ABOUT

Bessie King is a first-generation Mexican-American. Bess was born in Texas, raised in Mexico City, has lived around the globe, and now resides in Boston.

 

Pre-COVID, she worked as a reporter, digital marketer, and General Manager for her family's restaurant, Villa México Café. One of Boston's- and Massachusetts'- first independent, women-owned, authentic Mexican restaurants.

 

Through the pandemic, she helped form Massachusetts Restaurants United, a nonprofit that advocates for the survival of independent restaurants. She now serves as an emeritus board member.

 

During the pandemic, Bessie also returned to the corporate world as a Loan Officer at a private mortgage lender specializing in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) borrowers. She then worked as Content Manager for a new nonprofit, One Percent For America, which supported immigrants becoming citizens with 1% interest loans for their USCIS fees. Bessie now works for the Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement and offers training workshops on strategic communications and community building for a variety of organizations, working on a project-by-project basis. 

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Her professional experience includes brand and communications development in digital marketing, social media strategy and management, content creation in video, audio, or written formats, customer service and retention, event planning and management, team building and management, and overall business management and reporting. 

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She serves in various advocacy groups, such as the Alzheimer's Impact Movement (AIM) Advocacy Forum, and in arts organizations. In addition to her advocacy, Bessie has completed the leadership programs from Political Lab, Emerge, New Leaders Council, and LeadBoston.

 

Bessie self-produced Chats With Bess, a virtual talk show featuring "ordinary" people doing extraordinary things in their community to inspire audiences to create positive change in their lives. She also runs Friends Who Dine  in her spare time, a social group for adults to make new friends while supporting local food businesses. 

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Bessie earned a B.A. from Northeastern University, an M.S. from Columbia University, and graduated from Matignon High School. She has been listed as one of Northeastern University's Huntington 100, Boston's Power 50, and Boston's 40 Under 40.