Meet Carlos Soto | CEO & Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Carlos Soto and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Carlos, what do you attribute your success to?
One of the things that always gets to me is when other business founders call themselves “self-made.” That term is really hard for me to grasp. It makes for a good story, but at some point in our journey we all had someone who believed in us that extended a helping hand. Whether that was a co-worker, your first client who believed in you, a buyer, a lender, whatever it is, there is always someone that plays a role there. This has been a huge premise of what Nosotros has been. It takes a village, and hey, and the end of the day the brand name literally means “Us.” The collective will always be stronger than the individual, and at the core of our business this has been our main MO. I remember a few years back I read “culture trumps strategy, every time,” and that really stuck with me. The team at Nosotros has been built through friendships and like-minded individuals coming to work their butts off but that also have a good understanding of life and it’s many faces. As a result of that, our community — the Nosotros Club, has resulted in people that love the craft behind our tequila and mezcal and have a positive outlook at life. It’s amazing how a little shift like that can lead to such community building. Lastly, and most importantly, Nosotros has always been product first. Being a small batch and independent brand that doesn’t have the marketing budgets of some bigger liquor companies, we’ve never cut a corner to compromise the quality of the product we put out there for our consumers. This has resulted in us having a very high level of repeat customers. That way our community knows that when they buy Nosotros Tequila or Mezcal, they’re getting a product that has been the result of love, development, and craft, from the agaves to the bottle.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Nosotros actually started as a school project back in 2015. The premise was coming up with a business idea that had nothing to do with technology. This project turned into a passion project and after a bank loan a visa application and a leap of faith, it became a life project and Nosotros was born. Our first months were absolutely brutal. We were very, very close to shutting down our operations multiple times, and somehow, serendipity and life came in at the very right moment. The game changing moment happened when we won an award from the San Francisco World Spirit Competition. This was a hail-mary that gave us the outside validation we needed to secure some meetings. The product did the rest of the talking. From there, we started growing slowly and organically to what we are today. Today, we are a small-batch agave spirits brand that marries the pura vida lifestyle of Costa Rica with the rebel spirit of Mexico, blending them under the California sun. We are available in California, Illinois and Nevada. The name “Nosotros” (us/we in English) is derived from the experience of enjoying the better things in life with family, friends and loved ones. This has been a key component of our company. Our “World’s Best-Tasting Tequila” and Double Gold award-winning spirit is the result of blending agave from two separate regions to create a taste profile that is unique, balanced and delicious. Sustainably sourced highland agaves give Nosotros its sweet, citrusy introduction, while lowland agaves bring an herbal finish — truly one of a kind as this is very, very unique in our industry. Our journey has been wild. By no means an easy one. No one in our team had prior spirit experience, which funny enough, I now believe that to be a strength as it doesn’t hinder thinking outside of the box.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The beauty of California is that it has so much to offer. Our brand is naturally very influenced by its coastline, so with a small allocation of time we’d focus on hitting spots along the coast. Starting with LA, we’re based in the South Bay so we’d start with a nice little hike in the Palos Verdes cliffs to get the blood flowing. A fun surf in the coves, and we’d have to swing by the staple of Manhattan Beach for a burger and a Nosotros margarita at Simmzy’s, followed by a tequila and mezcal tasting at our office in Hermosa. Sunsets are unreal from the pier. At night we’d cruise over to Santa Monica for a fantastic Elephante dinner. Next day we’d for sure spend it driving up the Malibu coast and venturing into the canyons. Point Dume takes it for “virgin” beaches in Malibu. After an other active day, we’d probably close it out with a coffee and some drinks at Porta Via at the Palisades Village. At the end of the day, we gotta take advantage of daylight time savings while we got it!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Funny that this question came up here after my previous response, but yes! 100%. Our team has been an unreal group of people that fell in love with the idea and go at it every day. From my co-founder Michael Arbanas, to our first partner Ryan Haake, and our killer team PJ Dwyer, Kiana Nicio, Niko Loyatho, Luis Kay, Andrew Vea, Kayla de Groot, Mia Moore, Pati Dwyer, and Robby Gomez. Needless to say, every person that has given Nosotros a shot (a bit of a pun intended) has to be taken into account. It’s because of people willing to step outside of their comfort zone and try something different that we’re even in business. Both at the customer level and at the partner (retailer) level.

Website: www.nosotrostequila.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/nosotrostequila | www.instagram.com/carlosmsoto
Twitter: www.twitter.com/nosotrostequila