“I’ve gone back to visit family a few weeks at a time, but I keep my head low, keep out of trouble. It’s one of the ironies of my father’s family – one side of the family is involved in narco-trafficking and the other side of the family is law-men, Texas Rangers and the likes.”
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Adán Tijerina is not afraid to get his hands dirty – but these days, not in any illegal way.
Each week you can find this Wellington entrepreneur up to his elbows in compost and mulch at Epuni Primary School community garden in Lower Hutt.
He partners with Common Unity Project Aotearoa, an urban village project that grows food, skills, leadership and enterprise among local families.
Adán, who owns two companies in Wellington and is involved in several others, says his business ethic is one that includes “civic duty” rather than “generosity” and is born from the soil – literally.
Born in the Skagit Valley, Washington State, Adán came from a family of Mexican transient migrants.
His grandparents and parents were agricultural workers who travelled the western United States, settling near Seattle in the Colombia Basin.
“In Mexico they talk about “un peso más”, “one dollar more” says Adán, who describes himself as a chicano.
“The US is not necessarily a place Mexicans want to be, but it’s a place of more opportunity. It’s a place to earn one dollar more and find a better future for the family. We were Mexicans who are either born or raised in the US, but we’re too Mexican to be American and too American to be Mexican.”
In the late 80s and early 90s, Adán’s neighbourhood began to see an influx of gang activity, specifically the trafficking of narcotics.
“When I was a teenager that was heavily part of what they were doing in the community. Getting into trouble was part of the expectation.”
Did he get into trouble?
“Yeah – a fair bit, not any more than my peers. A lot of petty crime from my early teenage years, a little bit of the trade. We were minors, underaged. We were 15.”
Adán’s parents were determined to get their son out of that world and eventually sent him to Western Washington University where he gained a degree in environmental law and policy.
After graduating, he became an impassioned educator, working with children in volatile and challenging environments.
His work took him to Mexico City and the Proninõs Theatre programme, a long-term project getting street kids out of prostitution, drug trafficking and off the streets by offering them meaningful alternatives and choices.
It was in Mexico City that Adán met Sarah, a New Zealander who became his wife. He immigrated with her to Wellington in 2000.
Seventeen years, four boys and sadly, one divorce later, Adán is a successful entrepreneur. He co-owned the iconic Matterhorn Restaurant up to 2010. These days Adán co-owns Milk Crate Cafe and Almighty Organic Juices.
He believes strongly in both teaching children where their food comes from and developing in them a sense of responsibility to their community.
His family history of agricultural work as well as his time spent working with the street kids of Mexico City developed his idea of ethical business practice.
“The way we chose to look at giving – we see it as our civic duty to contribute. We’d like to encourage other businesses to contribute – it comes down to being a bit more innovative with how you model your business. Make [giving] a cost of doing your business.”
Working alongside Adán at Epuni Primary is Julia Milne, the driver and spokesperson for food education programme Common Unity Project Aotearoa.
She says without business partners like Adán and Almighty Organic, it would be impossible to sustain their community projects.
“[The partnership] ensures that we can continue to employ Khaled, a Syrian and former-refugee gardener who works in this space. It’s a really lovely sharing of values. This shared impetus of needing to respond to children’s needs in the wider community and how we do that together.”
