Life & Work with Anabel Gutierrez Ruiz of San Diego

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anabel Gutierrez Ruiz.

Hi Anabel, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Hello! My name is Anabel. I was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. After finishing high school, I moved to Canada for a year because I wanted to discover what I wanted to study. Living abroad opened my mind and my world in ways I couldn’t have imagined.

When I returned to Mexico, I studied languages and became an interpreter and translator. However, pursuing that career would have meant moving to Mexico City, and I always knew city life wasn’t for me. So I stayed in Guadalajara and became an English teacher instead.

I’ve always had a strong interest in plants, growing food, and sustainability. At the last school where I worked, I became the Sustainability and Environmental Coordinator, teaching children about sustainability and getting them involved in environmental projects. I loved it.

Around that time, I started dating my partner, who owns a tequila company, and eventually moved with him to Tequila, Jalisco, where we live on a beautiful 30-hectare ranch. I wasn’t working for the company at first, but I needed something meaningful to do, so I started by teaching English to the employees.

My partner knew how much I loved plants and growing food, so eventually he offered me the opportunity to take over the maintenance of the ranch. I accepted — and that decision completely changed the direction of my life.

The more involved I became with the land, the more I wanted to understand it. What began with taking care of the ranch grew into working with agave, soil, crops and the agricultural side of tequila production. Eventually, I decided to formally study Agronomy so I could combine what I was learning every day in the field with the science behind it.

Today, I work in the agave fields and manage a field crew, while also taking care of different agricultural projects on the ranch. Somewhere along the way, I realized there was an entire side of tequila that most people never get to see: the years of work in the soil, the people in the fields, the early mornings, and everything that happens long before tequila ever reaches a bottle.

That’s how Lady Granja was born. I started sharing my everyday life in the field — not a polished version of farm life, but the real work behind it. Through Lady Granja, I want people to see where their food and, especially, their tequila actually come from, and to value the land and the people behind what they consume.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It hasn’t always been easy, but I wouldn’t say it has been extremely difficult either. It has been a very organic journey.

I’ve learned a lot by doing, by making mistakes, by asking questions, and by dealing with challenges as they come. I think that’s actually one of the things I enjoy most about this life — there is always something new to learn.

Most of the challenges I’ve faced are the kind that naturally come with learning something new. Agriculture teaches you very quickly that you can’t control everything. You work with the weather, the soil, plants, animals and people, and every day can bring a different problem to solve.

So rather than seeing the difficult moments as obstacles, I tend to see them as part of the process. Every challenge has taught me something and helped me become better at what I do.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My work is centered around the land. I grow organic vegetable gardens and I also work with the company’s agave fields, caring for and maintaining the agave that eventually becomes tequila.

What I am most proud of is simply having the opportunity to work with the land. There is something incredibly simple and humble about it, but at the same time, something majestic. You learn to understand the soil, care for it, nourish it, and in return, you get to experience what it can produce. Working this closely with the land has given me an enormous amount of respect for it.

The other part of my work that I am very proud of is getting to know the people I work alongside in the fields. Agricultural workers are often invisible to the person enjoying the final product. People see a bottle of tequila, but they rarely see the physical work, the long days, the heat, the early mornings, and the years of labor that came before it.

Working alongside my crew has taught me to recognize and deeply respect the value of their work. They are an essential part of every bottle of tequila, even though the person drinking it may never know their names.

I think that perspective is also what sets my work apart. I don’t just see agriculture as growing a crop. I see the relationship between the soil, the plant, the people who care for it, and eventually, the person who enjoys what that land produced.

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
What I love most about living in Tequila is the slower pace of life. I love living in a small town where traditions and customs are still very much a part of everyday life.

I especially love living on a ranch, surrounded by nature, with my dogs and a landscape I get to admire every single day. I feel very lucky to call this place home.

What do I like least? ☺️ Probably the food! As much as I love living in a small Mexican town, I wish we had a little more variety and better dining options. But honestly, that’s about the only complaint I can come up with. I’m very happy here.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Lady Granja
• Other: Tik Tok = Lady Granja

Image Credits
Those pics were taken by me, Anabel.