Mexican immigrant Imelda Hartley will sell her tamales at the Super Bowl (PHOTOS)

• Imelda Hartley will sell her tamales at the Super Bowl.
• She is proud to showcase her Happy Tamales.
• She escaped domestic violence and is on the road to success.

A Mexican immigrant was chosen by the Super Bowl LVII Business Connect program to sell her tamales during the big game on Sunday, February 12. Now her story is going viral everywhere thanks to her inspiring story.

According to El Universal, Imelda Hartley is going to be an official vendor at the Super Bowl with her wide variety of tamales that range from traditional Mexican to nontraditional flavors influenced by Japan, India and even Honduras. So how was she chosen?

Imelda Hartley is causing a sensation with her inspiring story

It turns out that Hartley arrived in the US, escaping domestic violence which undoubtedly made her want to improve herself and get ahead. She decided to start a business selling tamales on the street in front of a laundromat in Phoenix, Arizona. Finally one of her dreams has come true and her business Happy Tamales, will get national exposure.

Imelda Hartley is a native of Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico and, at the age of 52, she established Happy Tamales. Her business was selected by the NFL as part of the Super Bowl Business Connect program that helps small entrepreneurs, especially women and minority groups.

The Mexican immigrant will make it to the Super Bowl

The Super Bowl will take place on Sunday, February 12, in Glendale, Arizona, and the teams competing are the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. Imelda Hartley is thrilled that people who attend the great event will be able to savor the up to 22 varieties of tamales that Happy Tamales offers.

In an interview for EFE, she spoke a little about her specialties: “I have 22 varieties of tamales, many of them my own inspiration, such as shrimp tamales with curry and coconut milk. I have tamales inspired by Guatemalan flavors, from Honduras. I also make them from different types of dough, such as rice dough,” she explained.

Imelda Hartley’s tamales are becoming famous

With names like ‘Friendship’, ‘Hope’, ‘Winner’ and ‘New Beginning’, Mexican businesswoman Imelda Hartley stated that her creations send a message of empowerment to the victims of violence, mostly women, since she identifies with them for having suffered from abuse in her native Mexico and even in the US.

Imelda Hartley said that for the Super Bowl they have asked her to prepare 5,000 tamales. To accomplish this, she even had to rent a space in an industrial kitchen in Mesa, Arizona where many women and even their children helped her create them.

How did Hartley get a place in the Super Bowl?

In 2015, the Mexican immigrant established her business through government support for programs that helped her grow her company, such as the Consular Entrepreneurship Program for Mexican Women Abroad from Mexican government. It’s a path that she has followed until earning the recognition that has led to the Super Bowl.

She fled Mexico due to sexual abuse at age 12 and arrived in the US at age 14. There, she fell into the hands of the father of her five children who raped her for 20 years until she decided to leave him and start from scratch selling tamales on the street to survive. She currently lives in Phoenix and is happy with her Happy Tamales business.