the United States – Regina in Chicago, Stefanie in Ann Arbor, MI, and Jocelyn in Los Angeles. A company name was needed that represented all of them and their unique journeys.

“When we were brainstorming names, it was important that it be something simple, meaningful, tied to our heritage, and easier for the average consumer to understand,” Jocelyn said. “We kept coming back to Tuyyo. And logistically, it also made sense to use Stef’s existing entity because she was already set up in systems and distribution channels that would make the transition smoother.”

Now, the name takes on more meaning.

“Tuyyo in Spanish can mean ‘yours,’ and it also carries the feeling of ‘you and me’ — community, sharing, breaking bread, being around the table,” Stefanie said. “When I originally came up with the name, I wanted something that felt reflective of Latin culture, but also of togetherness and connection. Now it reflects what we’re doing as a company.”

Nemi Snacks and Todo Verde will now fall under the TUYYO Foods umbrella. Regina will serve as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer, responsible for business operations and supply chain. Jocelyn will serve as the Chief Marketing Officer, overseeing the brand's storytelling. While Stefanie is the Chief Commercial Officer, focused on sales and retail growth.

“Honestly, figuring out roles was probably one of the easiest conversations we had,” Stefanie said. We asked each other two questions: ‘What do you love doing?’ and ‘What do you not want to touch again if you can help it?’ I think that’s also part of why we’ve been able to move so quickly. We each trust each other in our areas.”

For Jocelyn and Regina, moving on from their original brands, Todo Verde and Nemi Snacks, was more empowering than heartbreaking.

“For me, shedding Todo Verde actually felt exciting,” Jocelyn said. “I had already been working on a rebrand and was considering a name change, but financially and logistically it felt like too much to take on alone. I found that the people around me were more attached to the old name than I was. My husband, my mom, and family members were all like, ‘But Todo Verde!’”

It was a similar experience for Regina.

“When I left my full-time job as an attorney to work on Nemi, that was already a major identity shift for me,” she said. “That process actually helped make this transition easier emotionally. By the time we started having these conversations, I felt like Nemi had done its course. Because I had the consumer data, I knew that some parts of the brand weren’t working the way people thought they were. So emotionally, it wasn’t as hard as people expected.”

So now that TUYYO Foods 2.0 is in full effect. What would success look like? Besides a successful exit, Regina, Jocelyn, and Stefanie are looking to build a food empire rooted in cultural relevance, cleaner products, and better-for-you ingredients.

“There’s still so much room on the shelf for authentic, flavorful, culturally rooted products,” Jocelyn said. “You can walk into a grocery store and see endless variations of pasta sauce, but only a tiny sliver of shelf space is dedicated to Mexican products. There’s room for more.”

Regina sees this as the opportunity for TUYYO Foods to shine.

“We talk about building a culturally rooted food platform for the modern consumer,” she said. “That’s the big vision. And our job is to break that down into its operational, financial, and strategic implications. Right now, we’re focused on making this work well with the retailers we already have, learning from the data, and then building from there.”

As much as this is a story about coming together to give business a second life, it’s also a testament to the power of community and what’s possible when women come together.

“I think we often think of a merger as something where a bigger company comes in and acquires a smaller one. But it doesn’t have to look like that,” Regina said. “We had to remind ourselves: we can do this.”

Bottom Line: Building a company as a solo founder can be a very lonely and challenging experience. When hitting a roadblock and questioning what’s next, instead of thinking about what’s no longer possible, change the question to how I can do this better? “Don’t underestimate the power of community,” Stefanie said. “One of the best parts of being in CPG is the networking — meeting other women founders, underrepresented founders, and just talking honestly. You realize quickly that everyone is just a person. So reach out.” Who knows what that founder will be to you in the future?