Blanca Placencia

Blanca Plascencia was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. She attended 2 years of college at CUCSH -Universidad de Guadalajara” with a major in Sociology. Blanca moved to the United States at the age of 21. Started working in the restaurant industry for 13 +  years where she gained experience and escalated to all positions from busser to manager. After that she and her husband decided to go on their own and started a small business becoming co-owner of 3 Mexican Restaurants; El Fogon Mexican grill with two locations in West Des Moines and Cantaritos Mexican Grill in Pella, Iowa. 

Blanca has a great passion for entrepreneurship. She loves Greater Des Moines because it is a small community, where there aren’t a lot of resources that bigger cities have, which is a bad thing, but is also good, it means that we have opportunities to Create a better place. There are plenty of needs. Blanca strongly believes in the Vision of Latina Leadership; We can start “building the bridges” and opening doors for different communities and minorities, “We can start building the foundations for our future generations to continue to build a better place for our children”.

Blanca feels grateful to this amazing community that welcomed and supported her. She is an LLI Graduate of 2017 cohort. Recognized as one  of  “40 Women” to watch in the hospitality industry in 2019 by Iowa Restaurant Association, Also recipient of  “Latino Achievement Award” from Iowa’s Latino Heritage Festival in 2019, Received “Impact Award” from Small Business Administration in recognition of small business success and contribution to Iowa’s economy in 2021 during Hispanic Heritage Month. Now she feels ready to pay it forward and be more involved in the community that is in much need.