Journeys of Women in Business: Daniela and Selena of Las Comadres
Daniela and Selena discovered that the best entrepreneurships can be born from the simplest conversations. Between jokes and laughter, these two young women transformed a casual chat into an elevated snack cart business.
After finishing an English course in the summer, Daniela took the initiative to work with Selena who wanted to build something of her own in the United States. Daniela said, “I excited about the idea of creating something together.” She searched for tutorials on the internet and built the cart without initially telling Selena, then surprised her with an initial plan. Then they worked together, dreaming of what could be.
Las Comadres began with enthusiasm, but without the foundations that a business requires. “It really was the undeveloped idea," Daniela admits. "We made the cart, but we had no idea about marketing, no idea about prices, no idea about anything. We didn't have an established menu, we didn't yet have the tools."
Their first sales were to acquaintances, in a scheme more based on friendship than commercial strategy. That’s when they turned to Adelante Mujeres for help. Daniela already knew the organization because we provided her critical support through difficult moments through a different program. “Adelante Mujeres paid for my first 10 therapy sessions with a counselor, so I have that affection for the organization,”she explains. “When the opportunity arose to start my own business, I knew that I wanted to join the Empresas and Cocinemos courses at Adelante Mujeres.”
“The main lesson I learned from Empresas was to identify your client and focus on them because you can't pretend to serve everyone," reflects Daniela. In Cocinemos they learned about finances, building a menu, portioning, creating recipes, and calculating real costs. This technical knowledge transformed their operation. “Thanks to Adelante Mujeres, the profit is now greater with the same effort, but without wasting supplies," she explains.
Although they recognize that competition exists in the food truck market, Las Comadres offers variety and seasonal adaptation. Their goal is not just to grow as a local business, but to create a replicable model. “In the future, I would like to have franchises,” Daniela declares with determination. “I’d like to be able to sell Las Comadres with everything already standardized, already portioned, logo. Everything, everything, everything.” This ambition to create a turnkey model reflects a sophisticated understanding of business scaling. In coaching sessions with Adelante Mujeres, they plan to improve Las Comadres as a business model, including the franchise component as a part of their five-year business plan.
For Daniela and Selena, the impact of Adelante Mujeres transcends the technical. “There's a before and after Adelante Mujeres,” affirms Daniela. “Adelante Mujeres has helped us expand our ideas and has given us the tools carry them out. We're seeing our dream become reality today. We're already seeing results.”
Daniela offers words of advice for other female entrepreneurs: "Everything is possible. Dare, try it, you can achieve it. Every dream can be achieved by making an effort, putting in dedication, determination, desire, but above all heart.” This perspective reflects not only optimism, but the wisdom gained in from her own experience.
Las Comadres represents the story of two women who sought out the business training to create something of their own and turn an idea between friends into a flourishing venture. Their trajectory of little more than a year demonstrates how the combination of shared dreams, technical support, and strategic vision can transform a spontaneous idea into a business model with franchise potential. Daniela and Selena are still growing Las Comadres, but they have already demonstrated that when friendship meets business determination, the results can be as sweet as the snacks they prepare, and as promising as the dreams that motivated them to begin.