Joanna Jaramillo, 37
Marketing Manager, Wholesum Family Farms, Inc., Amado, AZ
June 12, 2026 | 3 min to read
SHORT BIO
Hometown: Tucson, AZ
Hobbies: Weight training, Dance expression, Crafts
Family/Community: Tucson Meet Yourself, Local arts festivals
Motto in life: Make it happen, speak what you want into existence.
Jaramillo is a strategic marketing leader who has played a pivotal role in elevating Wholesum’s brand and market presence. She has led brand and cross-functional initiatives spanning brand management, PR, retail marketing, packaging, events, social media, data analysis and product development.
She gained early exposure to the industry through her family’s Colombian restaurant. After college, she spent several years in nonproduce positions.
In 2018, she joined Wholesum as marketing coordinator, and in 2019, she moved to marketing specialist. In her first year with Wholesum, she led the execution of the company’s rebrand from Wholesum Harvest to Wholesum.
In 2019, she helped bring the fair trade message to partners by supporting the company’s Healthy Start volunteer initiative, where they built a kitchen in a community kindergarten.
In 2021, she was promoted to marketing manager. She led the introduction of the company’s first cardboard sustainable packaging for organic tomatoes on the vine in 2021, which has since scaled nationwide and expanded into additional commodities, significantly reducing clamshell usage.
In 2022, she created “Semillitas,” the company’s first festival celebrating 10 years of fair trade impact in Sonora, Mexico, alongside a customer appreciation campaign. More recently, she has contributed to product development, bringing data, research, and strategic positioning into cross-functional work.
In 2025, she played a key role in the launch of Lil’ Ones, organic snacking tomatoes, paired with campaign that surpassed 1 million views.
Q: How did you begin working in the produce industry and why?
What brought me into the industry as a professional was a job posting for a marketing coordinator role at Wholesum that genuinely spoke to my soul.
I grew up in Rio Rico, AZ, surrounded by produce companies and families. Even though my parents weren’t in the industry, it was just always part of everyday life. My background is in media arts and communications, and I also spent several years working in my mom’s restaurant, so art, food and hospitality have always been very close to me in a hands-on way.
Q: What is the one thing in produce that you are most passionate about?
What I’m most passionate about in produce is its ability to connect people. It’s a universal building block, grown from the earth, yet experienced differently across cultures and kitchens.
What makes it especially meaningful to me is the emotional layer that can be brought forward through storytelling, packaging and brand experience.
Produce isn’t just what’s harvested but what happens before and after. It’s how it’s shared at the table, how it becomes part of traditions, and how it supports our health along the way.
Q: Where do you think growth happens the most?
I find it to be a system, not a single lever, but growth usually starts with innovation. You need something new or better to spark demand. Marketing then builds connection and identity around it, and sales and operations are what make that growth real and scalable. When one of those is missing, growth is stunted.
Q: What advice would you give someone new to the produce industry?
Produce is living and breathing, and a little theatrical. It is from nature, and that comes with its beauty and challenges, so volatility is a part of the deal. My advice is to build your adaptability early, learn to pivot and navigate uncertainty and surprises. Just as important, stay curious.
NOMINEES
