Meet Mompreneur Laura Fuentes

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by Linda Castillo

October marks the celebration of National Women’s Small Business Month and we are excited to feature entrepreneur, Laura Fuentes. Laura created MOMables™ to help moms pack fresh, healthy, delectable lunches that even the pickiest of kids will eat. Laura worked with several moms, a chef and nutritionist to create the weekly MOMables menus.
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As part of the subscription, MOMable customers have the choice to receive the Classic Plan or Grain Free Plan. Both plans come with a weekly meal plan that includes recipes, shopping list, and gluten-free and vegetarian options. You are able to download the plan or print the plan for easy reference as you plan your meals for the week.

In addition to MOMables, Laura is a mother to three children, has a well-known blog Super Glue Mom, and released her first cookbook The Best Homemade Kids’ Lunches on the Planet: Make Lunches Your Kids Will Love with More Than 200 Deliciously Nutritious Meal Ideas, an Amazon best seller in 2014.

We caught up with Laura to find out how this mompreneur does it all.

1. How did you come up with the idea to start MOMables?

Like many business ideas, I started MOMables out of necessity. When my daughter, who is now 8, started preschool, I needed to pack school lunches daily. Soon, I ran out of ideas and found myself packing these same foods daily.

As a mom of 3, I know it’s important to feed my kids a variety of fresh and real food. With my husband and I working full time, homework, after school activities, two kids with food intolerances and allergies, plus picky eaters… feeding my family food they all loved became an impossible task.

Eventually, I became fed up with the lack of variety in my kids’ school lunches and other meals. Since I’m the one that grocery shops and prepares most of our meals, I knew it was up to me to do something.

So I created a system that helps me add variety to my family’s diet all week long that accommodates for our specific dietary needs, saves me money on wasted food and eating out, while I’m gradually introducing new foods to my picky eaters. I am thrilled to say, that I now feel good about the foods my family eats.

2. What were some challenges starting MOMables? How did you overcome the challenges?

Time is my biggest challenge. As a mom, I am constantly torn between being “mom” and being an “entrepreneur.” I wish somebody had warned me that a startup will demand 110% of your time.

Realizing that my time and resources were limited, I schedule everything and have learned to say NO to a lot of requests. Things that don’t bring one’s business forward -whether they are partnerships, travel, events, even phone calls- take time away from my most important job: motherhood and focus away from building my business.

3. Describe a typical workday for you?

I wish I could say I am an early riser, but I a not! I need a strong cup of coffee in the morning to get me out of bed at 6:45. My husband leaves the house at 7am so I am in charge of getting our 3 kids up and out the door to school every morning. I’m typically back in the (home) office by 8:45.

I work until 2:45 when I have to pick up my children at school. Then, I focus on being mom until 7:30pm. This includes homework, after school activities, shopping, and making dinner. After dinner, I prepare all of the next day’s school lunches and clean up while my husband tends to our kids until bedtime. Around 9pm I work for a few more hours until I’m, quite frankly, spent.

I also catch up on work for another 10-15hours during the weekends, depending on the deadlines for the following week.

4. You are a mompreneur. What unique perspective as a mom do you bring to being an entrepreneur?

Being a mom has refined the ability to multitask and prioritize. By this, I don’t mean having ten browser tabs open while filling out spreadsheets. By multitasking and prioritizing I mean creating content for my business, scheduling my deadlines with enough cushion to accommodate for travel time or having a sick child at home, and juggling the demands of motherhood with the pressure of running a successful business.

5. Do you have any words of wisdom for other Latinas interested in pursuing their own business?

In the words of the Captain in Wall-E, “I don’t want to survive, I want to live!” Become the example you want others to see and live your life with meaning. That said, focus on what’s most important in your life. And, if you are a mother, that means focusing on your children 100% of your time with them. You can fail at your business and life goes on. You can’t fail at parenting, your children are your legacy.

6. What is next for MOMables and you?

I am currently working on growing my YouTube Channel in hopes of partnering with brands and media partners to help parents make real food happen in their household. I also want to grow my speaking opportunities and become and advocate for parents who want to add a healthy variety of foods to their family’s diet. Oh yes, and promote my second cookbook Summer of 2015 -my first cookbook The Best Homemade Kids’ Lunches on the Planet: Make Lunches Your Kids Will Love with More Than 200 Deliciously Nutritious Meal Ideas, was an Amazon best seller in 2014. ♦

Stay connected to Laura Fuentes:

All images courtesy of MOMables.

Note: That Modern Latina received a 6-month subscription of the MOMables for review.

Linda Castillo is the Founder and Executive Editor of www.ModernLatina.com. She writes on topics that empower and inspire Latinas including art, motherhood, green living, culture, travel, and issues transforming the Latino community. Linda has earned a B.S. in Business and a M.S. in Mass Communications from San Jose State University.

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