ABOUT
CDMX Expats Origin Story
Well hello there, I’m Raquel Ramirez!
Mexican-American community builder and podcast host. Born and bred in Southern California, I accidentally moved to Mexico City from San Francisco in 2020, and eventually became known as La Condesa de La Condesa.
It all started as a joke. So hungry for community, I began hosting dinners and events around La Condesa. Someone proposed that being the Countess of La Condesa was my glamorous calling, and it stuck.
Finding people again...
When I arrived in CDMX, I had just left my burner and tech community in the Bay Area and was trying to make friends. During a pandemic, in a foreign land and language. So in January 2021, I started a WhatsApp group to connect the few people I knew here.
Soon came Thursday Night Social Club, Tuesday Night Dinner Club, Crypto Nights and more community chats. In 2021 alone, I hosted over 120 events. I created the spaces I wanted to spend time in and invited people to join.
That grew into CDMX Expats, a community for discovering the city and finding your people. In 2023, we founded Discourse Tuesdays to help people make friends across language barriers. For our first anniversary, more than 800 people attended to celebrate the most friendly party in the city. It was insane.
I call it a friend factory: make people feel welcome, give them space to connect, and see what happens.
Get the Best of Both Worlds...
I’m both fully Mexican and an expat from the United States. As a fourth-generation Chilanga, I’ve been getting to know my family’s city while learning what it means to be a responsible newcomer.
That perspective shapes the CDMX Expats podcast, where I talk with people about the good, the bad, and the surprising parts of building a life here. I also write Thoughts from La Condesa, where I share stories about the city and explore Mexican politics through Las Mañaneras de La Condesa.
A little more art, please
My background is in data and technology, but over the last year I’ve been spending more time onstage and behind the scenes.
I performed in a Spanish-language production of Chicago, singing, dancing, and acting alongside a live band. I’ve also been studying voice, modeling, and stand-up comedy, while learning animation and projection mapping.
I’m interested in what happens when community and performance come together: the kind of night where you come for a show and leave with a new friend. More on that soon.
Whether you’ve just arrived or have called CDMX home for years, welcome! I hope you find something useful here, discover a new favorite corner of the city, and maybe meet your people along the way.
💃🏻 Raquel