NO PULLING PUNCHES

LaBori Boxing brings STEM and sports to East Dallas

Story by RENEE UMSTED

Photography by LAUREN ALLEN

NEUROSCIENCE AND BOXING may attract different crowds, but East Dallas resident Amanda Alvarez wants to change that.

She was introduced to boxing at a young age, growing up in Puerto Rico, where the sport was an important part of her family life and the culture. She has been training in boxing for the past 14 years.

But her day job is working as a consultant in the pharmaceutical industry. Alvarez moved to the United States when she was 18 to study neuroscience at New York University. She stayed in New York for a year after graduation, researching cellular and molecular mechanisms of autism.

Then she came to Dallas, where she earned her doctorate in neuroscience from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2017.

Wanting to expose more kids, especially students of color, to boxing and opportunities in STEM, she founded a nonprofit, LaBori Boxing.

Eight kids showed up for classes when the studio opened at the Samuell-Grand intersection in January. Within a matter of months, 40 are now regular participants.

“It’s just crazy to see how fast they can learn in a matter of weeks,” says Alvarez, who lives in East Dallas. “They’re already looking that much closer to a real boxer, and they’re like 9 years old.”

Through LaBori, kids ages 8-18 get access to free boxing classes and opportunities to learn about potential careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

Students are divided into two groups, one for younger kids and one for older. Each age group trains two days each week, learning the proper stance and footwork, how to jab and punch and how to move to avoid hits. The older group, ages 13-18, has more of a focus on strength conditioning compared to the younger.

“My favorite thing is watching their self-confidence grow,”

Alvarez says. “It’s very, very noticeable. In a matter of a week, you can tell they feel that much stronger, that much more confident, and then they start making friends.”

Word of mouth, along with partnerships with Jubilee Park Community Center and Buckner NextStep, have drawn more people to the boxing classes.

LaBori held its first STEM event in May. A woman from Dallas College shared information about STEM opportunities at the school and made packets for a few students who had expressed an interest in nursing. To Alvarez’s surprise, the kids were engaged.

“I was concerned that it was going to take a lot to get them to come because boxing is a lot more fun than sitting down, talking about science,” Alvarez says.

It took a few months to get the STEM events going, but more experts are lined up to come speak with the kids.

Alvarez will give a presentation on neuroscience, explaining what scientists do and what career opportunities exist for them. And she’s planning on having an

IT specialist and an engineer give talks. For a small fee, LaBori offers fitness courses for adults, too. Proceeds pay the instructors and fund the youth program.

“The vibe is just like a happy family, just happy vibes,” Alvarez says. “The music’s going. People are basically half-dancing, half-boxing for the most part because they’re just having fun. It’s a big LaBori family.”

Recently, the studio offered a self-defense class for women and girls, which Alvarez says they want to repeat because of its popularity. The class started at the request of female bartenders who work in the neighborhood.

“This is my happy place,” Alvarez says. It’s just been happy. It’s been a really, really amazing experience.”

Donate to or get involved with LaBori Boxing by visiting laboriboxing.com.

GRANITE COUNTERTOPS and tile backsplash are missing. Cooking tools and dishes aren’t stored in custom cabinets. Guests can’t gather around a spacious island for refreshments and conversation.

But to Rhonda Sweet, The Mix Kitchen is a dream kitchen. Located in the basement of White Rock United Methodist Church, on Old Gate Lane near Diceman Drive, the commercial kitchen provides entrepreneurs round-the-clock access to equipment and space they may not have in their own homes.

Sweet was hired by nonprofit Missional Wisdom, which also used to manage coworking space and artist studios at the church, to transform the kitchen. She converted a pantry into a walk-in refrigerator, replaced the dishwasher and added equipment to supplement the stove and pizza oven that were there.

Now, she’s the managing director of the kitchen, which opened in 2017, and she shares her lifetime of knowledge with members.

“When you get the Mix, you get a resource center,” Sweet says. Her love of food started during childhood, sitting around her grandparents’ table for family meals. Though the job of host was passed down to her from her grandmother and mother, real experience came while she was working for her stepfather, who owned a catering company.

Later, Sweet spent 17 years with Boston Market, working her way up to regional manager, covering Central and North Florida. And a few years before she left Boston Market, she took over a company that cut collard greens, growing the business from selling just at the store to more than 20 locations.

In 2010, Sweet decided to leave her six-figure salary and move to Texas.

“So I turned in my resignation letter saying I was going to live my purpose and passion in life,” she says. “I had no clue what I was saying and what I was getting myself into.”

She had a short run as a contestant on season 2 of Master Chef , only making it through a few episodes. In Dallas, with no job and living with friends, Sweet began volunteering every day. Part of her service work was cooking dinner for residents of a CitySquare housing development.

Eventually, she established a catering company called Sweet Moses Brands, which she still owns. Missional Wisdom was one of her clients, and that’s how she got an offer to build and run the commercial kitchen.

It started with just a handful of members, and now there are 20.

Sandra Daniels was among the first to rent space at the Mix, having outgrown her home kitchen.

“Everybody that’s there is trying to support everybody else,” says Daniels, who owns Hippos & Hashbrowns. “We’re all trying to just make it.”

At first, Daniels baked at the Mix three days a week. But as her sourdough waffles, crisps and homemade biscuits surged in popularity, she needed help and more kitchen time.

Daniels knew the holiday season of 2021 would be the last time she could stay at the Mix. To keep up with the demand for Hippos & Hashbrowns products, sold at Whole Foods and

Good Local Markets, Daniels needed more space.

“We had taken up this room and that room,” Daniels says. “And any place that we could sneak something in, we were doing it.”

That’s when she started looking for a place of her own. But the process took longer than she thought it would, and Hippos & Hashbrowns continued operating out of the Mix throughout 2022. They got lucky because another baker who used the Mix daily got married and moved to South Texas, creating some room.

In March, Daniels celebrated the grand opening of her first brick-andmortar store at Casa View Shopping Center.

“We miss them when they go, but our goal is for you to outgrow us,” Sweet says.

In addition to offering commercial kitchen space, the Mix serves as a stor age and prep facility for Sweet, who partners with Noble Life Outreach and Peer 2 Peer Whole Wellness to make hundreds of meals each week for food insecure North Texans.

The organizations provide food, and Sweet repurposes it. She takes the ingredients and comes up with recipes based on whatever she’s given, and if she needs something else to finish off the meal, her catering company provides it. When Noble Life donated 700 hot dogs, Sweet had to figure out how to incorporate them into meals, feeding people casseroles and other dishes for about two months.

Rescuing and repurposing food has only been going on for a few months at The Mix Feeding Kitchen, but Sweet has plans to grow the program. She set up an Amazon Wish List where people can purchase and donate supplies, and she hopes to partner with an organization that will provide trucks, so Sweet can take food to communities in need.

“I’m back where I started,” she says. “I’m back serving the streets of Dallas, just now through other ministries.”

Learn more about the commercial kitchen and support The Mix Feeding Kitchen at themix.kitchen.