My name is Tony Mbele.

I'm an immigrant from Kenya.

I run a restaurant and the restaurant's name is Coco Grill, which is just by the famous Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington state.

I'd been a journalist for over 25 years.

My dad was a polygamist, so I grew up in a big family where I had to learn resilience at a very young age.

I remember I started working at the age of 19.

I worked in Dubai, Qatar, various parts of Africa.

That is Nigeria, Somalia.

Then I went back to Kenya to care for my father, who later passed away, with cancer.

I studied journalism and graduated in video production in the year 2000.

I was lucky to be one of the first 15 cameramen in Kenya at that time.

How I ended up in the United States is my brother, who lives who lived in the US at that time, had invited me over to come and and visit him.

And that's how I ended up here.

I remember when I came to the United States, I was offered to work for the Voice of America, but instead, I took a risk.

Turned it down and opened Coco Grill.

That's where my passion is.

The reason why I opened up a business is because this is, passion for me.

I come from the Coast Province.

My roots in Taveta -- - - we have so many spices that we use from that other side of Kenya.

We are a family where everyone likes to cook.

Did used to cook - my dad, my mom.

- -the entire family would love to cook, especially for visitors who come in Hi.

Hi.

How you doing?

Hi, Tony.

Good, good.

So if you can just grab the carrots, then I will be there in a minute.

Okay.

Welcome.

Cooking is an art.

And that's what Coco Grill is all about.

We are sharing a cuisine from East Africa.

This really brings back the culture back to us.

We we we feel like, oh, this is home... you know we really miss home especially now when everything is upside down.

We feel we are eating our food, and you can choose other things and learn different food and different culture.

And this restaurant gives me that experience.

So yeah.

Many different foods that we enjoy.

We we love great food.

and there is a lot of great food in there.

We noticed it had different cultures, which was nice.

Even some curry in there, which might be a little more of an Indian... just every different type of food, you know, was amazing.

My menu is diverse.

The team I work with are also diverse.

I operate a restaurant which is next to Tacoma and you can it showcase diversity.

If I had stuck with the people from my community and cooked only food for my community, then I'll be losing a lot of, the people that are coming in.

There were days where I could choose to buy groceries for the house or buy groceries for the restaurant, and I chose the restaurant.

And now when I see people eating and smiling, I know I made the right decision.

77 00:04:29,068 --> 00:04:32,071 I'm still building my dream, and I want Coco Grill to be a fine dining restaurant.

It has not been easy, but we keep pushing.

We are not just sharing food.

We are sharing a story.

A piece from home.