From Resilience to Success
A Colombian Chef’s Journey to Entrepreneurship in Canada
Hi, my name is Viviana, I moved to Canada suddenly in the middle of the pandemic because my family and my business back in Colombia were threatened. Not long after I arrived in Canada, my mother, daughter and I were referred by a social worker to Journey Home Community. I am so grateful to Journey Home because they helped me understand the steps I needed to take to claim refugee status, they helped me connect to resources, including income assistance, and they supported me and my family to find a home.
I have always enjoyed cooking, I was given this passion from my mother in Colombia, my mother was always cooking different kinds of food. Now that I live in Canada, I see the need for more Colombian food. There are some Colombian restaurants here, but it’s not homemade food. My goal is to fill this need, to have homemade Colombian food and I will do it with my own personal touch. My first Colombian dish I made here was chizo. 100% handmade.
When my family and I were living in Journey Home housing, there was another woman living next door. Journey Home was supporting both of us and we became good friends. We often took breakfast together in the backyard and chatted a lot. We talked about the businesses we each had in our home countries. She encouraged me to consider starting a business here in Canada. Eventually we joined a program called, Women in Motion.
Several months into the program I started to really struggle with my health and was in severe pain. I had to take a break from the program to have surgery. I couldn’t wait to start things back up again as soon as I was able. My family was trying to support me and tell me that I do not need to start a business now, and encouraged me to do something easier. Around this time, my Journey Home neighbour told me about this opportunity called, Flavours of Hope, a social enterprise that walks with newcomer women, equipping and empowering them to start their own business. She had just completed it herself and was able to start her business. So I decided to do this.
As I was finishing this program, again, my health got really bad, so I had to go in for another surgery. Unfortunately, there were complications and I was in and out of the hospital for a while, but by this time my business had started. There were days when I was in the hospital and I was getting calls to make food orders. My mother and sister had to help me. It felt weird to me that I was not able to eat for days because of my health, but we were making food for others to keep my business open.
During this season I began to understand the exact meaning of the word “resilience”. To me this means, stay strong and keep fighting against adversity. I do this because I put all my heart into my business, my last breath even. I don’t want people to not trust me, so I must keep working, but it was my faith and the love from my family that kept me going.
I would say that my dream for my business is to have a local Colombian coffee shop and where my family and I are both cooking and serving. It is important to me that I do both, so I can share personally about the food I’ve made, my roots and my Colombian culture. I want to serve everyone, not just Latin Americans, that’s why I am at the farmers markets with my food, where there are lots of people from different countries that come to buy my products.
When I look back on starting this business, I couldn’t have done it without my family, and friends. My mother is the example to follow, she gave me the love of cooking. And my Journey Home neighbour, I believe that God gave us both a gift in each other. We were there to encourage each other in life and in business so many times. Now she and I are both being nominated for awards in business.
Some advice I leave you with is this, first and foremost – trust in yourself. If you have discipline and you are focused on your dreams, it can come true. I tell my story to inspire other women, if I can do it you can do it. I am doing this because I have had women who have gone before me and helped me. When you start a business you have a lot of doubts, especially in the beginning, and it’s good to know someone who has already gone through that. I hope that I can be a mentor to other women who want to start their own business in Canada.
—Viviana & Vanessa Roth
