Meet Tania Ceballos

We recently connected with Tania Ceballos and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tania , thank you so much for joining us today. There are so many topics we could discuss, but perhaps one of the most relevant is empathy because it’s at the core of great leadership and so we’d love to hear about how you developed your empathy?

Having recently graduated with a degree in Communication Sciences and Techniques, as there were not many opportunities in my hometown of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, I decided to start a loaded doughnuts business with my ex-partner, we had a fairly good success, but the lack of experience and the immaturity of youth worked against us, a year and a half later, my relationship ended along with the business, my parents were in the middle of their divorce and with my heart broken in every possible way, I decided to come for a few weeks to Los Angeles in the spring of 2017, to put distance to everything that tormented me. I really enjoyed my time here but the small amount of money I had brought with me had already disappeared from my pockets and honestly, I still didn’t feel ready to return to all the chaos that I knew awaited me upon my return, so I decided to start working as a waitress at a Mexican restaurant to be able to cover my expenses, I had never worked for anyone other than myself or my dad, it was a totally different experience, I realized that it didn’t matter who you were in your hometown, who you knew there or what studies you had, here we were all the same, complete strangers who needed to earn their daily bread and work hard to survive. Definitely, my way of thinking, my way of acting, my way of seeing the world changed radically since that first job, now I understand the effort and resilience of all immigrants who come to another country different from our own and with a single fervent desire we managed to succeed.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

My name is Tania Ceballos, I am 32 years old and I am originally from Los Mochis, Sinaloa. I am currently in the hot dog business, without really knowing what I was doing and taking it as a hobby at first, I have managed to turn it into my full-time job. La Mochila City colloquially means The City of Los Mochis, it has been quite an experience from not knowing how not to spoil the bread or have it come out completely wet from the steamer to improving more and more the experience of trying a Sinaloa hot dog, of being able to close your eyes, take a bite and feel like you are at el rancho as some of our customers say. Right now, we are focused on growing the brand and being able to reach more people from the north of Mexico to all the people who are curious to try a new way of eating hot dogs. Our goal is to evoke memories in our customers of our land as well as teleport them to our city of Los Mochis, Sinaloa.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The three qualities that have had the greatest impact on me are, without a doubt, perseverance, passion and adaptation, without leaving the customer service behind. Perseverance, despite the fact that many times I wanted to tirar la toalla, I found a way to get back on track, there was always a comment or an action that make me said, this is worth it and I need to keep going. Passion is very important because without passion there is nothing, if you don’t like what you do, there is very little that can be done, I am passionate about food and without a doubt if you don’t have the passion for this, you will have a very difficult time, it is a tiring job but very rewarding in the end. Now, being able to adapt is something we have to do because what works today may not work tomorrow, we have to be able to recognize change and when it is necessary, to be able to stay afloat. Speaking now about customer service, I have always said that it is better to have a customer service business that specializes in food, because in the end, people come back where they are treated well and have a good experience, even if the food is on another level but you are treated poorly, you don’t come back. It is essential, for me, to make customer service part of the experience at La Mochila City.

Tell us what your ideal client would be like?

My ideal client is anyone who loves trying new things. Throughout this experience, it has been very gratifying to see that not only people in the north of Mexico like our hot dogs (where they are very common), but also a vast majority of people from other cultures or countries. The funniest thing is that each culture has its favorite hot dog. We have a wide variety of toppings that suit everyone’s palate, from small children to the most demanding adult.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @lamochilacity
• Facebook: La Mochila City
• Other: @soytaniaceballos

Image Credits

Photographer: Mariam Cadena