By Ofelia Saenz, Staff Writer
Bertha Del Rivero probably put in fewer hours of work each week when she was the public relations spokesperson for the Lynwood School District, or back when she was an editor for the Spanish language newspaper El Economico, or during her days as a freelance journalist. Since becoming a business owner, however, she believes she has found the secret to being a successful businesswoman without missing out on family time.
Del Rivero is the CEO of Global Commercial Trading, a company she and her husband started about five years ago. Now the Signal Hill full-time mother of two merges business hours with family hours and manages to make the most of both.
“My kids work in the business too,” Del Rivero said. “My son loves to help me put the packages together…and then I still have time to help out at his school.”
The Del Riveros started their company as an import business that specializes in industrial equipment. A year later, with a bit of encouragement from Bertha’s mother, the couple expanded to include a division of the corporation known as Mex Gourmet. The new division, also an import business, brings products such as Café Garat, Mexico’s premier gourmet coffee, to stores, restaurants and offices in the United States.
Served in high-end restaurants and hotels throughout Mexico, Café Garat is made from 100 percent Arabica coffee beans grown in the south of Mexico. Mex Gourmet is the exclusive U.S. distributor of the product.
Although Del Rivero started her career in a different industry, she said it’s her family’s background with food that brought her ultimately to the specialty food market.
“My grandmother had a restaurant,” Del Rivero said. “And my mom had another restaurant and she was always in the food business.”
When she’s not promoting coffee and other Mexican gourmet products such as salsas from Sonora, moles from Oaxaca and honey from the Yucatan peninsula, Del Rivero is attending industry conventions like the one she’ll be speaking at next month in Chicago–Del Rivero will give a presentation on building brands in the Hispanic market, a subject with which she’s become very familiar.
“Having your own business is always rewarding,” Del Rivero said. “It’s a real family business.”
For more information or to purchase products online, visit www.MexGourmet.us, or contact Bertha Del Rivero at (562) 498-1081.
