The CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) field has undergone significant change in the past decade as a growing number of companies integrate social impact and community giving into their key strategic initiatives.   Many more businesses are seeing it as an important part of their growth, and short and long-term goals.  Whether its financial support or in-kind donations, executives are choosing to align their brand-name or product, with a philanthropic cause.

In the case of Melanie Asher, CEO and Co-Founder of Macchu Pisco LLC, aligning her pisco company to Coprodeli, a Peruvian non-profit, was a way of giving back as well as reaching out to new markets.   The family run business is now the #1 pisco importer to the United States and 2009 winner of Wine & Spirits Magazine’s “Spirit of the Year” award.  For those of you unfamiliar with pisco, it is an ancient Peruvian liquor made from grapes and has been around for 400 years.  Pisco is a white spirit, yet considered a brandy and is used to make the pisco sour, Peru's national cocktail.

I had the opportunity to catch up with Melanie last week in Washington DC to discuss her vision for Macchu Pisco, her commitment to giving back, and the challenges she faced as a Latina entrepreneur in the United States.   

When did you start your business? Was this a lifetime dream or something that developed after drinking a few pisco sours?

My business developed from a childhood dream.  I moved to the United States from Peru when I was 7 years old, and something was always calling me back.  On one of the trips back home, I discovered pisco. Call it divine intervention…I was 12, and even at that young age, I thought “why can’t we have this in the US?”  That’s when I decided – I wanted to make pisco as famous as vodka is.  

My family is very entrepreneurial and I caught the bug from them; I was always looking for opportunities.  At 15, I bought penny stocks.  When I was in 5^th grade, I started reading Entrepreneur magazine.  Instead of David Hasselhoff in my locker, I had a cutout of Donald Trump.

After college, I worked for Citibank as an investment banker for several alcohol companies – Diageo, Jose Cuervo, Bacardi – to evaluate their financing structure, see what their cash flows like, etc. because I wanted to see if there would be any money behind pisco and if it would be a viable business plan.

After 3 years, I went to Harvard Business School and there, incubated my business.  I contacted alumni, dedicated 2 years to flush out my business plan, and became a semi-finalist in the HBS business plan competition.  When I graduated, investors weren’t very eager to invest in pisco because it was an unknown – if it were vodka or rum, there would have been no hesitation.  In a way, it was a blessing in disguise and I was able to start my company with family financing.  My Dad invested his entire 401k in the business and we were able to get Macchu Pisco off the ground with his life savings.  My Dad said he didn’t feel right investing in someone else, when he could invest in his own daughter. The belief in me was huge.

My sister, Lizzie Asher JD (Harvard Law School), was a corporate lawyer and took on the task of legally establishing the company.  It took her 1 year to transition from corporate law before working full-time for Macchu Pisco.  She’s the President and I am the CEO.  She makes sure I don’t get a lawsuit and is vigilant about corporate governance.  I’m the visionary and trailblazer and she closes the deals and ensures that Macchu Pisco remains economically solvent.   I’m more big picture, and she’s very detail oriented.  We’re a great team that way.

We started with 12 bottles – that was our first production. We didn’t have much capital, but brought it out little by little and really dedicated ourselves to the production of pisco.  Now we are the #1 pisco exporter to the US and won the 2009 spirit of the year award.

Many people have never heard about pisco – has it been difficult breaking into the market?  What kind of challenges have you faced breaking into the market?

Breaking into the market was a big challenge because we were an unknown entity.  But we were the first product mover, which brings an advantage, so there was also a lot of opportunity too.  We had a limited budget, so did a lot of grassroots marketing – working and supporting fundraising efforts with non-profits like Coprodeli, a non -profit organization dedicated to the total development of the poor in Peru.  Companies were cutting back financial support to charities, but we were able to give product, so that also helped get our name in the market.   Hosting pisco parties and working with local community members are our main assets.  Also, utilizing social media to give recipes, tips, celebrate pisco sour day, and Peruvian Independence Day have been huge.   When people try Macchu Pisco, they’re happy! It’s an all natural spirit, so there’s no hangover….our approach is selling one bottle at a time, one customer at a time, one day at a time.

What markets is Macchu Pisco in?  Are your consumers primarily Latinos or Americans?

We’re in California, New York, Massachusetts, Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland, Nevada and entering Texas and Illinois this year.  We sell about 5,000 cases each year and are cash flow positive.  We have a healthy mix of both, although the Latinos are our best ambassadors to the white population of what Macchu Pisco is – via word of mouth marketing.

Where do you envision Macchu Pisco in 3 years?

I see us doubling down in our investment and having our own distillery in Peru.  Our next step is having a solar paneled distillery – I want Macchu Pisco to be the first solar panel distillery in the world.

How have you incorporated social responsibility into your business model and continued business endeavors? Why did you do so?

We’ve been really attached to giving back to the community, which is why we are very committed to Coprodeli.   We continue to support their efforts in the earthquake reconstruction and have supported relief efforts from the freeze that happened a few years ago in Peru and the mudslides that ravaged Cusco last month.  We’re also very cognizant to pay fair market values to our employees and be a responsible company.

 Sometimes we get criticized as the ‘gringas’ who give too much money to the farmers, but we’re very serious about that and providing good working conditions. We’re very eco-friendly and recycle all the residue of the grapes to make fertilizer.

We want to be a sustainable business and feel it is important to grow that part of your mission as a company.  We are a pisco producer, but we’re also a Peruvian business and an American business.   Macchu Pisco has the American mindset of not just being a pisco company, but being a holistic, sustainable business.

What sort of challenges have you faced as a young, Latina entrepreneur? 

As a woman, you have to be more on your toes and have to be more serious to be taken seriously. You have to work that much harder and prove yourself even more. As a Latina woman, have to be doubly prepared, have double the hutzpah, or come to the table with a lot of money. That’s the bottom line, because if you don’t have one of the three, forget it.

I think there is more bias in our (Latino) community because there is a more entrenched notion of who/what a businessperson is.  Maybe it is perpetuated through the telenovelas?  I don’t know.  But the challenge has always been to prove myself as a very serious, very smart individual, which has forced to be more prepared in my presentations and interactions.  

My advice to younger female Latinas is to be prepared because there is no room for mistakes; there is no leeway.  The door may open, but the hardest thing is to get a seat at the table.

I imagine that being Peruvian, but educated in the US has enabled you to fully relate to both cultures.  Can you describe that for me?

In the American culture you can afford to be more confrontational.  In the Latin culture you can’t be so confrontational and have to be more sensitive to the culture constructs…almost have to be a little more subdued.  I’m doing business in both countries and what works in one place doesn’t work in the other.  I’m hurdling both cultures and need to be very diplomatic and sensitive as a woman in the predominantly male business culture in Peru.