About Michelle

Michelle Rivas Notestine is a mezcal sommelier, social impact leader, and founder of Agave Library — the app built for agave spirits collectors coming to the iOS app store in June 2026.

In essence, she's a Mexican-American who walked into a Chicago bar, ordered mezcal, and never fully recovered.

She holds her sommelier certification from the Agave Spirits Institute, an MBA from Loyola University Chicago with a capstone on the sustainability and biodiversity of mezcal, and an MA in Health Communication from DePaul University. She has visited agave-producing regions across Mexico and interviewed producers, importers, and experts across the full spectrum of agave spirits — from mainstream tequila to ancestral mezcal, raicilla, bacanora, and sotol.

She hosts private and virtual agave spirits tastings in Chicago under the Ojalá name, produces the Field Notes weekly tasting video series on Instagram, and built Agave Library — an iOS app for collectors who take their agave seriously - coming soon to the iOS app store. 

She draws on her background in journalism and social impact to center mujeres, sustainability, cultura, and the communities behind every bottle.