In the following episode of Hustle on the Hill, Las Delicias Bakery founder Maritza Parada was interviewed in Spanish. Her quotes were translated by The Herald. In the audio for this podcast, her quotes are spoken in English by Sofia Segarra-Orenstein.
Lucia Kim: Hi everyone. Welcome to the first episode of Hustle on the Hill, the Brown Daily Herald, new entrepreneurship podcast. We're your hosts, Lucia Kim
Sofia Segarra-Orenstein: and Sofia Segarra
Lucia: And together, we'll bring you new episodes featuring local businesses around Providence and interviews with their founders. Stay tuned, because we got more great stories and behind the scenes insights coming from your favorite local shops and restaurants.
Sofia: Today's episode is about Las Delicias Bakery and the founder, Maritza Parada. Her shop is located on Atwells Avenue, introducing the traditional flavors of Bolivian cuisine to the local Providence community. Through delicious salteñas and tamales a la olla, Maritza channels her passion for baking to honoring the memory of her mother and grandmother back home in Bolivia. Her story is one of immigrant resilience and cultural pride.
Lucia: Maritza moved from Bolivia to the U.S. when she was 17,
Maritza Parada: Well, I got married very young, and my partner and I decided to emigrate because of my country's economic situation, and his family lived in Providence, so that's why we settled here.
Lucia: Her first job here was at a produce market where she worked from two in the morning to two in the afternoon every day.
Maritza: I learned that to achieve your dreams, you have to work very hard, especially because life here wasn't easy. I learned everything for my mother, who was a very hard working and determined woman. Nothing in life is easy. You have to fight even for the impossible, to make your dreams come true.
Lucia: That early experience shaped her mindset. But life brought additional challenges.
Maritza: Later, I had my three children, and then we were laid off from the jewelry factory where I worked. After getting divorced and being a mother of three, I told myself, I have to raise my children. That pushed me to keep going and fighting for them. And since I had always loved everything related to baking, I thought it was time to fight for my dreams and open my own small business.
Lucia: The aspiration to bake was a dream of hers for quite some time,
Maritza: especially because I came from a family of pastry chefs. My recipes are inspired by those of my mother and grandmother.
Lucia: who instilled in her a love for Bolivian cuisine. When Maritza told her mom she wanted to open her own business, her mother suggested that she work in a daycare because she thought it would be less grueling than starting a bakery.
Maritza: But I knew that I wanted to do this, even if it was very demanding
Lucia: In the beginning, she says she had no money or equipment.
Maritza: It took me almost a year to open. One of the biggest obstacles was that the fire department wouldn't give me the permit, even though my business was already set up. One day, I said, "That's it. If they don't give me the permit today, I'm closing." So I went to the fire department, and they said, "Why haven't you picked up your permit? You've had it for a while." They gave it to me that same day. The next day, I went and bought everything and started working.
Lucia: Maritza recalls the first ever loaf of bread that came out of the oven.
Maritza: It came out huge because I didn't yet have the experience of adjusting recipes for business. The recipes I knew were curated for my small home kitchen.
Lucia: She's come a really long way since then. She's grown her menu, serving restaurant-style food on weekends.
Maritza: I've also done everything alongside my husband, who's also a chef. We wanted to open a restaurant and a bakery at the same time in the same place. The dream continues. Now that I have the permits and licenses, we want to change the name from just a bakery to Las Delicias Bakery and Restaurant.
Lucia: She shared this advice:
Maritza: Fight for your dreams. Everything in life is possible with time, work and effort, everything can be achieved.
Lucia: With that, thank you so much for listening to the first episode of Hustle on the Hill. In our next episode, we'll be talking with Savannah and Heather, the founders of Shop Bloom on Wickenden. They're two small business owners who came together to build a space that not only sells products from multiple local makers,
Sofia: but also offers consulting and workshops for aspiring entrepreneurs in Providence. They have some great advice on how to turn an idea into a business and how to stay connected to a creative community. Thanks for listening, and don't forget
Lucia: everything great starts with a little hustle.
