Moms who Rock highlights Orlando moms doing their thing. This week’s spotlight is on Barbara Dulce Lezcano!
Barbara Lezcano is a bit of an open book and also a multi-passionate modern day renaissance woman. She’s fueled by music, the arts, food, family, a desire to give back to her community, and lots and lots of love.
She moved to Orlando five years ago, in July of 2013 after a painful divorce. After decades in the finance industry, Barbara is now a full time sauce maker and the Founder of Sweet Babs, a line of cuban barbeque sauces and marinades.
Barbara grew up in Miami, surrounded by music. She played instruments (guitar and viola) and went to an arts high school but packed that all away in a box when she went to college and was an economics major. As she was rediscovering what would make her happy she realized she needed a change.
She had grown up with a love for cooking. Her mother cooked all the traditional Cuban dishes you can think of but Barbara would make anything but. Her dad made a mojo sauce, passed down from his abuela, that went on much of the food they cooked. It was 2015 when she had the thought to bottle her dad’s sauce. During our conversation, she mimics her dad telling her nobody could make it like he could could, in Spanish of course. It was endearing and done with a lot of charm and love.
Barbara quit her job at the end of that year with her heart so engaged and ready to see what Sweet Babs could become. They officially launched in May 2016. And now, Sweet Babs has several sauces in the line with more in the works. Barbara is steadfast that it’s not about the sauce, it’s about creating that feeling of love around the table. Hence their slogan, “Bring love to the table.”
As a budding foodpreneur she couldn’t cook out of her house and needed to rent commercial kitchen space. But Allie was so little she just couldn’t make that happen. An attorney friend gave her some contacts for trademark and co-packers, a facility that would cook the sauce on a mass scale. Barbara was nervous that it would retain the quality she needed but through trial and error has successfully navigated those waters.
Sweet Babs now ships nationwide and even just had its first international order through the website. Locally, you can find the sauces at Ancient Olive in Winter Park, Petty’s in Longwood, and Lucky’s and Chamberlin’s Markets throughout Florida, among others.
Finding community with other makers:
“If you put yourself out there, you’re going to get it back from the people you meet and connections you make.”
On the most surprising lessons along the way:
“I need help. Everyone thinks you did it all yourself. No, nobody ever does. And I am a business of one with a few contractors. But people help me. That’s what I’ve found about the foodpreneur community, you meet people and they have advice or you can call. About a year in people started emailing or calling me with their ideas and needing advice. Being able to pay that forward when so many people have helped you learn those lessons is invaluable.”
On a life changing moment of clarity:
“When I had Allie I was in a bad place. I was in a failing marriage at the time and when I had her I felt like I had nothing left to give. At that point I was like here’s another life, she’s a clean slate, and I’m supposed to have all this wisdom to impart and I feel like I’m empty inside. I started to get back into the process of getting to who I was. Along the course of that, I ended up realizing the better choice was to leave my marriage. I got to a point that I was strong enough to leave and build my life up over again.”
“Allie saved my life. If it weren’t for her I wouldn’t have realized the situation I was in wasn’t the family I wanted.”
On the most surprising thing about motherhood:
“I knew I wanted kids but it never prepared me for it. I always joked with my parents, no I love you more, and they’d say, no I love YOU more. But now I know they really do love you more. Motherhood to me has changed everything. All of the sudden I’ve got to be my best self so that she can be her best self.”
On being a role model:
“Your daughter sees you. She sees you hustling and doing a million things because they’re important to you. And that teaches her, I can chase my dreams. Leading by example was the biggest way I felt I could show her how to be a friend, a mom, woman, individual, and so I just started the sauce as a hobby. It’s been phenomenal to see it inspire her and get her to dream a little differently.”
On raising a little foodie:
“Before I had kids I was told about the ‘no thank you rule’. I instilled the no thank you bite from the moment I had her. So she has to take a bite of everything on her plate and then what she doesn’t like she can say no thank you to. But the next time it comes up on her plate she still has to try it again. It doesn’t force her to eat what she doesn’t want to eat but it keeps her trying it.”
After her divorce, Barbara took time to heal. She wanted to figure out what she really wanted in herself and a partner. She took time to learn what would make her happy and get to know herself. Eventually, she began dating Matt, a co-worker and friend from work. They took things very slowly but now are committed to raising a family together.
On raising a blended family:
“When it comes down to ‘Hey how do you want to do this?’ My answer is always, ‘I don’t know. I haven’t done this before. Let’s figure it out.’ But the compromise is a big deal and patience. For me the big thing was respecting Matt’s boundaries when we were dating. I try to be mindful of being super mindful and respectful of how we’re going to do things versus how I do things and try to work it out by myself.”
“I don’t have any answers and I don’t think there’s a right way to do it either. I’ve been fortunate. He’s mindful that we come as a package. He doesn’t see it as me dating you, it’s us creating a family together. He values both of us.”
On her views on marriage:
“Marriage in general is one of the hardest things. You’ve got two people from two different backgrounds, coping mechanisms, and you’re saying we’re committing to being on this ride together. Throughout all the changes that you’re going to experience and I’m going to experience through all the miscommunications.”
On loving Orlando:
“I thought of it as Disney and chain restaurants, once you get past that surface level it’s amazing. Full of funky goodness, character, arts, and entrepreneurship and all this stuff I never knew was here.”
Spend a minute with Barbara Lezcano and you’ll know she fully lives up to the Sweet Babs moniker. She’s a woman who pours her heart and soul into her family, friends, and growing business. We can’t wait to see what she cooks up next.
Want to read about other amazing Orlando moms? Check out all of our interviews here.
