Susan Coss
Susan is the Co-founder and director of Mezcalistas, and has been traveling the backroads of mezcal producing regions since 2010. She is a long time business, marketing and communications strategist in the sustainable food and beverage worlds.Over the past 15 years, Susan’s work has focused on promoting the connection between land, farmers and food and beverage crafters through her work not only with Mezcalistas but also with CUESA and the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, the Eat Real Festival, Slow Food Nation and more. Through her work, she has developed innovative and experiential programming to engage consumers including events, tours, talks and educational materials. She was most recently named a 2019 Drink Innovator by SevenFiftyDaily and featured in Imbibe Magazine as part of its Agave issue. She has a degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and is bilingual.more +
Max Garrone
Max is the Co-founder of Mezcalistas and our unofficial Editorial Director. Max has been a journalist and editor covering events as diverse as presidential elections and the meaning of David Lynch’s movies for publications like Salon.com and SFGate.com. He is currently a content strategist and digital media consultant for a variety of clients with projects as diverse as tablet magazines, global education curriculum, and an open source video news platform.more +
Christina Mariana Garcia
Christina is the Creative Director for Mezcalistas. Part of Mezcalistas since its birth, she has designed all of the artwork and logos and has been key in not only helping develop the vision for Mezcalistas and the Mezcal Collaborative but also in bringing clear identity and beauty to our projects. She has participated in diverse artistic and graphic design work in Mexico, France, United States and Germany. Cristina was the Director of Design and Production at the Centro de las Artes de San Agustin in Oaxaca. Her creative work has led her to develop projects that foster the right to culture and the strengthening of the biocultural identity of communities within the state of Oaxaca.more +
Tess Rose Lampert
Based in New York, Tess has worked in the drinks and hospitality community for nearly 15 years, and has become one of the nation’s leading agave educators. From importing and wholesale, to retail, buying for restaurant groups, and judging for national spirit competitions, she has experience in virtually all positions within the industry. This diversity has cultivated a unique and valuable set of skills, relationships and knowledge to offer full and customized service to her clients.more +
Ferron Salniker
Ferron is a freelance food and beverage writer with a focus on identity, origins and the systems behind how we eat and drink. She also produces events, and offers consulting on creative storytelling and agave spirit curation and education. For Mezcalistas, she produces Mexico in a Bottle. Ferron’s reporting has been published in the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Vice, Whetstone and other publications. Ferron has lived in Mexico and developed deep relationships on both sides of the border of the mezcal industry. She has a degree in Spanish and Journalism. She is currently based between Oakland and Los Angeles.more +
Anabel Jacinto Blanco
Ana has also been with Mezcalistas since its beginning, acting as the trusted Oaxacan arm and keeping us up to date on news and events and more. Her background in restaurant management, events and marketing, combined with her knowledge of local food traditions and mezcal has been vital to our understanding of Oaxacan culture. She has recently expanded her role by leading small, personal tours throughout Oaxaca, taking on concierge like tasks for visiting industry needing assistance in planning their visits, and developing and maintaining relationships in Oaxaca for Mezcalistas.more +
Joahna Hernandez
Joahna is a Mexican entrepreneur and a passionate advocate of heirloom maize and mezcal. She recently moved back to Mexico City from Washington, D.C. where she lived for more than ten years. During her stay in the nation’s capital, she did public relations for the Mexico’s Tourism Board before transitioning to the hospitality industry, where she worked in management and marketing before starting her own food business company. Joahna became immersed into the mezcal world by completing the first certification course about Mezcal which helped her spread the love of mezcal in the restaurants where she worked and to curate one of the first agave spirits bar menu in the city. She founded and operated Manos de Maíz in DC and recently launched a new food business in Mexico City focused on promoting heirloom maize called Cornstars. Joahna began collaborating with Mezcalistas in 2020.more +