María Piedad Cano had a solid professional life in Colombia. She was a lawyer, a judge, and one of the founders of the Universidad Autónoma de Medellín, but the violence of the 80s forced her to leave the country with her 4 children and start over in New York.
In Queens, the story changed settings. Without the career she had built in Colombia, she began selling arepas from a grill on a corner in Jackson Heights. At first she did it on weekends, but her seasoning and the way she treated people began drawing increasingly longer lines.
Over the years, she became known as the Arepa Lady, and her name became linked to New York’s Latin street food. What began in a cart ended up becoming restaurants run alongside her family. She did not arrive with a perfect plan; she arrived with children, urgency, and a recipe that paved the way.