A Little Piece of Our Story.
The story behind Paper Tacos®
It started with a little boy translating greeting cards for his mom.
The family translator.
Like many first-generation Latino kids, I did my share of family translator. School forms, DMV paperwork? I was there. Tax forms? I’d do my best. At nine years old, we were translating things we barely understood ourselves. But somehow, we figured it out.
One memory that has stayed with me is shopping for greeting cards with my mom. She’d find a card she liked, written in English, and ask me to translate it. If she liked what I said, she’d carefully write down the Spanish translation, word for word, trying to capture the same sentiment.
I didn’t think much of it back then. I was just helping my mom.
Who would’ve thought that little boy would grow up to create greeting cards of his own?
Our culture was never just about speaking Spanish.
There’s something special about finding the perfect greeting card. You read it and immediately think of someone you love. You can almost picture their reaction.
But I rarely found cards that reflected the world I knew. Sure, there were Spanish-language cards. But what about the food, the traditions, the sayings, the humor, and the things our grandparents used to tell us?
We didn’t need cards that simply translated the words. We needed cards that understood the feeling.
From doodles to dreams.
I’ve loved drawing since I was a kid. I made flipbooks, doodled in textbooks, and saved my Domingo allowance for illustration books. I wanted to be a cartoonist or animator.
I loved comic strips like Garfield, Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, and especially The Far Side by Gary Larson. A single drawing and a few words could make someone laugh. Greeting cards felt a lot like that to me: a one-panel comic with the punchline waiting inside.
I never became a cartoonist. Instead, I became a graphic designer and built a career in tech, working with global brands. But that little kid who loved illustrating cartoons and making people laugh? He never really went away.
Then came a little “Sana Sana” moment.
Years later, I was at a Frida Kahlo-themed event filled with arts and crafts vendors, walking around with my girlfriend at the time (now my wife). We saw an artist selling prints of familiar Mexican sayings. One read, “Sana sana, colita de rana…”
We joked that it would make a hilarious get-well greeting card. Then the ideas started coming: Sapo Verde to You, Las Mañanitas, piñatas, and all those little things we grew up with.
Paper Tacos started as a passion project. I made cards and sold them at small markets, mostly for fun. But later, while shopping for a card for my mom, I noticed it again: cards in Spanish, but so few that reflected our cultural experiences.
Maybe this little passion project could become something bigger. Maybe we could build the greeting card brand that could finally make us feel seen.
That “My grandma used to say that!” feeling.
My favorite part of this journey is watching someone discover our cards. They pick one up, read it, and smile. Suddenly a childhood memory comes rushing back.
For a moment, they forget they’re shopping for someone else. Because the card speaks to them first.
That’s what Paper Tacos is about: making people laugh, remember, and feel seen. And when you give one to someone you love, you share a little piece of that story.
We’re just getting started.
I’m a first-generation Latino, the first in my family to go to college, and an artist figuring out how to build a business. Logistics, accounting, inventory, taxes... some days I’m still figuring it all out and asking myself, “Is this worth it?”
Then someone tells me a card reminds them of home, and I remember exactly why I started.
My dream is that Paper Tacos becomes the brand you look for in the greeting card aisle. The cards you bring to birthdays, graduations, and backyard carne asadas.
Our story isn’t finished. And every time you share a Paper Tacos card, you help write a little more of it.
Thanks for inviting Paper Tacos into your home and letting us be part of your story.
Jesús Ruvalcaba
Founder, Paper Tacos®
