Nancy Merlo

“My dad is from Puebla, Mexico, and my mom is from Michoacán. They decided to open a bakery when they arrived to Aurora, and they saw the opportunity here and started to work toward their goals.

I’ve been working since I was little. This is a family owned business so we’re talking about four or five, six years old. Families come by and they bring their kids and they say ‘hey I remember you, you were charging me when you were little.’

One of the most enriching things is that we are in the community. Just recently we had a clothing drive for the people who were affected by the earthquake in Mexico and we’ve done drives to collect food for the people that are in Puerto Rico as well. We just have a lot of love here in the community.

I hope that we have more mom-and-pop stores here… I know a lot of people want to open up (businesses) in Aurora, and I hope that they’re given the opportunity and that they’re able to succeed.”

Nancy Merlo
Aurora, Illinois