From struggle to success

Marie De La Fleur opens in Landsdowne

Reprinted with permission from Fleur De Cuisine

Six years ago, Natalie Ramos would have never expected to be opening a restaurant with her daughter. Six years ago on this very day, Ramos knocked on her neighbor’s door and asked if she would help her boil pots of water so that she could give her 11- year-old daughter a bath.

It was a few weeks prior that LAWS Shelter gave Natalie gifts and food for her younger daughter for the Christmas holiday and Loudoun Cares would also aid in restoring the electricity and heat that was disconnected in the midst of the winter.

Today, as she gazes out of the window to the view of snow cascading over her window panes, she remembers the 17 staples left to her by the aftermath of domestic violence. She remembers asking God for strength and making a promise that if he helped her build a legacy, she would use it to change the world.

Her daughter Tiana shortly moved from Colorado back to Virginia to help her build the legacy she imagined.

Upon her arrival to Virginia, Tiana immediately used her culinary expertise she gained from the Culinary Institute of America to help her imperiled family; working side by side with her mother to make that dream a reality.

Today, Chef Natalie resides on the board of two non-profits that help those in a similar situation
as her in the past, she has become the recipient of the Rising Star Award for the National Association of Women Business Owners, and her daughter, who has recently taken the helm of the family business, has received the award for Superior Service for the Small Business Awards for the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce.

Not only has this become a dynamic and phenomenal mother/daughter team, but the entire family contributes to the family business by giving their free time or by being employed directly by the company she has built, and her daughter continues to grow.

Through their catering company, Natalie and Tiana have donated in excess of $250,000 in donations and services to churches, nonprofits, shelters, hospitals, teachers, schools, the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, and individuals not only needing but wanting to change their lives.

Natalie and Tiana Ramos added another chapter to their lives with the Jan. 16 grand opening of their restaurant, Marie De La Fleur, located at 19375 Magnolia Grove Square in Leesburg. They are located within the Landsdowne Woods Senior Living community.