Ms. Sanita was equally successful as an advertising strategist following graduation. Together, the couple soon lost interest in building other people’s brands and wanted to create something of their own that mirrored them and their beliefs. The inspiration came from Ms. Sanita’s Mexican background.
“My mom is Mexican-born and though I grew up in Toronto, it was always back and forth to Mexico,” she said. “Tequila runs in my blood. My grandmother and great-grandmother used to make mezcal from agave and my family sipped tequila after every meal. So we decided to create the perfect tequila, a product we’d be passionate about.”
The duo rolled up their sleeves and got to work. They left their jobs, scanned more than 100 distilleries and found their master distiller in the small town of Tequila, Mexico. They named their liquor Siempre, a Spanish word for “always.”
“People in the industry said we were crazy and that it would take more than $1 million to launch an alcohol brand,” Ms. Sanita said. “All we had was $9,000 and a couple of credit cards. We took our small budget and decided to do everything ourselves.”
The venture got off to a rocky start as they launched Siempre in Ontario with the help of a childhood friend who supervised the sales. The market was tough at the time and while the tequila was getting great reviews, the team had to go from door to door to sell it to restaurants and pubs. They then shifted their operation to Alberta where competition was fierce but business was good. The couple threw all they had into their work and succeeded in putting Siempre on the map of luxury alcoholic beverages.
Through it all, including eight international awards for their first product, Siempre Tequila Plata, Seneca has never been far from their minds.
“Every single time we encounter a difficult situation, we recall the work ethic taught to us at Seneca,” Ms. Sanita said. “We ask ourselves how a particular professor would have handled this type of situation. The program taught us more than advertising. It taught us that absolutely anything is possible if you really work hard to get to the goal.”
While Ms. Sanita and Mr. Lacroix are doing “100 times better” than what they had anticipated — having sold close to 6,000 cases this year — they think they still have a long way to go before considering themselves a success.
“It feels like we are a rock band that’s on tour and we haven’t got that record label deal just yet,” Ms. Sanita said.