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Every morning, Secilia Zamudio, Celia Stewart and Yvonne Callison would work out at the same gym in Mesa without imagining that fate would make them friends, bakers and ultimately partners when they opened Cielito Rosa Bakery.
One is a born entrepreneur, another is a homemaker, and the third is a visionary. They all have two things in common: motherhood and the commitment to show their loved ones that dreams do come true.
They started making protein drinks to sell to gym members, then protein donuts and cookies they called “Besitos de Nuez,” meaning “walnut kisses.”
“Our coach gave us a push because he told us: ‘bring your things here and offer them to the members’… we started with a little table and a sign that read ‘Besito de Nuez,'” Callison, 35, said of their early entrepreneurial days in October 2023.
The prospect of opening a shop enticed them, but not knowing how to go about licensing, ownership, and city and state-required permits kept them at bay. Still, they began to slowly look into it by talking to other vendors at Valley farmer’s markets.
“Secy would go on Saturdays to investigate what they were asking for… she would send us photos and a list of this and that,” said Callison, a mother of four children and originally from Querétaro, Mexico.
A few months and a husband’s motivation — that’s all it took.
In May 2024, Cielito Rosa Bakery opened its first shop in Mesa, located on Southern Avenue and Sycamore, where they offer a full coffee bar experience, a wide selection of Mexican pan dulce and desserts and a trove of beloved sweet pastries, like danishes, macarons and gourmet cookies.
‘Cowards don’t go to war’
Prior to opening their first brick-and-mortar shop, Zamudio had shared with her husband the project she and her friends had started. Being a businessman, he saw the potential.
“One day, he was on his phone looking at businesses, and he says to me, ‘Hey, look, this place is for rent… I already made a reservation to see it’… (my friends) looked at me like, ‘Are you crazy?’” said 35-year-old Zamudio, originally from Wenatchee, Washington, and raised in Chihuahua, Mexico.
She returned to her husband and told him that her friends wanted to move slowly, to which he replied, “‘Cowards don’t go to war, go for it, what’s the worst that can happen?’”
They saw the potential in the location. Being in front of Mesa Community College, in addition to the proximity of the hospitals and the number of bakeries around, and even the traffic there was at all hours.
They dived in. But along with the delays they experienced while renovating and cleaning the shop to get city permits, they also encountered those who assured them they’d fail.
“Many people did not believe in us. Many people came to me at the gym, more men, who came and said to me: ‘It’s going to go badly, why are you going to open? You’re going to lose money, you have no experience in a business’… people who were waiting for the moment when you were alone to come and put you down,” Callison said.
They didn’t listen, and far from allowing the naysayers and the permit delays to lower their spirits, this time helped them experiment with the machinery they had bought and try new recipes.
“We could cook things, but we couldn’t sell them. We went to the gym and gave them to people as samples, we lasted a long time like that because we lacked the permit … it actually helped us a lot to practice, to learn how to use the machinery,” said Stewart, 56, originally from Atenguillo, Jalisco.
They also found the community that supported their venture way before opening.
“We realized who were our friends … they were happy for us because … they came, they were in line for hours when we opened,” said Callison.
After several days of very little sleep, on May 11, 2024, they were open for business. To their surprise, the lines of customers did not stop all day.
“A lot of people have been coming since the opening — more than we expected — and I tell Secy that I remember a lot about when we opened, we thought, ‘Will people come?’ And now that we see the place, it’s like, ‘Wow,’ we didn’t think we were going to get that response,” said Callison.
All in on female empowerment
Women-owned businesses have come a long way since the late 1980s.
Before that, a woman needed a man’s signature to get a business loan in Arizona. In 1988, the Women’s Business Ownership Act was passed to reduce gender discrimination in lending, according to the National Association of Women Business Owners.
In 2019, there were 52,401 Latina and Hispanic women-owned businesses in Arizona, according to the Arizona Hispanic Chamber.
“We are the voice of many women who want to get ahead in this country,” Callison said. “All of our employees are women. We have had the opportunity and the blessing of having them come to us. Sometimes, I say it’s destiny.”
On Nov. 9, 2024, they opened their second location near downtown Phoenix, off McDowell Road and Seventh Avenue, and a third location is already in the works — a testament to the trio’s success.
For the three moms, it’s never too late to start a business.
“Nothing is impossible. We can all fulfill our dreams. The sky is the limit,” Zamudio said.
Details: Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. at two locations: 1720 W. Southern Ave., Mesa, and 550 W. McDowell Rd., Phoenix. https://www.cielitorosabakery.com/
Have story tips on Latino culture and cuisine in the Valley? Reach La Voz reporter Nadia Cantú at nadia.cantu@lavozarizona.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Meet the 3 Mexican moms who run Cielito Rosa Bakery in metro Phoenix