During Hispanic Heritage Month, 2 News Oklahoma is taking a closer look at Hispanic culture through food, dance, art as well as stories of perseverance.
Latin and Hispanic roots run deep in Tulsa and with the help of Cocina 66, they hope to keep those roots firmly planted.
“We’re not going anywhere so we want to bring our culture to Tulsa. We want to bring the diversity of our countries”, said Cocina 66 Coordinator, Elian Hurtado.
Cocina 66 is the Spanish language version of Kitchen 66, an entrepreneur incubator program. Through it, Spanish speaking entrepreneurs are learning how to open a successful business. And already there are success stories, such as the Romero sisters from Venezuela.
“We bring the idea but that was just idea. We were so lost. We didn’t know how to make it, how to start, how to get the licensing through the Tulsa health department, or how to make a logo, advertising. So they teach us how to make everything,” said Trinidad and Valeria Romero.
The Romero sisters make traditional Venezuelan food, their specialty, arepas. Their restaurant “Arepa Bar” has only been open a few months but they are proving with the help of Cocina 66, achieving the American dream is possible.
“Yeah, we can say this is American dream,” said Valeria Romero.
Another Cocina 66 member said he’s living out his American dream too. Gustavo Vazquez grew up in Mexico watching his mom and grandma make traditional Mexican food. And now he runs a food truck serving traditional Yucatan and Guerrero cuisine. He said the Cocina 66 program allows Spanish speaking people, like him, to get their foot in the door and turn their business into a success.
“The Hispanic people is entrepreneur, or is natural entrepreneur so it’s very important, the kitchen 66 program for us. Like I say, you go from a dream to reality,” said Vazquez.
The Romero sisters and Vazquez tell me they hope to open their own restaurants in the future to continue sharing their culture with Tulsans.
The third class of Cocina 66 entrepreneurs started two weeks ago with the goal of making more dreams come true.
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