Christine Lopez’s Stories, Lessons & Insights

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Christine Lopez. Check out our conversation below.

Christine, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
Honestly, this year has felt like one big push to stop staying in the background. For so long, I was comfortable being the one cooking, running the business, and handling everything quietly behind the scenes. Now I feel like I am being pulled to actually show up with my face and my voice, not just my name.

But I will be real. That has always scared me. I am naturally shy and the idea that I am supposed to run a business AND also be a personal brand on social media has never come easy to me. But I am finally leaning into it. I am sharing more of my passion for cooking, trying to connect with our customers in a real way, and taking back parts of the business that I used to avoid being front and center for.

It still makes me uncomfortable, don’t get me wrong lol, but it also feels like the right next phase of my life. I am learning to let people see the heart behind what I do.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Christine Lopez and I run a meal prep company in Southern California called My Healthy Penguin. The funny thing is that I never set out to become an entrepreneur. I spent years thinking I was the opposite of that. I grew up watching my parents work nonstop in their own small businesses, and I always told myself that I did not want that life. I wanted something simple. I wanted stability. I wanted to just be a mom and take care of my family.
But life had other plans. Looking back, the signs were always there. I was raised in a kitchen. I watched my mom run a restaurant. I learned how to cook from her. I stepped up and ran one of our family events by myself when I was still a kid because we needed the money. At the time, I did not think of any of that as entrepreneurship. I thought it was survival. I thought it was what you do for your family.

Fast forward to after I had my kids. I was struggling with my health and trying to figure out who I was. I started meal prepping for myself, then for family, then for a few people at the gym. One random morning I posted something on social media, and overnight my phone blew up. Suddenly I had a full list of orders with no kitchen, no plan, and no clue how to make any of it work. And somehow, I did. I cooked everything on a tiny apartment stove, delivered out of my car, stayed up all night, and kept going even when it made no sense.

That is when I realized the irony. I spent my whole life thinking I was not a leader and not an entrepreneur. But everything in my story was shaping me for exactly this. The long hours in my mom’s kitchen. Losing her and having to step up. The responsibility. The growing pains. Even the fear. All of it led me right back to what I was meant to do.

Today we cook and deliver thousands of meals weekly for customers, businesses, public and government facilities, all over Southern California. It has grown into something I never would have imagined, but it still comes from the same place. Real food. Real people. Real purpose. And the thing that surprises me most is that this path I never planned for is the one that makes me feel the most like myself.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who taught you the most about work?
My parents taught me everything about work, but over the last twenty years it has really been my dad. He is the person I look up to the most when it comes to business. He came to this country from Lebanon with no English and no job, and he still found a way to build a life for us. He owned his own shop, and after a full day there he would rush straight over to help my mom with her restaurant and the catering they did at market nights. He never stopped. He just did what needed to be done for our family.

He learned every lesson through real experience, good and bad, and because of that he is the person I always go to when I have a new problem or a tough decision. He has lived it all. He gives honest advice. And he reminds me that hard work, even when it feels overwhelming, is how our family has always pushed forward. Everything I know about responsibility and grit came from watching him do it first.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Yes. There was a point right in the middle of growing the business when I almost walked away. I was burnt out. I felt overwhelmed and completely alone in it. I was trying to build a team with no mentor and no one to tell me what I was doing right or wrong. I never had a real day off. I was trying to be a good mom and a good business owner at the same time, and it felt like I was failing at both. The mom guilt was constant. I felt like I was missing the most important years of my kids’ lives because I was always working.

And business is brutal. It does not care how tired you are. It does not slow down just because you need a break. If you step back for too long, someone else will take your spot. There were days when that pressure felt impossible to hold. I still remember one birthday when my fiancé took me out to dinner. Right before we walked in, I got a what I would consider rude and angry email from this particular customer. I called them before going inside and they just screamed at me the entire time. I could not even get a word in. Moments like that get to you.

What kept me going was believing that something better was on the other side of the struggle. Every time I hit a wall, something small would shift. A breakthrough. A new idea. A small win. Something that reminded me why I started and why the work mattered. I learned that you have to be willing to pivot, to try new things, and to trust that the hard seasons are shaping you in ways you cannot see yet. That is what got me through it.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Whose ideas do you rely on most that aren’t your own?
My husband. He is the person whose ideas I rely on the most. He knows me better than anyone and I trust his honesty. He is smart, talented, and has a natural mind for business. He went to school for entrepreneurship, and even though I would say I am the soul of My Healthy Penguin, he brings a level of strategy and growth that I could not have created on my own.

I would not have made it this far without him. He always has a thousand ideas and he is always operating at speed ten. He cares about the business and our customers just as much as I do. Every challenge I have faced, he has been right there next to me through all of it. He was there when I was cooking in the apartment. He is here now taking care of relationships, staff, operations, and everything behind the scenes with me. His belief in what I created has pushed me to keep going, even on the days when I did not feel like an entrepreneur at all. I’ve never had someone in my life that believes in me as much as him.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
I would say I am doing what I was born to do. I grew up in a family that loved to entertain and feed people. Cooking was how we connected. It was how we showed love. I learned everything in the kitchen with my mom, at her restaurant, and at home. So it feels natural that this is where I ended up, even though I never planned it.

There is something that feels right about feeding people and helping them build healthier habits at the same time. When we get messages from customers telling us how much our meals help them, it hits me in a very real way. It feels like I am doing exactly what I was meant to do.

Winning Top Female Entrepreneur of the Year at the Inland Empire Spirit Awards was another reminder. I never thought I would be seen that way, since I don’t see myself in that light, and that recognition made me realize that this path was always in me. I just needed life to push me into it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://myhealthypenguin.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myhealthypenguin/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myhealthypenguin/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/my-healthy-penguin
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@myhealthypenguin