We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ilma Lopez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Ilma , so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?
From my mom and being grateful every day, I have my moments where is hard to keep going, to see the light. However, where I come from ..Venezuela and the way i was raised made me the most optimist. I did not grew up with water all the time, still now water, electricity and food is a gift, is not guarantee a everyday commodity. Something as basic as hot water, we didn’t have. My mom went to bed without eating so many times, we couldn’t afford a lot, and still despite being born to a Colombian, single 20 year old mom of 2 kids, was the best thing in the world. That lady, my MOM made our lives so full, made us share every meal to create a bond between my brother and I ( never said it was because we couldn’t afford more.); made us treat each other with our first paychecks to value the love, support of family ( if i made money i will buy something for my brother and her, and it was the same for my brother); once we were able to have an allowance, she made us pay for one utility at home so we knew what supporting a family cost ( never said it was because she couldn’t give us money and pay for all the bills). and so many more memories, christmas was all about sharing, she worked so hard to get us where we are, we took one vacation with her growing up, and the rest of the time she will be working and couldn’t be with us, but even if that sounds harsh, she always found a way for us to have fun. Our childhood was fill with love and laughter, never problems. I grew up in a perfect bubble. When i came to the states, she sold our apartment to be able to afford my travel, I owe her so much; and just like that my life changed and I realized that is not about the life itself is what you do with that life what’s important. I focus on the best outcome on every scenario, how to spin it to learn, how can i moved past it, and most importantly reminding myself how lucky/ blessed I am. even on the bad days, taking time before bed or during the day to be grateful.
I asked my kids every night , what are you grateful about today? and you will be amazed how wonderful life can be if you really pay attention to the little details and take nothing for granted.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a Pastry chef in Portland-Maine, i have travel, work and just overall love the world. My career have been in amazing kitchens with super talented chefs to learn from. Now I co-own 2 cool places with my husband also chef Damian Sansonetti, one Chaval is spanish and french dinner restaurant , we opened 8 years ago and number 2 is The Ugly Duckling luncheonette that will be 2 years old in february 13th. We have everything from scratch, we made english muffins and sammies on them, baked goods, desserts and all the coffees, syrups, you name it and we will make it. For both places we focus on customizing your experience and taking every details into consideration, from the food, drinks, sweets, music, overall ambiance.
One of the goals for 2025 is to learn a new trade, host classes and be more present within our community, Yes we do a lot of nonprofit work and it has been wonderful; but i want to take it to the next level. And hopefully I get to show fellow cooks that is possible to have a family and be in this industry, that you can work hard and still be a mom.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Self Discipline, good listener, knowing when to stop ( still learning this one), but above all knowing where you want to go. My biggest advice is to get to know yourself, those secrets you keep, that thing that makes you happy, your triggers,, learn it all, figure how to use your qualities for your success, and loving every pieces,, that’s the hardest one. and living without regrets, you have one chance make the best out of it.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
all the questions are awesome.
My pride. Something that I struggle with is our places, I love them and when we get attention it feels that we are on cloud 9, it feels that we did everything right, and then i think on how the team works so hard, how we support our farmers, how our food is, and i know we have the whole package; feels awesome. But then you get any of the national magazines and lists a places,,not ours, but with PR behind them, don’t get me wrong the food is top, but still makes me wonder are they there because they are better.. which i will feel way better about it.. or they are there because they pay someone to put their names out everywhere and at that point, are you being true to your craft, or you are just focusing on your bottom line. Is it about the team, food and doing what you love, or come down to the need to cover your bills every month who is making you chase fame. And Why are they deserving to make money versus the ones we do everything by themselves, or simple so many places where the food is killer but can not afford a PR firm. That’s where I don’t know if is my pride the one keeping away from getting to where i need to be or just plain not being good enough. Should I change my beliefs? which is… keep doing what you love and guests will show up.. or give up and figure how to afford PR?
What to do?
For now I keep doing my thing and having fun while doing it.
Contact Info:
- Website: uglyducklingmaine.com and Chavalmaine.com
- Instagram: chavalmaine, uglyducklingmaine and sweetilmalopez
- Facebook: same and instagram
- Yelp: ugly duckling maine and chaval maine
- Other: emails on our websites, or to order food/delivery and everything in between on our websites
Image Credits
Zack Bowen , Nicole Wolf and some from us
