Cooking up a better future - Janette
If you've been around Urban Ventures long enough, you might recognize this lady right here. If you don't recognize her, maybe you recognize her food truck -- @latortillacatering
On this International Women's Day, we wanted to share about Janette and how she made her dream a reality.
Janette and her family have been participants at UV for over six years, but their relationship to our organization goes much deeper than that. Together they’ve volunteered with our programs, spoken at our events, and advocated for the community.
Back in 2018 Janette was on a panel of women at a UV luncheon. She & her husband had recently started up a catering company. As she was sharing her dreams with the event guests, she confidently stated, "next time you have this event, you'll be eating my food!”
And she was right! To date, Janette and Luis have catered over 50 events for Urban Ventures! Their catering business grew quickly, and in 2020 Urban Ventures sold its food truck to Janette and Luis so they could expand even further. Now you'll find them all over the metro serving up their tasty nachos, cauliflower tacos, and burritos all over the place.
Janette moved to MN over 20 years ago and attributes a lot of her success to her own mother. Growing up in Mexico there were always a lot of labels put on women, but she knew she had more to offer the world. She shares that growing up women were told "be a wife, be a mom, be a housewife... but we were never told to 'be you.'
"Thinking of my mom, and my abuelita, and other Mexican women who suffered, and were overworked and unappreciated... I am a better woman because I saw them and knew I could change my destiny."
We are so proud to have strong, confident woman like Janette as a part of our UV family. Her accomplishments are a reminder of what's possible when we support our neighbors!
If you don’t have dinner plans tonight, you can check out Janette’s food from 6-8pm at @arbeiterbrewing. Otherwise make sure to follow @latortillacatering to see where they’ll be popping up throughout the cities, especially on the Midtown Greenway next to the Urban Ventures farm stand.
