As a child, Betty Porto and her siblings mopped floors and washed dishes at their parents’ new bakery in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. It was all fun and games for Porto and her siblings, particularly because her parents emphasized that school was their first priority. 

As time passed, the Porto siblings learned to bake and decorate cakes. Little did they know that this business would become their true passion.

“By the time we all finished our careers, we had fallen in love with the business in a way that we didn’t want to let it go,” said Porto, who earned her master’s degree in political science.   

The bakery started to expand in the 1980s. The siblings took on different roles. Porto oversees customer service; her brother Raul Jr. focuses on the business portion; and her sister Margarita decorates cakes.

Her parents, Rosa and Raul Sr., have retired now, but they occasionally stop by the bakeries and test new recipes.

Porto hopes her children and her siblings’ children will carry on the tradition of running the family business.