MESA, Ariz. — On one metal table at a shared kitchen in East Mesa, Imelda Hartley scoops out tamales into corn husks.
A dozen or so fill the table, which then gets placed into a pot that can hold 500 to cook at one time.
Friday’s batch is just a fraction of Hartley is making for the coming weeks.
“7,500 total,” Hartley said as she continues to assemble the tamales.
Her company, Imelda Happy Tamales, was chosen to be a part of the Super Bowl LVII Business Connect program.
“It’s not about the money; it’s about the opportunity to share who you are,” Hartley said.
Hartley’s tamales come from her story.
“When I first broke the cycle of domestic violence, I had no idea what I was going to do,” Hartley said.
The single mom of 14 children, 11 of them still living with her when she ran away from the domestic violence to another state.
Hartley remembers selling flour tortillas to her neighbors to help pay rent and provide for her kids. Then, she started making tamales during the holidays, which led to her selling them outside of businesses.
In 2015, she opened Imelda Happy Tamales.
“When I empowered myself and I educated myself about the cycle of domestic violence and what it does, then I switched from being sad to being happy – that’s why I decided: Imelda Happy Tamales,” Hartley said.
Hartley’s tamales aren’t named with classic descriptions of red or green chile tamales but named things like “Happy,” “Winner,” and “Resilience.”
“I decided to give them identity,” Hartley said.
Now, with her business, Hartley employs people who are trying to break the cycle of domestic violence too.
“The most important is that they need to feel that they have someone that they can trust, someone that understands them, someone that has been in their shoes,” Hartley said.
Hartley and her team are preparing the 5,000 regular-sized tamales for events surrounding the Super Bowl and another 2,500 sample-sized tamales for the Taste of the NFL 2023. Hoping one day, she’ll get to have her facility.
“By you helping me through my food, we together are going to be able to build a facility of our own and have our onsite childcare for the employees,” Hartley said.
Hartley is also thankful for a new website being built, creating content, and more through the PepsiCo Hispanic Digital and Delivery Program, which she said has also helped in the process.
Hartley continues to spend hours working on tamales in anticipation of the events coming in just a couple of weeks, all filled with love, knowing they do make a difference.
“Before anything, I say one prayer,” Hartley said. “I say, ‘Lord let me today be the path that through my food can nourish souls,” Hartley said.
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