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 then General Manager for her family's legacy restaurant, Villa México Café. One of Boston's- and Massachusetts'- first independently 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 emeritus board member.

 

During the pandemic, Bessie returned to the corporate world as a Loan Officer for a private mortgage lender specializing in English as a Second Language (ESL) borrowers. She also worked as Content Manager for the new nonprofit One Percent For America, which supported immigrants becoming citizens with 1% interest loans for their USCIS fees. Bessie now facilitates training workshops for a variety of organizations, and works per project in community building. 

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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, like the Alzheimer's Impact Movement (AIM) Advocacy Forum and arts organizations. In addition to her advocacy, Bessie has completed leadership programs like the Political Lab, Emerge, New Leaders Council, and is a liberal progressive.

 

Bessie self-produces 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, a social group encouraging adults to make new friends while supporting local food businesses. She always welcomes people to interview and venues to feature. 

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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.