Mexico City, 8 October 2025 (IICA). “My mother is an indigenous woman and my father is a farmer”, begins Gisela Illescas, as she introduces herself during the interview. “I am the daughter of rural leaders and I grew up doing community work alongside the people” of Ixhuatlán del Café in the Mexican state of Veracruz. As the name suggests, “our families are dedicated to coffee farming”.
Although she was the first in her family to attend university and earn a professional degree, Illescas still enjoys talking about her origins. While her parents were busy working for an organization of small-scale rural producers, little Gisela was raised by her paternal grandmother, Dominga, who “devoted her entire life to growing coffee” and shared the secrets of coffee farming with her.
“Everything I know about coffee farming, medicinal plants, and the link between women and biodiversity management, I learned from my grandmother”, says Illescas. After spending her mornings at school, the little girl would spend hours in the field with her grandmother, following the land’s natural yearly cycle.
For her work aimed at driving the development of dozens of farming families in her region, her efforts to defend rural women’s rights, and her passion for the land and coffee, which serves as an inspiration for others, Illescas has been recognized as a Leader of Rurality of the Americas by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).
Gisela will receive the “Soul of Rurality” award. The award is part of an IICA initiative to turn the spotlight on men and women who are leaving a mark and making a difference in the rural areas of the Americas, and who play a critical role in guaranteeing food and nutritional security and the sustainability of the region and the planet.
For this young rural leader from Mexico, coffee is more than just a crop. She confesses that her life was always governed “by the farming cycle” of that treasured bean. “When it was harvest time, we would go out to pick or plant, but we would also harvest other products, because coffee plantations here are biodiverse and shaded; they’re like vegetable gardens, where you can gather food and medicinal plants”. For Gisela, living in harmony with coffee has also meant connecting with the cycles of Mother Earth, biodiversity, female energy and natural elements, which are in a constant state of balance.
Grandmother Dominga, a key figure in her life, “did not know how to read or write”, continues Illescas. “It was up to me to support her, keeping track of the coffee she harvested or going with her to sell it, to make sure she received fair payment. Back then, we’d go out to the fields and spend the night outdoors, resuming work in the plantations the following day”.
“We would only wear something over our heads to protect ourselves from the breeze or dew, and we’d sleep in the darkness of the field”, she recalls. “We’d listen to the sounds of insects without any fear, watching the stars, and we’d wake up very early in the morning”.
These were “wonderful times, when we felt like the daughters of Mother Earth, like her guardians and part of her very essence”, says Gisela. The young girl, who would travel back and forth from her village to complete elementary and high school, would soon receive another calling. At the age of 15, she received a scholarship to study at Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, in the state of Mexico, specializing in the field of agriculture.
The timing could not have been better. At that time, the university was developing its Agroecology department, and that field of study would soon win her over with its combination of subjects. As the university explains on its website, agroecology “integrates traditional and scientific knowledge, taking into account the country’s environmental, social, economic and cultural diversity”, promoting food sovereignty, fair trade and “the conservation of nature”.
In other words, it was the perfect field of study for someone who grew up sleeping in the field under the stars, connected to elemental energies, learning from Mother Earth and her grandmother.
“It’s now been 25 years since I graduated from the university”, says Illescas. “Looking back, I realize that my studies served as the foundation for everything I have been building, currently through consultancies, always striving to develop tools to drive the social transformation of rural and indigenous women”.
On a personal level, she adds, “I also chose to dedicate my time to production. I own my own coffee farming plot with my husband and daughters”. There, she says, she and her family produce coffee, but also plantain leaves, which are used to make tamales in Mexico. And there is no shortage of flowers and supplies for herbal medicine. “This has all been a blessing for me: the possibility of engaging in both family and community work, coordinating with social movements, which are a strong engine of transformations”. The pride she feels is evident in her voice, as she describes the balance between her inner self, the land, family and activism.
For some years now, says Illescas, community organizations in the area have also been promoting agrotourism programs to show other people what a dignified life in the countryside looks like.
From seed to cup
Specifically, one of Illescas’ main areas of work is coffee, an activity in which small producers must deal with price fluctuations and compete with the large coffee agroindustry, among other issues. To face those challenges, she explains, “we launched an organizational process and we are involved in several areas of work, allowing us to have control over production, from seed to cup”.
“We reproduce plants in nurseries. These are high-quality plants that are then planted in shaded agroecological coffee plantations, which are managed in an organic manner”, explains the Mexican leader. Afterwards, each family carries out the process of transforming the coffee bean. “Together, we have a cooperative through which we market” the final product, part of which is exported.
For some years now, says Illescas, community organizations in the area have also been promoting agrotourism programs, “so that we can show other people what a dignified life in the countryside looks like”. A life that, she assures us, “is meaningful beyond just economic, commercial or productive aspects”, and that “gives people the time to breathe, the time to eat peacefully”.
“We believe that a life in the countryside” can be very fulfilling, and “that we choose to be the guardians of Mother Earth, to be her sons and daughters”, adds Gisela. Remaining on the land of their ancestors, dedicating time to growing the land, “continues to be a profound act of love, of commitment, and of responsibility as well, because we are protecting life through seeds, through food, not only for our communities but for all of humanity”, she remarks.
A delicious chocolate flan in Hidalgo park
Out of all these important initiatives, the most colorful one is a coffee shop called Femcafé, the flagship store of the brand with the same name. This business venture guarantees that all its drinks are produced, at all stages, by rural women. Located in Miguel Hidalgo park in Ixhuatlán del Café, the shop is staffed by young people from the area, is open Monday through Friday, and on Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. For more information, you can browse its Instagram and Facebook pages (@cafeteriafemcafe).
Gisela notes that the store is part of a growing trend in Mexico and some Central American countries: the best coffee is not only exported, but also enjoyed at home. “We used to drink coffee without ever knowing whether it was actually good; oftentimes it was the coffee that could no longer be sold or marketed. But we’ve now learned to drink coffee, and we feel that we deserve to enjoy it”, she states.
“We hope that there will be a hundred more Femcafé coffee shops in the future”, says Illescas enthusiastically. “Because that will allow us to show the origin of a good cup of coffee”. At the shop in Miguel Hidalgo park, young rural people from the area who have taken the necessary barista courses are part of the cooperative. “This allows us to enjoy specialty coffee beans” grown in an artisanal manner and then processed in modern espresso machines, explains Gisela.
The shop also serves artisanal desserts, some of which are mentioned in the glowing reviews the store receives on websites. Did anyone order chocolate flan with a macadamia latte?
For Gisela, living in harmony with coffee has also meant connecting with the cycles of Mother Earth, biodiversity, female energy and natural elements.
More information:
Institutional Communication Division.
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int
