These days, Babba Rivera is practically synonymous with her haircare line Ceremonia. The brand's Instagram feed is filled with shots of her lush brown hair, drenched in guava-scented products; signature pops of hibiscus pink, lime, and tangerine, are both splashed across bottles of deep-conditioners and her envy-inducing wardrobe. In that way, the line between work and personal life is always blurry—something she was reminded of when she recently spent a month working from Mexico City.
“I was shocked how many times I was stopped on the street by cool Mexican women asking if I was Babba from Ceremonia,” Rivera says, who before founding Ceremonia had already built up an avid fashion following online.
Rivera sees work travel as a chance to embrace serendipity, though, and conduct this breezy market research. While work trips may sometimes look like cross-country flights to meet with investors, or days spent blitzing around Los Angeles or San Francisco, Rivera knows that she has the luxury of a founder to head somewhere else for a month, soaking up the Latinx rituals that inspired her brand in the first place and taking professional opportunities as they arise.
Now back in New York, and preparing to open her first ever Ceremonia brick-and-mortar in the city, we chatted with Rivera about her trip to Mexico, the business travel rituals she swears by, and the vegetarian taco she's still dreaming of.
All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Destination:
Mexico City!
Purpose of the trip:
The goal was actually to escape the cold in New York in February, and be in a place that felt relevant for my business, somewhere I could gain inspiration. My brand is really rooted in my Latin culture, but my own home country, Chile, is not as accessible from the US. Mexico has become a bit of a gateway for me to fill my cup from a Latin American inspiration standpoint. Because it was crunch time, and I needed to really work, I brought the entire family. I signed up for a co-working space, and I put my daughter in Pre-K. I did the most I could to make it feel like I was living there for a month.
Things then came up for me while I was there. Like, I got in touch with the owner of the Luis Barragán house north of the city, Cuadra San Cristobal. It used to be a museum and now it's a private residence, but I connected with the owner and was invited for a tour. My jaw dropped at this house. I asked to do a founder shoot and a campaign shoot there and she said yes, so we shot our next product drop: our first-ever perfume.
My travel buddies:
My husband, my two daughters, the dog, and our nanny.
My airport routine:
I have really dry skin so moisturizing is key for me. My in-flight routine is that I always bring Tata Harper rejuvenating moisturizer and their essence spray. For my hair, I always bring our leave-in conditioner and just put on my ends. I feel like my hair gets so frizzy when I travel because of the dryness.
Where I stayed:
In an Airbnb in Roma Norte. I loved the neighborhood because it didn't feel overly touristy. It felt like a real neighborhood, obviously with some tourist spots, but also with a lot of locals, and it felt very safe.
What’s on the agenda:
The inspiration for me was really to follow my flow versus showing up with another schedule. I feel like my life is so scheduled. So part of the joy was to set up a comfortable routine that allowed for family and work to exist, while creating enough space for myself to be able to lean into different pockets of inspiration. I dropped off my daughter at the Pre-K each day, and my co-working space was just across the street. After the work day, I would pick up my daughter and we would go to Espíritu Sano to eat their banana bread and have matcha. I also joined the tennis club in Condesa. And we really got into this little routine.
The one item that makes work travel easier:
I am a sucker for my AirPods Max. When I'm traveling, I like to be where there are people, where I can get inspired. I like to be in beautiful places. But in order for me to focus, I need to turn off the volume of everything around me. I also always bring a Rimowa carry-on, and I've used that so much because I hate checking in a bag. With two kids and a dog I had to check going to Mexico, but when I did a trip during the trip, I was able to just pack my own things in my carry-on and go away for two days.
The most interesting person I met with:
Her name is Mia, and she is the woman who owns and lives in the Luis Barragán House. My husband joined me on the tour of the house, and we both looked at each other after like, How do we make her part of our family?
I grew up in Sweden and my husband is Swedish, and I just found so much relatability to her—she's Swedish, but moved to Mexico City when she was 16. Her husband was also Swedish—his parents were—but he was born and raised in Mexico and has never even lived in Sweden. It was so inspiring to hear about their multicultural perspectives as they are also raising two daughters, who are now both trying to learn Swedish. It spoke to me so much.
A surprise of the trip:
I was shocked by the amount of times I got stopped on the street. And I was like, Why do you know who I am? People had discovered the brand, they followed us online, and they could not get Ceremonia there. So, after the fifth time I was stopped by someone on the street asking me if we planned to start stocking in Mexico, I decided to at least explore that opportunity. I asked my community for their favorite places to shop beauty in Mexico City, and if there were any beauty retailers that were really strong on clean beauty in particular. Ollivine came up multiple times. I reached out to the founder on Instagram, we met for matcha, and the outcome of the trip was that we launched in Mexico City with this amazing retailer. It was all made possible by this work travel.
The best thing I ate:
It must have been at Expendio de Maiz, my absolute favorite restaurant—it doesn't have a menu, and they don't take reservations, you just walk in. It's family-owned, and the woman there took care of us like we were her family. She made a taco that, still to this day, I don't understand what went into it but it was the most delicious I've ever had. And I'm a vegetarian, mind you, so this was a vegetarian taco.
How I used my personal time:
I love going to spas and shopping. I love discovering concept stores. Because I am a brand founder and very brand-driven, I love discovering other emerging brands doing incredible things, so that brings me a lot of joy. I also find a lot of inspiration in the spa and wellness world, so I discovered a lot of spa concepts rooted in ancient rituals. I went to a spa in the city called Vitalí, and they had services that merged a little spirituality. A highlight of the trip was the work-life balance—I was working full days, but somehow I felt like I had more time for myself.