How Nayrouz Olarte Became Part of Orlando’s Cultural Thread

At the time, she had almost no experience running a restaurant and suddenly found herself trying to navigate one of the most demanding industries there is while learning everything in real time.

The whole experience forced her to grow quickly.

Before opening the restaurant in Orlando, Nayrouz spent months training in Canada where she learned every part of the business from front of house operations to working in the kitchen. But once she arrived on I-Drive, the real education started.

Running a restaurant on I-Drive meant constantly managing pressure, personalities and nonstop movement. From hostesses and servers to bartenders, kitchen staff and managers, every part of the operation came with different personalities and emotions moving at the same time.

“When you open those doors, it’s showtime,” she said.

Over time, she learned how important emotional control was as a leader. If she lost composure, the entire staff could feel it.

She learned how to lead teams under pressure, navigate different personalities and stay calm in environments where everything around you can spiral fast.

“When you’re leading, you have to be the calmest person in the room,” she said. “If you panic, everybody panics.”

The experience also changed how she viewed leadership.

“The happier they are, the more they’re going to do better at work,” she said about her employees. “The last thing you want is a team walking in unhappy.”

Looking back, the restaurant industry became the place where she learned resilience, leadership and how to handle chaos without letting it consume her.

As time passed, Nayrouz’s life became almost entirely consumed by operations. Multiple restaurant concepts, consulting, construction, staffing, late nights, nonstop problem solving.

And during all of that, she still felt like she was mostly operating behind the scenes.

“I hated interviews,” she said laughing. “I would make someone else do them.”

That’s hard to imagine now considering how naturally she moves in public spaces and events today.

During that chapter of her life, Nayrouz also started Her Foundation as a way to support and encourage other women trying to navigate business and entrepreneurship.

At one of the foundation’s gala events, she included a small fashion show almost as an added experience for the night. She didn’t realize that that experience was going to cause another shift.

“Everybody kept saying, ‘We need this here,’” she said.

For years, Orlando had been viewed mostly through tourism, conventions and hospitality, but the city was evolving. More creatives were staying here. More people were investing into culture, identity and experiences rooted in community. Fashion was part of that shift too, and Nayrouz could feel people wanting more of it.

Orlando has style, creative people, designers, photographers, artists and people who genuinely care about fashion and culture, and somewhere in that realization Nayrouz found her lane.

Through Florida Fashion Shows, she started creating experiences that brought those worlds together. Her shows bring together designers, creatives, business owners and audiences hungry for more fashion and culture in Orlando.