Why the most memorable brands begin with a feeling.

Before the menu, the color palette or the logo, there is a question I believe every meaningful brand should answer:

How do you want people to feel?

That question has always guided the way I approach hospitality. A guest may not remember every detail of a room or the exact words used to describe a product, but they will remember whether they felt welcomed, celebrated, inspired or understood.

That feeling is not an accidental result of good design. It is the strategy.

As a co-founder of Café Lola in Las Vegas, I helped shape the concept, design, storytelling and guest experience around a very specific vision. I wanted it to be beautiful and transportive, but also warm. I wanted it to feel special enough for a celebration and familiar enough to become part of someone’s everyday life.

But the feeling behind Café Lola began long before the first location opened.

It began with my mother.

Café Lola is named for my mother, Lola.

For me, that is not a small detail in the brand’s history. It is the heart of the story.

My mother worked incredibly hard to give me every opportunity she could. There were times when she worked two and even three jobs so that I could have the life she dreamed of for me. She reminded me constantly of who I was, what I was capable of and that I could do anything I was willing to work toward.

She also believed in my ideas—no matter how ambitious or, at times, completely crazy they may have sounded.

She was often the first person ready to help me take an idea out of my head and begin figuring out how to make it real. Her support was never passive. She showed up. She helped. She encouraged me to keep going.

Naming Café Lola was not simply a branding decision. It was a way of honoring the woman whose sacrifice, strength and belief made so much of my life possible.

The café carries her name, but it also carries what she taught me: care deeply, work hard, welcome people generously and never be afraid to imagine something greater for yourself.

That emotional foundation mattered when we began shaping the physical experience.

I have always believed that design is much more than decoration. In hospitality, design communicates before anyone says a word. It tells guests whether they are meant to linger, celebrate, take a photograph, bring a friend or return with someone they love.

Every detail contributes to that message.

The colors, flowers, presentation, packaging and the way a table is set are not separate creative decisions. Together, they establish the world of the brand. When those choices are made intentionally, people do not simply visit a business. They step into a feeling.

That is what I wanted Café Lola to offer.

It needed to be visually distinctive, but being photogenic was never enough. The beauty had to support an experience. A beautiful room may draw someone in once; the way that room makes them feel is what brings them back.

For me, one of the most joyful ways to bring that experience to life was through events.

I loved imagining and hosting events inside Café Lola, from our princess teas to gatherings created specifically for women. Those occasions allowed us to take the personality of the café and make it even more immersive.

The events were not an afterthought. They were an extension of the brand.

A princess tea could turn an ordinary afternoon into a memory between a mother and daughter. A women-centered event could give friends, founders and community members a beautiful place to connect, celebrate and feel seen. Each gathering gave people another way to experience Café Lola—and another reason to make it part of their own stories.

That is one of the most powerful things a hospitality space can become: a setting for someone else’s life.

People celebrated birthdays, friendships, milestones and everyday moments inside the world we created. Over time, the guests became part of the brand’s story too.

Producing those events also reinforced something I have learned repeatedly as an entrepreneur: creative vision and operational execution cannot be separated.

An event may appear effortless to the guest, but behind that experience are countless decisions. The concept, décor, menu, timing, guest flow, staffing and communication all have to work together. The magic may be emotional, but creating it requires discipline.

That balance—between imagination and execution—is where I am most at home.

I love seeing the complete world around an idea. I can envision the feeling, the room and the story, but I also think about what it will take to bring that vision to life. The most effective concepts are not only beautiful. They are thoughtful, intentional and capable of being delivered consistently.

That is what turns an aesthetic into an experience.

It is also why the strongest brands begin with something true.

Trends can influence a color, a menu or a campaign. They cannot create the emotional foundation of a brand. That foundation has to come from somewhere deeper: a belief, a memory, a person or a reason the idea needed to exist in the first place.

For Café Lola, that truth begins with family.

It begins with my mother working tirelessly to create opportunities for me. It continues through the lessons she gave me about perseverance, confidence and showing up for the people you love. And it lives in every moment when someone enters Café Lola and feels that they have arrived somewhere created with care.

I want people to know who Lola really is.

She is not simply a name on the door. She is my mother—the woman who worked two and three jobs, believed in me before there was anything to see and stood beside me when an idea needed more than encouragement to become real.

Giving Café Lola her name was my way of preserving that story and giving credit where it has always been due.

Because the most memorable brands do more than sell something.

They carry meaning.

They invite people inside.

And when they are created from something honest, they make people feel a connection—even before they know the full story behind the name.

For me, Café Lola will always begin with her.