By Robert J. Hansen | OBSERVER Staff Writer
After the COVID-19 pandemic claimed 85% of her clients, lobbyist Melanie Shelby left politics in 2021 to follow her dream of crafting an elegant sipping tequila – one with no additives that honors the rich legacy, heritage and shared experience of indigenous and African American cultures.
“My backyard is Sacramento because I was raised here, but my other backyard is Oakland,” Shelby says. “Our goal is to introduce this incredible spirit across California.”
Her plan is to share her “love letter” to the spirit with the country and eventually the world.
Shelby decided to go all in on her own tequila, selling her home, liquidating almost all her assets and finding investors to create Enelalma, which means “in the soul” in Spanish.
Shelby says people in the spirit industry, which is not ethnically diverse or full of women or people of color, suggested she have $3 million to bring a new liquor to market. She did it with $1 million.
“I disrupted my livelihood because I believe in what I am doing and in myself,” Shelby says.
Shelby, 51, fell in love with tequila 13 years ago and since has made many trips to Jalisco, Mexico. There she developed a deep appreciation for additive-free highland tequila crafted in the Los Altos region, and a particular connection with tequila in the little-known town of Jesus Maria.
Each component of the Enelalma bottle was curated by a woman, a person of color, or a small, local or family generational business on both sides of the border.
“I had to support the ecosystem that I came from,” Shelby says.
Its label design symbolizes the bridge between cultures. The blue weber agave plant represents Indigenous culture, while the magnolia (Mississippi state flower), purple iris (Tennessee), and golden poppy (California) signify the founder’s African American roots and legacy.
“When I fell in love with tequila … I realized the struggles of Indigenous people under Spanish rule resemble the struggles of African Americans,” Shelby says.
Shelby compares Mexico’s independence from Spain, which took a war that lasted more than 10 years, to the years it took for some African Americans to discover they no longer were slaves after the Civil War.
“We are so much more similar than we are different and for me, that is what I wanted to celebrate in this bottle,” Shelby says.
Enelalma has expanded to nearly 50 retailers and restaurants in Sacramento, the Bay Area and Southern California.
Enelalma can be found at Morton’s Steakhouse, The Kitchen and other restaurants throughout Sacramento, as well as select retailers such as the Carmichael Bottle Shop and the Folsom Bottle Shop.