Today we’d like to introduce you to Leslie De Leon.
Hi Leslie, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, let’s briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
To start, thank you for this opportunity. I appreciate you using your platform to highlight entrepreneurs and creatives. I know that I can speak for everyone when I say we appreciate it, and I wish you all the best of success and blessings in your endeavors. As a kid, if you asked me what I wanted to be, if I answered vulnerably, I’d answer with, “I don’t want to have a normal life.”
My story starts in 1988; I was born in the Caribbean Island country of Dominican Republic to a 20-year-old mother and 31-year-old father, 2 years into their marriage. At 18 years old, she dreamed of being a nurse but soon after dropped those dreams to fulfill the role of mother and wife. He was an electrical engineer with growing influence and wealth. She grew up in poverty, in a home where my grandmother left her to raise her five siblings at the age of 11 years old. With great insistence from my grandfather, my mother married him. Soon after, she would find out about my father’s mental health issues, alcoholism, and machismo. The country was in political and civil unrest as it tried to heal from the years of the Dictator Trujillo, who led a genocide where his goal was to erase any African bloodlines. Our home was in just as much chaos; my father’s drinking grew to violence. My mother, now pregnant with my brother, feared for our safety and had to get us into a safe environment. It would help to understand the machismo culture that the island country is still growing through. While it has improved significantly through the last 35 years, the country has approximately the second highest femicide rate in Latin America, with 2.7 deaths per 100,000 women, which leads to how we came to the United States. With limited resources, she couldn’t go run anywhere that he couldn’t find her. In a drunken rage, he would “take” me with him so that she wouldn’t run off. She had to do something, and along with my aunt and her best friend, they concocted a plan to get her out of the country. My grandmother had found her way back into her life but lived in Newark, NJ. Their multi-stage plan consisted of my mom getting set up in the US and returning later to contact me, while my aunt served as my caretaker. He would periodically fly into the United States to convince her to come back, but the damage had been done, and my mother was committed to our safety. In the proper setting for seeking the American dream, or at minimum, she could sacrifice herself to ensure we would have a chance at it.
In the years that followed, she would eventually remarry, this time to an ironworker, who, although not violent, would develop his relationship with addiction, alcohol, and gambling. His relationship with the bottle and cards grew quicker than the one with my mother, and she found herself yet again in familiar circumstances. This time, though, she chose to endure. A choice that served as the strongest motivator to where I am today. I grew up just a few minutes outside the “city that never sleeps.” Beyond the NYC lights and the infamous skyline was a place that was doing its healing. NY/NJ was devastated by the 80’s and 90’s crack epidemic. We moved from Newark to Elizabeth, a city home to the Goethals Bridge, which connects Staten Island, NY, to NJ. During the 90s and 2000, my neighborhood of 3rd Street, at Elizabeth Seaport, was rough to say the least. With over a dozen active gangs, regular shootings, drug sales and use in our neighborhood, my reprieve was the gifted and talented program I was pulled into. The children of the crack epidemic and gang culture, too many of my friends were dead before I graduated high school. I didn’t want to live a normal life.
In my teens, I began financially supporting myself and regularly slept in a neighboring park because going home was not always safe. My breakthrough was a teller position I got at Bank of America. The military was out of the picture because of a car accident years earlier; paying for school was out of the question. I committed to turning that opportunity into a career. It became my identity and paid off as I climbed the corporate ladder into branch management. I got used to wearing the masks; by day, I was the articulate and poised suit, but I still lived in my old neighborhood in the evening. The economic recession of 2008 catalyzed my move to Florida and transition to a position with JP Morgan Chase. I packed my car and headed to Orlando, FL. As the years passed, in this post-recession environment my growth opportunities were limited. People much older than me, with much more experience, were fighting for positions they were overqualified for. Rather than allow time to pass me by, I decided to reinvent myself and started my first business in 2013.
Addiction had found its way to me at 14 years old and this served as inspiration for my first venture. For me, it was my old friend, nicotine. The mission statement for my first business was to help half a million people who die from tobacco-related diseases. Electronic cigarettes could serve as a harm-reduction tool; like for many, the first years were tough. At times, it was a matter of making to the next day, suicidal thoughts flooded my mind at reality that I could face homelessness again after leaving my comfortable corporate job. What had I done? I risked so much for what? Fortunately, I was overzealous and had opened two locations, and while the first one failed, the second one had hope. I dove in again. I took 12 calendar days off from 2013-2020. My sacrifice bared fruit and managed to open and a distribution company. I dug myself out of debt and began to invest. I never wanted to be hungry or homeless ever again. I taught financial literacy to anyone who would listen. I wanted to offer my experiences and knowledge to save people from the circumstances I had overcome. Most importantly, I wanted to be able to take care of my mom and family.
2022, I had to reinvent myself again. The FDA effectively wrote a policy that handed an industry of small businesses built to Big Tobacco. I had been prepared; I was running a pilot at one of my locations for a place that celebrated art, culture, music, philanthropy, and people overall. After designing and building it, I moved into the new location, Cloud Parlor Speakeasy Cafe, in Cocoa Beach, FL.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There were many challenges. My entrepreneurial origins in the electronic cigarette industry proved to be a constant uphill battle with municipal, state, and federal regulations, taxation, sensational media reporting, and misinformation. I learned the value of advocacy; it was a crucial part of the journey for many of us in the industry. We were David fighting Goliath, and, in this case, Goliath had been an industry as old as this country, with lobbyists and a seemingly limitless financial ability to move its agenda. As well as sensational media reporting. While I was blessed with success and a great team, constant uncertainty existed. It was a crazy rollercoaster ride and each step required even greater risk of the industry being shut down. Not keeping all of the eggs in one basket became very important. The greatest of these obstacles, though, was me. I couldn’t find my way out of a survival mindset. I look back at the friendships I didn’t nurture and the time with family I could have had. I neglected myself and focused on saving others. That, of course, led to unhealthy relationships in my business and personal life. Ignorant of what I was doing, I drew my validation and self-worth through my twenties and early thirties from the successes and titles I acquired and the people I “saved.” All the while, I was trying to save that young me who felt trapped, unsafe, and without options.
We’ve been impressed with Cloud Parlor Speakeasy Cafe, but for folks who might need to be more familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Designed with love and intentionality, we are a speakeasy cafe & lounge with a secret bookcase entrance focused on experience. We are located in the Florida Space Coast city of Cocoa Beach. It is home to various interesting people, from engineers, active and retired military service members, musicians, surfers, artists, and retirees, and of course tourists from all over the world. It’s quite an interesting place. Our space invites you to feel like the best version of yourself. We’re often told that there’s a certain feel-good “vibe” about our place. They enter an immersive space where time stands still. It’s an outpour of my love for food, drinks, art, culture, music, and technology, a place that celebrates all the inspiring, creative, and amazing things people do. We are emotionally and intellectually invested in everything we see, taste, and smell. I took the challenge of specializing in a large menu and dove deep into each aspect. The reason for that is this place was built to bring people together and wanted to make sure that everyone had a seat at the table. I want people to explore and learn. I want to reignite or fan the flames of curiosity. Everything in the design and offerings is met to provoke intellectually stimulating conversation. You can learn a thing or two about something familiar or new. We pride ourselves in being subject matter experts in coffee, tea, botanicals, craft beer, mead, and wine. I will highlight that I particular attention to people in recovery or are sober-curious.
We offer a variety of plant-based drinks and infused mocktails that can create a similar relaxing and confident boost but without the consequences that alcohol provides. There are two lounges and outdoor seating. One features our stage, bar, and little free library. The other is called Neon Alley, full of local art, neon signs, 90s memorabilia, and various board games and gaming consoles. The “hidden” bathroom there features a mural painted by a local artist. Come in and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea from around the world. Everyone will be able to see themselves in our large menus. Delicious dishes for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, created by our talented chef or a quick smoothie there’s something for you and loved ones. We feature entertainment events that include comedy shows, salsa classes, trivia nights, and live music. Whether it’s 6 am or midnight, there’s a comfortable seat waiting for you.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting?
I have three perspectives that might offer some light. Business is not for everyone, be sure it’s what you want to do. It’s full of uncertainty; it can ruin your finances and relationships and destroy your mental health. There’s also a lot of dangerous misinformation floating around social media about it. It’s natural to seek success stories but statistics on fail rates for small businesses don’t tell the stories of the people behind them. Be warned. If your reasons are that you dislike your job and that you want to be your boss, these are not the right reasons. Initially, you’ve just bought yourself a job. I’m 10 years into this life and the more I learn the more I realize I know nothing. It isn’t until you learn the art of standardizing your processes, how to lead and delegate, that you will truly own your business until then it’s the other way around. There is also nothing wrong with being an employee and it offers distinct advantages. There are great companies out there. You may even decide to start one of them and you will rely on great employees. I’ve worked with both. I still work with many of them now but in a different capacity. Although not equitable partners they are business partners, nevertheless. The relationships you build matter and fueled by great employees. For example, the Orlando-based small business, Orlando City Kombucha, that makes the kombucha we offer to Toast Point of Sale and the bank I use. These companies are all at different scales and have excellent people leading and supporting them.
Second, advice is situational, and sometimes, it’s outright wrong. What the first-year, 30-year small business owner, or the new or tenured CEO or COO will offer will vary greatly. To the readers who made it this far, you’ll realize that so much of my entrepreneurial journey was about the process and self-growth. School, YouTube, mastermind classes, etc., will offer you plenty, but there’s nothing like a learned experience. Speaking of learning, there is so much to learn from the companies you can work for, big and small. If business is something you want to do, in my opinion, find a large Fortune 100 and a small business you admire, not just because it’s in the industry you want to work in but because you share the same values. Learn about why they do the things that they do. Learn about company cultures and methodology. You’ll have an opportunity to see an idea, a dream, a vision from its inception; then later refined and scaled. From the new small business owner burning the midnight oil, struggling to meet rent and payroll demands, to the world conglomerate with the ability to have geopolitical influence and power. There’s an opportunity to learn at every turn. Stay humble and stay hungry. You’ve noticed my theme here: get obsessed with learning. You will win and lose, but what you learn from it is up to you.
Lastly, check in with yourself regularly. I’ll leave you with this about my story; I wasn’t supposed to be working on my current business. I sacrificed my twenties and early thirties for many reasons. The selfish one was so that I could retire early to travel and see the world. When the time came to do it, I didn’t. There’s a line in the book Atomic Habits, “cling too tightly to one identity, lose that one thing and you lose yourself.” It foreshadowed what I would come to do. I reached my goal in March 2020 and didn’t go through with my early retirement plan of homesteading or living in another country where the US dollar goes further. I now know that deep down, I was afraid of finding out who I was outside of the identity of corporate titles, entrepreneurship, and the patriarch of my immigrant family to fulfill the dream when the time came. But GOD had another plan for me. In March of 2023, on my own, outside of church or any religious structure, I had a spiritual encounter with GOD. That relationship is what I’m focused on building now and forever; it’s where I now build my identity, in Jesus Christ. Every other relationship, including the one with my business, bears fruit because of that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://cloudparlor.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/cloudparlorspeakeasycafe
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/cloudparlorspeakeasycafe
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/cloud-parlor-speakeasy-cafe-cocoa-beach?osq=cloud+parlor+speakeasy
