Holly Buckels, 22-year-old international business major at Mississippi State University, works at the University Television Center and in her spare time sells tequila.
Magnolia Distributors is a Mississippi-based alcohol distributing company Buckels had the opportunity to start after interning last spring with her father. Mike Buckels owns a chemical company based in Madison called Madison Polymer Additives.
“My dad’s company is a chemical distribution company and occasionally other companies represent his company and sell his products,” she said. “The owner of one of these companies, Luis Cruz of LCG International, was the person who asked us to represent Luna Nueva in Mississippi.”
Cruz was born and raised in Mexico and owns LCG International, LLC with his wife. He said he founded this company by complete chance many years ago. While in Chicago, he was discussing the poor quality and inconsistency of “good” tequila with the owner of an upscale Mexican restaurant when the idea came to him. 
“I offered to get him the best tequila he ever had,” Cruz said. “He was not very convinced but agreed to try it anyway.”
Three months later the owner tried the tequila and loved it, and from this chance encounter sprang forth Luna Nueva Tequila. He had to then get the permits from both Mexico and the United States to be able to import and sell the tequila, which took almost a year to complete.
Buckels is the solicitor and representative for Luna Neuva in Mississippi. It is her responsibility to promote the tequila and solicit orders from authorized package stores, restaurants, bars, casinos and hotels. She has plans to hold tasting events and hopes to sponsor events in the future.
According to the Mississippi Department of Revenue website, all wine and spirit sales in the state of Mississippi must be sold through the Alcohol Beverage Control Division of the Department of Revenue. All solicitors must go through a tedious process of filling out and filing forms.
After visiting the ABC several times and being background checked by the FBI, Buckels was able to submit her application last March and received her permit mid-June of last year.
Buckels said she has found one of the hardest obstacles she has faced is getting people to take a 22-year-old college student seriously.
“I have often gone into liquor stores and had owners question if I am really a solicitor because of my age. I look like most of their customers,” she said.
Despite this, she said the owner of Bulldog Package store was interested in her product and Luna Nueva will soon be available for purchase at the store located on Highway 12.
The quality and taste of the tequila is what Cruz and Buckels  could not stop talking about.
“Compared to Luna Nueva’s competitors, it is reasonably priced and is also a better quality than some of the more expensive competitors,” Buckels said.
The tequila comes in three different types named Silver, Reposado and Anejo, which relate to the amount of time the tequila has been aged. Each flavor has hints of several different flavors that range from citrus in the Silver, raisins, dates and walnuts in the Reposado, and cinnamon, spices and vanilla in the Anejo.
Luna Nueva Tequila is not  average tequila. It is made from handpicked seven-to-eight-year-old agave pinas from a privately owned agave farm. After harvest the plants are cooked in brick ovens and stone milled to extract flavors then double distilled in copper pot stills and aged in oak barrels.
All this might not make much sense to someone who just likes to order a margarita at the local Mexican restaurant, but what does make sense is the quality of the tequila. It is made from 100 percent agave in the traditional process, which gives the tequila more taste without having to add agave flavors.
Luna Nueva even has an award under its belt for its excellence. It recently won a “Best of the Best” award from Tequila.net for its Anejo Tequila. The Anejo Tequila has been aged for at least one year and is the highest grade of tequila. Like whiskey and other alcohols, the longer the tequila has been aged, the better it is.
Both Buckels and Cruz agreed this business has brought them plenty of excitement.
“This is a very exciting job. You get to know very interesting people. As an example, we spent a couple of hours with 50 Cent at his home in LA to discuss Tequila,” Cruz said.
Buckels said 50 Cent will be promoting the tequila nationally once it is available in more states.
Cruz said the United States and Mexico represent about 85 percent of the tequila market. The name Luna Nueva was chosen because it means “new moon” in Spanish. This is meant to indicate that it is the founder of a new tequila era.
Luna Nueva Tequila is currently the only company Buckels and Magnolia Distributors represents, but she said she hopes to expand the growing company.
“Currently we are only representing Luna Nueva Tequila, but I would like to bring other great products to Mississippi,” she said. “I also want to expand Magnolia Distributors to other states, and – who knows – maybe one day, other countries.”
Luna Nueva is currently sold in Mississippi, Tennessee, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania. For more information visit tequilanueva.com or follow them on twitter at @LunaNuevaMS.