Join us for a mezcal tasting and lecture on Oaxacan mezcal production practices featuring Fabiola Santiago, founder of Mi Oaxaca.

Tickets are extremely limited. Please only register if you are certain you can attend.

This event is brought to you by Thinking Food at the Intersections: Justice and Critical Food Studies Sawyer Seminar at UC Davis.

About our Workshop Leader

Fabiola Santiago Hernandez was born in Oaxaca and raised in California. She’s of Zapotec descent from the mezcal-making pueblo of Santiago Matatlán—the "World Capital of Mezcal." Her experiences as a formerly undocumented person and her deep connection to Oaxaca’s rich culture anchor her dedication to equity and cultural preservation.

As the founder and Executive Director of Mi Oaxaca, a binational start-up. Fabiola is leading the organization’s development and co-developing cultural education programs and activities. Mi Oaxaca’s purpose is to attribute Oaxaca’s cultural and culinary contributions to Indigenous Lifeways and Traditional Ecological Knowledge while also working towards economic, ecological, and cultural equity in the globalized world.

Fabiola has spent fifteen years working at the intersection of community health and social change. She has extensive experience in public health research, narrative change strategy, and popular education. Her work has helped change policies at local and state levels, shift and build power of marginalized communities, and improve the health of those communities. As a systems and intersectional thinker and brings her personal and professional experiences to her work. She earned her BA in Sociology and Masters in Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles.

As a parent, she nurtures adventure, creativity, and respect, especially for our earth. She understands that she is raising the next generation and takes that role seriously and joyfully.

Cultural Memory: Resurging Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Mezcal