There are some businesses you walk into and immediately think, oh, this place has a heartbeat.
Sweet Colada is one of those places.
Yes, you can get a specialty Cuban cafecito, a pastry, a sandwich, a cocktail, catering, or even book their mobile coffee cart experience, but Sweet Colada is serving something so much bigger than coffee. It is serving culture. It is serving belonging. It is serving the kind of community connection that makes you want to sit down, stay a while, and maybe text your friend, “You need to meet me here immediately.”
And behind it all is Nachely Martinez, a Cuban entrepreneur, storyteller, community builder, and all-around force of warmth based right here in Louisville, Kentucky. Nachely is the owner of Sweet Colada and the founder of Carnavales de Sweet Havana, one of Louisville’s growing multicultural festivals celebrating music, food, and community. Basically, she is out here building spaces where people can feel welcomed, represented, celebrated, and deeply connected, and we are obsessed.
A Big Hug Filled With Coffee, Culture, and Connection
When Nachely talks about what she wants people to feel when they interact with her brand, the answer is simple and beautiful, she wants people to feel proud, welcomed, and at home.
Like a big hug.
Like warmth.
Like music.
Like culture.
Like the kind of place where immigrant and Latino communities feel seen and celebrated, while people who may be new to Cuban culture can experience it with curiosity, joy, and connection.
That right there is the magic of Sweet Colada. It is not just a café, it is a doorway. A doorway into Cuban coffee, yes, but also into Cuban culture, storytelling, celebration, and community. It reminds us that food and drinks are never just food and drinks. They are memory. They are identity. They are invitation.
And let’s be honest, sometimes a cafecito can do what a full calendar invite never could, bring people together.
From Corporate Paycheck to Community Legacy
One of the reasons I love having these conversations on Woman-Owned Wallet: The Podcast is because money stories are never just about money. They are about survival, safety, identity, family, risk, reinvention, and the little voice in your head that says, “Okay babe, we are figuring this out.”
For Nachely, money has always been layered. Her earliest memory of money was connected to not having it, and as a child in Cuba, she imagined money as something reachable outside of Cuba, almost like a giant pot at the end of the rainbow in America. One Christmas, around her tenth birthday, her mom sat her down and explained that Santa was not coming that year because of their financial situation.
Whew.
That is the kind of memory that stays with you.
And yet, what stands out in her story is not just scarcity, it is love. Nachely shared that growing up, she always felt like there was enough, even though she realizes now that there were moments when her family’s economic safety was at risk. She felt surrounded by family. She felt supported. She felt loved.
That matters.
Because so often, women entrepreneurs are not just building businesses from spreadsheets and strategy decks. We are building from lived experience. From what we lacked. From what we loved. From what we had to learn the hard way. From what we want to make easier, warmer, and safer for someone else.
The Money Lesson She Had to Unlearn
One of the most powerful things Nachely shared is that she had to unlearn the belief that working hard automatically equals making more money.
And can we just all take a deep breath there?
Because so many of us were raised on the idea that if you just work hard enough, push hard enough, hustle hard enough, wake up earlier, stay up later, skip the break, answer the email, take the meeting, do the thing, then the money will magically match the effort.
But entrepreneurship will humble that belief real quick.
Nachely said it so honestly, she works hard every day, and yet there are still times she has no money. But she is fulfilled. She wakes up and gets to impact change. She gets to provide eight jobs. She gets to keep a roof over her head.
That is the truth-telling I love.
Because owning a business is not always a cute reel and a latte art moment. Sometimes it is skipping your own payroll. Sometimes it is wondering if corporate America would feel safer. Sometimes it is carrying a mortgage and a business on your shoulders at the same time. Sometimes it is being proud and exhausted in the exact same breath.
And still, you keep going.
Because the dream is not just about profit. It is about purpose. It is about impact. It is about building something that can outlive the hard season.
What Happens When You Spend Money at Sweet Colada?
This is where my WOW heart starts beating louder.
When you choose Sweet Colada instead of a big box brand, your money does not disappear into a corporate abyss where no one knows your name, your order, or your story.
Your money goes into a real woman’s wallet.
It supports Nachely, her family, her employees, and the culture-filled community space she is building in Louisville. It helps create jobs. It helps celebrate Cuban culture. It helps make our city more vibrant, flavorful, connected, and alive.
Nachely said it beautifully, women have a huge economic impact in our city, and the women who support her business are choosing to invest in her, her family, the roof over her head, and the roofs over the heads of her employees. Supporting women-owned businesses means doing the same for others.
That is the whole WOW mission in a cafecito cup.
Because when we say “put money into the wallets of women,” we do not mean it as a cute slogan. We mean it as an economic strategy. We mean it as community care. We mean it as, “Hey babe, your spending has power, and you get to decide who that power supports.”
Sweet Colada Is a Love Letter to Cuban Culture
Sweet Colada is also part of a bigger cultural story happening in Louisville. Nachely shared that she is especially proud that her work and Louisville’s growing Cuban community have been recognized nationally, including in a National Geographic article on Louisville’s Cuban community and coverage connected to The New York Times reporting on the rapid growth of the Cuban community in Kentucky.
That is major.
Because representation matters. Visibility matters. Being able to walk into a place and see your culture celebrated with pride matters. And for people who are new to that culture, being invited in through food, coffee, music, and celebration is such a beautiful way to build connection across backgrounds.
Nachely is not just running a café. She is helping shape the cultural fabric of Louisville.
She is creating a place where Cuban coffee is not a niche thing, it is a craving. A ritual. A reason to gather. A flavor people come back for. As she put it, one day she hopes people crave Cuban coffee the way they crave a taco.
Honestly? I see the vision.
From Sweet Colada to Carnavales de Sweet Havana
And because one business was apparently not enough joy to bring into the world, Nachely is also the founder behind Carnavales de Sweet Havana, a multicultural festival celebrating music, food, and community.
This year, she wants more people to come out and experience Carnavales on August 1 and 2.
So let this be your official WOW nudge, put it on the calendar. Bring your friends. Bring your family. Bring your appetite. Bring your dancing energy. Bring your “I want to support something joyful and deeply rooted in culture” wallet.
Because this is how we build the world we say we want. We show up. We spend intentionally. We celebrate loudly. We invite people in.
What Nachely Wants Women to Know About Money
When asked what she wants women to know about their relationship with money, Nachely said something I think so many of us need to hear:
Your relationship with money is not linear.
Sometimes we are up. Sometimes we are down. Sometimes we are saving. Sometimes we are spending. Sometimes we are investing. Sometimes we are avoiding. Sometimes we are just trying to keep the automatic payments from making direct eye contact with us.
And that does not make us failures. It makes us human.
Nachely’s advice is to do something you love and find fulfillment in. Money is everywhere, and people are willing to invest. Do right by others, do right by your community, and the money will follow.
That is such a tender and powerful reminder, especially for women building businesses in real life, with real bills, real families, real risk, and real dreams.
How to Support Nachely and Sweet Colada
If you are in Louisville, go visit Sweet Colada. Get the cafecito. Try the pastries. Order the sandwich. Stay for the energy. Tell a friend. Book the coffee cart. Ask about catering. Follow along. Show up to Carnavales de Sweet Havana on August 1 and 2.
You can support and connect with Nachely here:
Sweet Colada: sweetcoladaky.com
Instagram: @sweetcolada
Nachely: @nachely
Carnavales de Sweet Havana: @carnavalessweethavana
Because Sweet Colada is not just more than a coffee shop, it is a reminder.
A reminder that culture belongs in the room.
That community can be built one cup at a time.
That women entrepreneurs are carrying more than products and payroll, they are carrying stories, families, neighborhoods, dreams, and futures.
And when we choose to put money into their wallets?
We are not just buying coffee.
We are investing in the kind of world we want to wake up in.