For many Latinas, the idea of opening a business feels like a dream you whisper before you’re ready to say it out loud. You imagine the storefront, the team. You imagine your community showing up for you. But you also feel the weight of growing up in families where people sacrificed everything just to survive.

So when a first-generation Mexican American woman becomes the local Owner-Operator of a brand-new Chick-fil-A in Bellflower, the story hits different. It feels like a win you can touch.

That woman is Itza León, and her journey started long before the ribbon-cutting on Rosecrans and Clark.

The values that shaped Itza’s path to leadership

Itza grew up watching her parents build a future brick by brick. They migrated from Mexico and raised their children with the belief that work, dignity, and service could create a new life.

“My parents came here from Mexico to build a better future for us,” she told FIERCE. “They might not have been traditional ‘entrepreneurs’ in the corporate sense, but they were constantly building, whether it was a home, a better life for their children, or a strong community around them.”

According to Itza, those lessons carried her into her first job at Chick-fil-A Bristol and MacArthur in Santa Ana when she was 17. She said the Owner-Operator “saw something in me that I hadn’t yet seen in myself.”

As the years passed, she took on roles with greater responsibility. She led teams and developed others. She discovered she could build something that would create opportunities for people in her own community.

“I realized that I could actually build something meaningful, not just for me, but for a team and community that looked like me,” she said. “Chick-fil-A believed in me and invested in my growth, teaching me about business and leadership, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without that experience.”

How this Latina built her team with culture, care, and purpose

Opening a restaurant is stressful for anyone. Opening it with intention is another level.

“For me, everything starts with the values my parents taught me from a young age, which is to work hard, treat people well, and serve others with a joyful heart,” Itza explained.

This taught her the importance of a team that feels seen. That’s why Itza wanted the restaurant to be a reflection of Bellflower: diverse, warm, rooted in culture.

She told us, “Like our founder S. Truett Cathy once said, ‘we aren’t in the chicken business, we are in the people business.’ It’s about presenting opportunities and reminding people that they matter.”

According to Chick-fil-A, the new location will create around 100 jobs in the community. Itza said she built the team with a simple goal: to make people feel supported the same way her family supported her.

Service as legacy: The impulse to uplift everyone around you

Latinas lead through service even when they don’t call it leadership. Itza knows this well.

“I grew up surrounded by strong women who gave everything for those they care about,” she shared. “In our family, cooking and serving food was one of the ways we showed love.”

Stepping into leadership did not mean leaving that behind. It meant expanding it.

“Being a leader is actually an act of service,” she said. “When I step into my role with confidence and purpose, I’m showing others, especially other Latinas, that we can lead with strength and grace.”

She reminds herself that taking up space is not about taking away from others. Instead, she says it is about “opening doors for them and inspiring younger generations.”

Giving back is in her DNA and grounded in lived experience

The restaurant’s opening came with a $25,000 donation to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. Chick-fil-A also confirmed that Itza will participate in the company’s Shared Table program, which donates surplus food to local nonprofits.

That commitment is personal for her.

“There was a point in my life when, because of difficult economic times, my parents struggled to put food on the table,” she said. She remembers the organizations that helped her family. Now she wants to pay it forward.

“As the Owner-Operator of Chick-fil-A Rosecrans & Clark, being able to give back directly to my local community is a full circle moment,” she said. “I came from a hardworking community where people lifted each other up, and I believe true leadership means doing the same and helping others rise and succeed.”

What this Latina hopes young girls see when they walk into her restaurant

Representation hits hardest when it is standing right in front of you, wearing the name tag, running the show.

When we asked what she hopes a young Latina feels when she sees her leading a team, her answer was immediate.

“I hope she sees herself!” Itza said. “For a young Latina to walk in and think, ‘Wow, she did it; maybe I can too,’ that’s everything to me.”

She hopes girls understand that their roots are strength, not something to overcome. “I want her to know that her story, her background, and her roots are her strengths,” she said. “Please don’t change who you are to be successful.”

And if her journey helps even one Latina believe that her dreams are reachable?

“If my journey helps even one Latina believe that her dreams are within reach, then all of this has been worth it and more.”

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