Skip to content
  • Essence GU
  • Beautycon
  • NaturallyCurly
  • Afropunk
  • Essence Studios
  • Soko Mrkt
  • Ese Funds
  • Refinery29
Sign In
  • 2025 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
  • Celebrity
    • ESSENCE 55
    • 2025 Black Music Month
    • 2024 Sexiest Men Of the Moment
    • Of The Essence
    • Celebrity News
    • If Not For My Girls
    • The State Of R&B
    • Time Of Essence
  • Fashion
    • 2024 ESSENCE FASHION HOUSE
    • SSENSE X ESSENCE
    • 2023 Best In Black Fashion Awards
    • Red Carpet
    • Fashion News
    • Accessories
  • Beauty
    • 2025 Best In Beauty Awards
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • In The Chair
    • Couple-Care
    • Product Of The Week
    • Makeup Her Story
    • Hair
      • Hair News
      • Natural
      • Relaxed
      • Transitioning
      • Weave
      • 4C
  • Lifestyle
    • 2025 Travel Awards
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
    • Bridal Bliss
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
  • Entrepreneurship
    • 2024 Power 40
    • Money & Career
    • SOKO MRKT
  • News
    • State of the People 
    • 2025 Black Futures
    • Latest News
    • 2024 HBCU X ESSENCE
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Shopping
    • 2024 Holiday Gift Guide
  • Video
  • Events
    • 2025 Hollywood House
    • 2025 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2024 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2024 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2023 Wellness House
  • Subscribe
    • Magazine
    • Newsletter
Home • Lifestyle

This Founder Honors Black And Latinx People With Her Tequila Brand, Enelalma

Since introducing Enelalma to the market in January 2024, Melanie Shelby has proven culture and legacy can be part of the spirits industry.
This Founder Honors Black And Latinx People With Her Tequila Brand, Enelalma
Enelalma
By Dominique Fluker · Updated September 20, 2024
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

September is National Hispanic Heritage Month. Finding a tequila that encapsulates the spirit of Black and Latinx cultures is rare. However, Sacramento native Melanie M. Shelby has accomplished that with Enelalma, a premium tequila brand founded in the Los Altos region of Jalisco, Mexico. Enelalma is an additive-free prestige sipping tequila crafted in the Los Altos region. Shelby, who left a successful political career, pivoted to tequila making because she often enjoyed the spirit and wanted to share her passion with the world. She fondly refers to the juice as her “love letter to tequila in a bottle.”

It’s important to note that every aspect of Enelalma (including the juice) was curated by a woman, a person of color, or a small, local, or family generational business on both sides of the border. 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 southern roots and legacy. 

This Founder Honors Black And Latinx People With Her Tequila Brand, Enelalma
Enelalma

Shelby believes her brand embodies the soul, as the name means “In the soul.” Their tequila prides itself on being a soulful experience. It is a testament to Shelby’s unwavering dedication to her brand despite uncertainty and a lack of funds. To master distiller Oscar Vazquez’s deep knowledge of the Los Altos agave, terroir, and climate.

With citrus and spice notes, floral aromas, and a clean finish, it’s hard not to resist Enelalma. Part of what you’re tasting when taking a sip of the spirit is Shelby’s commitment to excellence in extracting flavorful and substantive juice. Her journey to the spirit industry is remarkable, similar to her product. 

After 25 years in the chaotic world of politics, she left to follow her dream of crafting an elegant sipping tequila, hoping to add diversity and inclusion to the spirits industry. She fell in love with tequila 13 years ago with a former client at Mayahuel, a longstanding K Street restaurant near Sacramento’s Capitol building. 

Article continues after video.

From her family’s political background and fighting injustices in our community, she knew she wanted her brand to represent the soul of the people. “We all experience struggle. We all have overcome historic adversity. We’ve all been enslaved on our own land. And so that was always in the back of my mind. If I ever did a brand, I had to honor us and Latinx communities,” Shelby said to ESSENCE. 

Since then, she has embarked on countless trips to Jalisco, Mexico, where she has grown 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. In 2021, Shelby decided to go all-in on her own tequila, closing down her lucrative business, selling her home, and embarking on the Enelalma journey. 

Shelby’s company has grown over the years, raising just over a million dollars. She reflected on selling her home in June 2023 to help her reach this milestone: “I looked around in June of 2023, and I was like, you don’t have anything else left to sell, but this house. So I said, ‘Nobody’s going to bet on you better than yourself.’”

She continued, “As a person of faith, there are so many ways that God can give us to continue building his kingdom. What I realize is, through this venture, this is yet another opportunity for me to do kingdom building through economic development and job creation, and that’s really at the center of all of this for me.” 

You can purchase Enelalma online or in person at various retailers. 

TOPICS:  tequila

Read More

OP-ED: If The Department Of Education Falls, So Do Black Families
Op-Ed
OP-ED: If The Department Of Education Falls, So Do Black Fam...
Taylor Townsend Makes Tennis History As First Mother To Reach World No. 1 In Doubles
Sports
Taylor Townsend Makes Tennis History As First Mother To Reac...
How Inclusive Storytelling Is Finally Having Its Moment
Entertainment
How Inclusive Storytelling Is Finally Having Its Moment
WATCH: Senator Angela Alsobrooks on Black Women’s Power in Politics “Our Presence Changes the Discussion”
Videos
WATCH: Senator Angela Alsobrooks on Black Women’s Power in...
The Capri Comeback I Didn't See Coming
Shop
The Capri Comeback I Didn't See Coming
COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Print & Digital App
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE Festival of Culture

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2024 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms | Accessibility Statement

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now
  • 2025 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
  • Celebrity
    • ESSENCE 55
    • 2025 Black Music Month
    • 2024 Sexiest Men Of the Moment
    • Of The Essence
    • Celebrity News
    • If Not For My Girls
    • The State Of R&B
    • Time Of Essence
  • Fashion
    • 2024 ESSENCE FASHION HOUSE
    • SSENSE X ESSENCE
    • 2023 Best In Black Fashion Awards
    • Red Carpet
    • Fashion News
    • Accessories
  • Beauty
    • 2025 Best In Beauty Awards
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • In The Chair
    • Couple-Care
    • Product Of The Week
    • Makeup Her Story
    • Hair
  • Lifestyle
    • 2025 Travel Awards
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
    • Bridal Bliss
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
  • Entrepreneurship
    • 2024 Power 40
    • Money & Career
    • SOKO MRKT
  • News
    • State of the People 
    • 2025 Black Futures
    • Latest News
    • 2024 HBCU X ESSENCE
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Shopping
    • 2024 Holiday Gift Guide
  • Video
  • Events
    • 2025 Hollywood House
    • 2025 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2024 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2024 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2023 Wellness House
  • Subscribe
    • Magazine
    • Newsletter
  • Entertainment
    • Of The Essence
    • Celebrity News
    • If not for my Girls
    • The State of R&B
  • Black Women In
    • Girls United Beautiful Possibilities
    • 2025 Best in Beauty Awards
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Hair
  • Style
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
    • Bridal Bliss
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health and Wellness
    • Travel
    • Food and Drink
  • Culture
    • 2023 BEST IN BLACK FASHION AWARDS
    • 2024 ESSENCE FASHION HOUSE
    • Red Carpet
    • Fashion News
    • Accessories
  • Business
    • Power 40
  • Festival
    • Latest News
    • Paint the Polls Black
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe
    • MAGAZINE
    • NEWSLETTER
  • Search
  • Login
  • Subscribe
    • Magazine
    • Newsletter
  • Search

WHERE BLACK CULTURE, COMMUNITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS MEET

Sign up for ESSENCE Newsletters to see more of Black Women’s Boundlessness

Your email is required.
Your email is in invalid format.
Confirm email is required.
Email did not match.
Select the newsletters you'd like to receive:
Please select at least one option.
Essence

Thank you for subscribing. Unlock VIP access! Join our SMS list for exclusive offers you won’t find anywhere else.

Your phone number is required
Please enter a new one and try again.
Invalid phone number
Please enter a new one and try again.