Diana Diaz learned the art of selling early. From a basement workshop in their East Los Angeles home, she watched her dad make pillows and blankets, and learned how to make her own clothes. Then, he taught her how to sell their merchandise on Brooklyn Avenue (now Cesar Chavez). "I didn’t enjoy it back then. I felt shame, and if my friends saw me, I told them my dad was making me do it," she said. "But I was learning a trade. I was learning how to be resourceful."

As she grew up, whenever Diana needed money, she knew exactly what to do. "I just would make something and go sell. I bought a used car during high school. On the weekends, I took the seats out, filled it with pillows and clothes, and went to the swap meets. I became really comfortable, and it was so fun to have those killer sales days."

Gradually, instead of shame, selling became exciting—and lucrative. She bought a house of her own in her early twenties and hosted boutique yard sales with and for friends who had a similar passion for vending. She upcycled tapestries from the factory where her dad worked. She even created purse lines that were sold in Southern California malls. During the week Diana attended Cal State LA, earning a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and a master’s in School Counseling. She worked as a counselor and got married, but she was always thinking about different community sales endeavors.

Diana launched Mexichic Crafts in 2017, the first Chicana luxury leather brand out of East LA, available at retail and destination spots like the Museum of Latin American Art and LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes. But when the pandemic shutdowns began, she figured it was the end of her sales adventures. "My customers kept reaching out though! They wanted to shop, but they didn’t want to shop corporate. They drove up curbside, picked up purses, and told me to get back out there and start selling again. I got motivated." Diana wanted to recreate the spirit the homegrown mercados she hosted when she was first starting out, and at the same time, to empower start-up vendors in her community. She found a parking lot that she could rent on the weekends and reached out to former students and friends. The Goddess Mercado boutique launched in 2021, with 12 local Latina vendors she knew—Diana says she was highly motivated because she didn’t want to let them down. Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis soon took notice and helped her secure the East LA Civic Center to use for the monthly event.

Diana wasn’t done yet, however. "A former student of had been to The Goddess Mercado, and said to me, 'Miss, we need something for the gay community in East LA,' she said. "I have a big queer network already, and as a counselor, I knew a lot of students in East LA have a hard time coming out.” Diana recruited volunteers and 40 queer vendors and launched a companion marketplace, The Queer Mercado, a few months later.

Together, The Goddess Mercado (second Saturday of the month) and The Queer Mercado (third Saturday of the month), are a safe market spaces where young people can express themselves, learn to sell, and earn their own money. Her nonprofit, The Goddess Mercado Nonprofit Collective, assists vendors with branding, graphic design, mobile boutique presentation, and marketing.

Today, Diana lives in City Terrace and works as a school counselor at Garfield High School, where she leads a series of advocacy and self-empowerment workshop for parents and students. She sits on the board of the East Los Angeles Artwalk and In the Making, a community nonprofit providing job training for youth. Recently, Supervisor Solis appointed her as one of the First District Arts Commissioners.

“I’ve met so many incredible women and youth, eager to grow their brands and be supportive. We’re buying from each other, we’re hiring each other’s kids, we’re breaking bread together,” she said. “I knew my community needed these mercados. It’s our responsibility to create opportunities for one other so we don’t have to leave our home.”