For second-year VCU Lacrosse Head Coach Nicole Flores, a first-generation Mexican-American, food has always served as the bridge for her family across borders and life changes.
 
Flores' story of family, culture and food began with her father, Hector, as well as a man who just so happened to become President of the United States.
 
Hector, a native of Zacatecas, Mexico, had entered the United States and taken up a job working at a restaurant in Georgia. A diligent worker, one of the regulars had taken notice that Hector hadn't been into work and inquired about his whereabouts, only to learn that Hector had been deported to Mexico. The customer wanted to help.
 
That regular just happened to be Jimmy Carter. Yes, THAT one. Prior to his time as the 39^th President of the United States, Carter served as Governor of his native Georgia from 1971-75, not to mention as a fixture at Hector Flores' place of employment.
 
Upon learning of the deportation, Carter instructed his office send Hector the proper paperwork to apply to renter the country legally. Hector was given approval by the United States to return and began working odd jobs across the country.

Highlighting one of the many challenges that immigrants can face, Hector was still not fluent in English at the time. While working as a ranch hand in Montana, Hector tried to warn two cowboys of an impending storm as they set out to the mountain from the ranch, but he couldn't find the right words.
 
"He says to them, 'ice cream, ice cream' and the cowboys just look at him and think that this guy is insane, and that he's sitting here yelling at them about ice cream," Flores said.
 
When the beleaguered cowboys returned from the mountain, after bearing the brunt of the storm, they made sure to teach Hector the word he was looking for: snow.
 
Hector eventually moved to Florida and met his future wife, and Flores' mother, Gail, and the pair moved back to her hometown of Branford, Connecticut. Not long after, Nicole was born, and the family opened a Mexican restaurant in town, Jalapeno Heaven.
 
Nicole spent her childhood in the restaurant, a bridge connecting her father's Mexican culture with her New England upbringing.
 
"All of his family was mostly in Texas or Mexico, so I didn't have an immersion into Hispanic culture through family members, but I had it through the restaurant's staff members, the people in the kitchen and the wait staff," Flores said. "Between what we were making in the restaurant on a daily basis and the people who work there, I think those were the biggest culture pieces for me."
 
Outside of her time at the restaurant growing up, Flores took up lacrosse and became a standout at Branford High School. Flores was recruited to play at Springfield College, and in doing so, broke through her first glass ceiling. It would not be her last.
 
"I think one of the most beneficial things for me in my life was having those first-generation parent things, for both my parents. My dad never went to high school, and my mom went to high school but didn't graduate. With me being a first-generation kid, to have graduated high school, graduated college and now working in higher education is special," Flores said.
 
Flores was a standout at Springfield, where she was named to the All-New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference First Team as a senior, served as a team captain and also led the team to a Division III NCAA Tournament appearance.
 
Following her playing days, she went on to serve as an assistant coach at Stanford, Dartmouth, Trinity, Bowdoin, Union and Eastern Connecticut State prior to taking the head coaching reigns at VCU last July.
 
"My dad grew up in poverty in Mexico as one of 12 and got shipped off to live with his grandmother because they couldn't afford to take care of another kid. To have my dad go from being that poor to now providing all of this for me to the point where I've worked at Ivy Leagues, Stanford and now I'm a head coach at VCU. That's a very proud thing," Flores said.
 
Although she's a long way from her parents and the restaurant, Flores has found another home in Richmond with the diversity that VCU and the city has to offer.
 
"At a place like VCU and in a city like Richmond, there are so many different places where you can fit in. It doesn't have to be one mold. You can fit into 100 different places here and find different parts of yourself, parts of your cultures and new things you're exploring," Flores said.
 
For Flores, that cultural fit will always lead back to where it all started for her, food.      
 
"It's a staple for me. If I need to scratch something together at my house, it's going to be along the lines of Mexican cuisine because it's a variation of many leftovers in different forms, but in the best way possible. My favorite food on earth is tacos because you can't go wrong," Flores said. "Food and also the artist Selena. Those are only two things I'll always think about because she used to play in our restaurant on loop every day for probably 25 years."