Why I Created InspoPlate

Where It All Began

I was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1982.

When most people think about food, they think about recipes, family dinners, or favorite restaurants. My earliest memories are a little different.

Growing up in Havana, food was never something we took for granted. Grocery stores didn't offer the abundance I would later discover in the United States, and every meal required planning, patience, and appreciation for what was available.

I remember my mother encouraging me to finish everything on my plate because she understood how valuable every meal truly was.

One of my favorite childhood memories is tasting chocolate for the very first time when I was seven years old. It may seem like such a small moment, but for me it represented discovering a world I had never experienced before.

I didn't realize it then, but those experiences would shape the way I would think about food for the rest of my life.

A young Katia, growing up in Havana

The Journey That Changed My Life

On April 6, 1991, my family's life changed forever.

Fifteen of us climbed aboard my father's handmade wooden boat and left Havana in search of freedom.

The boat that carried us toward a new life

We carried very little food and very little water.

For three days, we drifted across the Gulf of Mexico surrounded by uncertainty.

Every hour brought new questions.

Would we survive? Would someone find us? Would we ever reach freedom?

On April 9, 1991, everything changed.

The cruise ship Royal Princess spotted our small wooden boat and rescued us from the open sea.

There was another Cuban rafter already aboard the ship who had been rescued the previous day, which is why some historical reports reference sixteen refugees.

Aboard the boat, awaiting rescue

On April 10, 1991, I arrived in the United States for the first time.

I was only eight years old.

That journey gave my family a new beginning and forever changed the way I viewed opportunity, gratitude, and life itself.

Finding My Place

Starting over wasn't easy.

I didn't speak English.

I entered school as an ESOL student and often felt different from everyone around me.

Like many immigrant children, I struggled to fit in and experienced bullying because I couldn't yet communicate like everyone else.

During those years, I discovered something unexpected.

Cooking.

I remember watching cooking shows on television and being fascinated by how talented chefs could transform ordinary ingredients into beautiful meals.

Cooking became much more than preparing food.

It became creativity. It became confidence. It became comfort. It became a universal language.

Learning from talented chefs like Kevin Cory of Naoe Restaurant, Miami

A Career Built Around People

As I grew older, my career led me into luxury real estate.

Over more than two decades, I had the privilege of helping people purchase some of Florida's most remarkable condominium residences.

Throughout my career I participated in more than $290 million in condominium sales, including approximately $265 million throughout the Tampa Bay market and $25 million in South Florida.

Although real estate and cooking appear very different, they taught me the same lesson.

Listen first. Understand what people truly need. Then help them find the right solution.

That lesson would later become one of the foundations of InspoPlate.

One Simple Question

Years later, after spending countless hours cooking for myself, family, and friends, I noticed something surprising.

No matter where we come from... No matter how experienced we are... No matter how full the refrigerator is...

Almost everyone asks exactly the same question.

“What am I going to cook today?”

Sometimes we have too many ingredients. Sometimes we only have a few. Sometimes we simply run out of inspiration.

That single question became the inspiration behind InspoPlate.

Building InspoPlate

I didn't want to build another recipe website. I wanted to build a kitchen companion.

A place where people could simply type the ingredients they already had — or take a photo — and instantly discover beautiful recipes designed just for them.

As InspoPlate evolved, so did my vision.

• Recipe generation
• Ingredient recognition
• Personalized cooking styles
• Global cuisines
• Beautiful plating inspiration
• A Culinary Dictionary
• Shopping lists
• A community where home cooks could inspire one another

Every feature has been designed with one goal:

Helping people enjoy cooking again.

My Mission

People often ask me whether InspoPlate is about artificial intelligence.

I always smile because, to me, it isn't.

It's about possibility.

It's about opening your refrigerator and seeing inspiration instead of uncertainty.

My hope is that InspoPlate helps people waste less food, discover new cuisines, gain confidence in the kitchen, and create meaningful memories around the dinner table.

If this app inspires even one person to cook something they never thought they could make, then every late night spent building it has been worth it.

Thank you for becoming part of this journey.

I truly hope InspoPlate inspires you every time you ask yourself one simple question.

“What am I going to cook today?”