Ep. 31: How to dream big and eat well, with Jamila Ross.
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Last week, we met Jamila Ross, owner of The Copper Door B&B in Overtown, Miami.
Jamila shared the ways in which the history of Overtown, and the history of The Copper Door building itself, have informed the guest experience. Jamila also shared how she and Akino, her fiancé and co-owner, pivoted during the pandemic to provide meals for the neighborhood, in more ways than one.
That meal service to support the community became a ventanita—a take out window—and that take out window grew into an open air, warm and breezy patio with outdoor dining, that’s poised to grow into an even bigger space in the year ahead.
Today, we’ll dive deeper into this new restaurant venture, Rosie’s, and Jamila will also share more of her own backstory, including where she gets that unmistakable drive to create, her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs, and the moments that defined her career.
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I loved this second half of my conversation with Jamila.
My key takeaways were:
When you become a true community partner, the community returns the love. The community was the very reason Jamila and Akino started putting meals together—and it became something bigger than the bed and breakfast service. From meal donations, to a ventanita, to an open air restaurant, with the help of a $25,000 grant from Discover. This is proof positive that giving back, checks out.
For aspiring entrepreneurs—experience, experience, experience. Jamila shared the hospitality experiences that have shaped the way she owns and manages her very own hotel and restaurant. I love Jamila's advice to get out there, learn from the best, be open to all of the learning that comes from hands-on experience, and then use that knowledge to create something entirely new.
On Jamila's legacy, clearly Jamila had role models in her parents growing up, but when she got into hospitality via restaurant kitchens and scanned the room she realized the odds were stacked against her because she was a woman, and a person of color. She knew she'd have to work twice as hard, and as she described, there's been great highs, and low lows, on Jamila's journey. Maybe that's why—interviewing Jamila from over 3000 miles away—I can sense her passion and her love of what she's doing. When Jamila talks about her legacy, it's about future generations realizing their own potential, and seeing someone that looks like them, owning a property, owning a restaurant, and feeling like their own dreams are possible, too.
As always, keep sharing your stories.
Links mentioned in this episode:
The Copper Door B&B website
Rosie’s website
@copperdoorbnb on Instagram
@rosiesmia on Instagram
Michael’s Genuine (Miami) website
The Bazaar (Beverly Hills) website
Yas Viceroy (Abu Dhabi) website
Chef Peter Kelly (New York) website
