Today, we’d like to introduce you to Judith Lara. Judith was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Brittany Collazo.
Hi Judith , we’re so thrilled to have you sharing your story with us today. Maybe we can kick things off by having you introduce yourself to our readers? We’d love to have you go into your story and how you got to where you are today.
I became a stay at home mom when my daughter, Juliana, was about 9 months old. When she was around 2 years old we started doing some activities to keep her busy (sensory activities, library baby classes, little gym, dance,) Juliana is a very active child. We started doing preschool at home and continued through the years. At 4.5 yrs old Juliana was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic leukemia. She started treatment immediately after and has been battling cancer since then. Kindergarten in person was not an option so we continued to homeschool. We were confined at home most of the time due to covid and her immune system.
Let’s talk about your work and career – what else should we know?
I left the corporate world of Oil & Gas to stay home after having my baby. I wanted to enjoy my time with her and get to experience all of the firsts.
Lettuce Cook has been a great friend to us and I know you’ve got a great relationship as well. Maybe you can tell our audience a bit about Lettuce Cook and your experience with them.
I came across Lettuce Cook through Facebook back in January. I saw one of her posts on the Pearland area page about her free virtual cooking classes and started to look into her website for more information.
I let her know about our situation and she was very kind and I was so thankful to be able to have these classes available.
Chef Brittany is so patient with the kids. She has a very kind demeanor and will always help with any issues they encounter during class or provide alternative ingredients or stay on after to help if something doesn’t go right.
I love doing these classes because it gave us something to do while we were basically secluded from the world when my daughter was in frontline treatment. My daughter always wants to help me cook and these give her the experience and help her learn. These classes have been perfect for us. We work together to make these wonderful dishes. These classes are teaching her patience. She tries to get ahead and I make her wait and listen to Chef Brittany to see what comes next.
We try to join as much as possible, but at times my daughter isn’t feeling well and aren’t able to join. She’s taking chemo pills daily and each day is different for her. I’ll let Chef Brittany know and she will send us the recipe to make on our own.
There have been a few favorite classes for us. My daughter is super picky when it comes to food so usually we just make the desserts! The banana bread and brookies have been our favorite desserts. The banana bread we made was so amazing.
Juliana’s favorite part of class is tasting the chocolate chips to make sure they’re still good. Chef Brittany always says to taste test. Juliana gets so excited about that part. She loves chocolate. Also, Juliana likes to dance during cooking lessons and Chef Brittany has caught it at times and calls her the dancing chef.
Instagram: @Jujureyna
Linkedin: Judith Reyna Lara
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/judith.reyna?mibextid=LQQJ4d
Other: Juliana’s story on LLS.org https://www.lls.org/story/juliana YouTube video from Gulfcoast regional blood bank https://youtu.be/hyoXGpxmkuY
