Americans celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month annually from September 15 to October 15. The holiday began as a week-long observation established in 1968 by President Lyndon B Johnson. It was expanded to one month by President Ronald Reagan in 1988, ultimately becoming law on August 17 of that year. September 15 is significant because it is the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September 18, respectively. Also, Columbus Day or Día de la Raza, which is October 12, falls within these 30 days. Hispanic Heritage Month aims to celebrate the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.
Speaker Miriam Espaillat
Our featured speaker this Training Tuesday was local restaurateur Miriam Espaillat. Miriam is the Director of Community Engagement at Raydal Hospitality which owns 19 locations of Sabor, as well as two locations of Three Amigos and La Caseta restaurants. She’s married with two children and holds a Master of Social Work from UNC Charlotte. Miriam kicked off the training with a self-introduction, and recounted her incredible childhood to the group.
Miriam was born at home in a very remote house in El Salvador. At the age of 18 months, her parents had to leave her and her siblings behind with her grandparents to find a better life in the United States. Finally, after six years, Miriam’s mother’s employer was able to help sponsor her and her siblings to join their parents. A slideshow of pictures was shown to the group of the first trip her entire family was able to take together back to El Salvador. They had traveled separately back home, but it took more than 30 years for the family to make the pilgrimage back together. One stop they made together was to the family’s old church. It was at this church that Miriam remembers her father tirelessly serving, which influenced her own life of service and volunteerism and led her to pursue her master’s in social work.
After graduating with her master’s, she struggled with finding her voice and space in life as a woman of color. Luckily for Charlotte’s Latin food scene, Miriam’s husband had just lost his job in the economic crash and wanted to open his own restaurant. They wanted to try their hand at being entrepreneurs and saw Miriam’s parents have success in New York with their own restaurant. Three Amigos in Plaza Midwood was for sale and the rest, as they say, is history. Later they realized that North Carolina was lacking Latin food options much more than New York, so they opened Sabor to introduce the area to more than just burritos. Sabor’s menu includes arepas and empanadas, which were very novel at the time.
In her restaurant management career, Miriam has been able to help give back to her community through her employees. Regarding food, Miriam says, “being invited to a table to eat is a great way to have community.” She’s proud of the pathways she’s created for her restaurant employees for advancement. With her network, she can direct employees to resources for housing and healthcare. Her managers are all trained to become future restaurant owners with monthly meetings where they learn valuable lessons, like how to get a small business loan or create their own LLCs. Her passion for helping others and her family’s love of food have really come together today as her “voice” and “space in the world.”
Watch the Training Tuesday here!
Arepa Recipe
