Pinole Blue started out of a dorm room while Eddie Sandoval was studying business at Wichita State University.

His family is from Chihuahua, Mexico. Growing up, he would take trips twice a year to visit and bring home pinole, a multiuse, nutrient-dense mixture of roasted ground maize savored by his family for generations. He realized his family wasn’t the only one that missed having easy access to pinole but even American endurance athletes. Pinole is popular among the Tarahumara tribe of Chihuahua, who would drink it for energy before running long distances and have gained a spotlight for winning ultramarathons all over the world.

An entrepreneur at heart, Eddie bought half a ton of raw heirloom blue corn in Mexico and drove back from the border to start production in his parents garage. That spring semester of 2017, his dorm room at the time became the distribution center and headquarters, where other blends were developed.

After graduating from Wichita State and winning the new venture competition, Eddie pursued Pinole Blue full time. Today, makes different pinole drink mixes, protein mixes, cookies and stone ground tortillas all from organic blue corn while donating back to the Tarahumara community, where it's often used.

The company has been featured in major outlets including Buzzfeed, Remezcla and Shark Tank Season 13. It has a strong social media presence with more than 380,000 fans on TikTok.

We speak with the founder and CEO of Pinole Blue, Eddie Sandoval, about how he learned about pinole, the importance of his storytelling on social media and his very unique bootstrapping approach to his business.

Follow Pinole Blue on TikTok and Instagram: @pinoleblue

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Follow your host Lyanne Alfaro on Instagram: @LyanneAlfaro

Main podcast theme song from Premium Beat. Our music is from Epidemic Sound.