MY Mission

I was forged in hospitality — twenty years of sweat, grace, and resilience across dive bars and five-star dining rooms. From the block to Beverly Hills, from Maui to Malibu, every shift was both survival and schooling.

I carried the lessons of my cultura, my queerness, and the barrio itself into every room I entered — even when those rooms weren’t built for me. What I learned is that true hospitality isn’t about service; it’s about transformation.

This work was never about chasing trends or luxury for its own sake. It’s about building ecosystems of sovereignty — spaces where staff thrive, communities are uplifted, and guests walk away changed.

Today, I lead Shady Lady Hospitality — a next-wave hospitality collective redefining what it means to serve. Our work is grounded in care, design, and the power of shared experience.

The newest chapter, Shady Lady Sanctuaries, is a vision for regenerative hospitality — blending food, healing, and culture into living ecosystems of care. The first sanctuary begins with movement:

a mobile altar, kitchen, and creative hub that allows us to keep showing up, feeding, and connecting across Los Angeles and beyond.

Through every project, one truth remains:

service is ceremony, and business can be liberation.

I’ve seen what happens when people are given shade in a world that burns them out — they bloom.

And that’s what this mission has always been about: creating places, moments, and systems where everyone — guests, staff, and neighbors alike — can finally breathe, heal, and rise.