DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas (KXAN) — Scroll Origin Mexico’s Instagram, and you will see vibrant hand-painted hats, handwoven shoes and embroidered dresses. You will also see the hope in the eyes of the women making them.
It is part of Origin Mexico’s brand, which promises to invite customers into the lives of these women. Owner and founder Yazmin Castaneda said she works directly with Mexican women, offering them a path to financial independence by selling their goods to the U.S. market.
“A lot of the women I work with, they don’t benefit from the educational or financial resources that we do,” Castaneda explained.
Castaneda is first generation Mexican American and said her grandparents from Durango, Mexico rose out of humble beginnings. She said her grandparents, who were business owners, influenced her entrepreneurial spirit.
During the pandemic she rediscovered her passion for her culture, and she saw a need.
“The tourism had declined during the pandemic, and they were not selling, and this was their livelihood,” Castaneda said.
So, she leaned into her gut, left her corporate job and started her business out of her Dripping Springs home.
“I’ve developed a lot of friendships with them, and I see that they not only have thrived, but they are succeeding, and they are now fully independent,” Castaneda said about her artisan partners.
Castaneda maintains relationships with her artisan partners by traveling to Mexico and chatting with them by phone in between visits. One woman she spoke to is also a working mother who learned her skills from her own mother. She told us she is grateful to U.S. buyers.
Castaneda works with a Mexican nonprofit to help the artisan women become financially independent. It’s called Fundacion en Via, which helps women through microfinance and responsible tourism.