Today we’d like to introduce you to Paige Moreland.
Hi Paige, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Louiza began by taking over the historically Black coffee shop and laundromat known as the Eliot Emat Cafe. The cafe had been owned and operated by Mr. James Posey for 15 years. When he was ready to retire, it was important to him that the lease and presence in the neighborhood remain in the hands of minorities, particularly as NE Portland was experiencing significant gentrification. I took over the space around 2016 with the intention of continuing what he had built.
Initially, I continued the cafe model. I remodeled the space, invested in community outreach, and really tried to make the business work. Unfortunately, the infrastructure required by the City of Portland to expand even basic food service became increasingly expensive. At one point, after already cutting into the concrete floors to install a grease trap, I learned that I would need another one. The second installation was much more complicated because there was no clear indication of where they would need to access the plumbing. I was essentially being told that they might have to keep breaking into the concrete until they found what they needed, with no reliable estimate for what that could ultimately cost me.
During the remodel, I had started hosting events in the space to help offset some of those expenses. The events were going really well, and after being in the red for so long, I realized I had a decision to make. I could continue pouring money into a business model that wasn’t working, or I could pay attention to what the community was already showing me worked. I believed deeply in the space, and I believed the community needed exactly the kind of gathering place we were beginning to create. That is how Louiza Event Space was born.
The design of Louiza was incredibly intentional and personal to me. Every concept started with an idea in my head, from the floor plan to the murals and furniture. I commissioned artists of color, including Jose Solis and TaZha Williams, and approached them with my sketches and admittedly poorly drawn concepts. They took those ideas and brought them to life with so much more beauty than I could have anticipated. Bianca Soares, Jose’s assistant, also created beautiful artwork in our back kitchen area.
So much of the space was quite literally built by people in our community. The tables were custom made using upcycled wood. A family friend poured our concrete countertops. My friends Eric and Trevor made the live edge wood table that sits in the center of the space. We thrifted furniture from local shops throughout Portland. It really has been a labor of love, and there are pieces of so many people throughout the building.
The name is probably the most personal part for me. Louiza is named after my great grandmother, Louisa. I changed the “s” to a “z” because people often pronounced her name “Loo ee sah.” Ironically, people still mispronounce Louiza sometimes, but that’s okay.
My great grandmother was a pillar in her community and one of the greatest inspirations in my life. She didn’t have much herself, but what she did have, she shared. She would pick furniture up from the side of the road and find someone who needed it. Her home was always open. She taught Bible study and regular school lessons to neighborhood children. She fed people, clothed them, and helped financially support other adults in her community when they were struggling. She also helped raise my father and his siblings alongside so many other children in the neighborhood. For kids navigating poverty, neglect, gang violence, and other realities of inner city life, she was a safe place.
What has always stayed with me most isn’t simply what she did, but how naturally and quietly she did it. She wasn’t boastful about helping people. Often, you wouldn’t even know what she had done unless you had a direct connection to the person she helped. Generosity was simply part of who she was. She was and continues to be one of the greatest inspirations in my life. Naming Louiza after her was my way of honoring the kind of woman she was and the impact she had on the people around her. I hope Louiza can carry her legacy forward.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, it definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. I was young, fresh out of college, and took over a business that was already operating in the red. I had studied Urban Studies with an emphasis in Multicultural Studies, so I understood gentrification academically, particularly what was happening in NE Portland. But I also understood it personally. I grew up just blocks from Alberta Street and watched the neighborhood I knew as a child transform around me. A community space my family frequented is now a high end restaurant, and even today, driving past it hurts. That was a big part of why my heart was so invested in preserving a space for community in this neighborhood.
The remodel was probably the hardest period. It felt like we were bleeding money forever. Every time I thought we were getting somewhere, there was another expense, requirement, or problem to solve. Eventually, I knew we couldn’t continue that way. I let go of the coffee shop model entirely and pivoted to events. Thankfully, it worked, and that became Louiza as it exists today.
Being a young woman in business came with its own challenges. Getting people to take me seriously was difficult. People questioned whether I was actually making the decisions or assumed a man standing next to me must be in charge. I had to learn quickly how to trust myself and stand firmly in my role.
I also had to learn that being community focused couldn’t mean giving everything away. Early on, I did a lot for free because I genuinely wanted people to have access to the space. Eventually, I realized that if I didn’t create boundaries, there wouldn’t be a business left to serve anyone. Learning how to balance generosity with sustainability was difficult, but it never changed the heart behind Louiza.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Louiza is an event space, but I think what we really specialize in is making people feel like the space is theirs while they’re in it. We host everything from weddings and celebrations of life to nonprofit gatherings, retreats, fundraisers, showers, community events, and corporate meetings. The space was intentionally designed to be warm, flexible, and beautiful without feeling overly formal or precious.
What sets us apart is how personal the experience is. We’re not interested in simply handing someone the keys to a room. I love hearing what someone is envisioning and figuring out how we can help bring it to life. We offer planning support, bar service, rental coordination, and other event support, but we’re also happy to step back when someone wants to do things themselves. We try to meet people where they are.
Accessibility is also really important to us. We intentionally priced Louiza below comparable spaces, offer nonprofit discounts, and work with people’s budgets when we reasonably can. I never want someone to feel nickel and dimed. Of course, we have to operate sustainably, but I would rather someone leave feeling cared for than feel like we found every possible opportunity to charge them more.
What I’m most proud of, though, is the feeling people have in the space. I hear some version of “it feels so good in here” all the time, and that means more to me than almost anything else. Louiza was designed with our community in mind, particularly people who don’t always walk into beautiful spaces and immediately feel like those spaces were created for them. I want people to know that they were considered here.
Ultimately, I want Louiza to feel like more than somewhere you rented for a few hours. I want it to feel warm, easy, and personal. Whether someone is celebrating one of the happiest days of their life, gathering around a cause they care deeply about, or honoring someone they’ve lost, it’s a privilege that they chose to do that here. I don’t take that lightly.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
The biggest thing I would say is to work hard, but be intentional about who you learn from. Seek out people who are already moving in the spaces you want to be in and find mentors who genuinely want to build you up and show you the ropes.
Someone can have incredible business knowledge, but if they aren’t willing to teach you how to fish, their knowledge doesn’t necessarily help you. I’ve encountered people who believe you need to “pay your dues” by struggling simply because they struggled. They’ll show you all the fish they’ve caught without ever teaching you how they caught them. That’s not mentorship. Find people who are secure enough in themselves to share what they know and genuinely want to see you grow.
I would also say understand your why and believe in yourself. Building something is hard, and if your heart isn’t in it, it’s going to be very difficult to keep going when things don’t work out the way you planned.
And finally, learn to see adversity as redirection. A closed door doesn’t necessarily mean stop. Sometimes it just means that wasn’t your door. When one shuts, even when it slams in your face, ask yourself where the next open door is and whether it might actually be the right one.
There’s nothing new under the sun. No matter how hard the adversity you’re facing feels, someone has faced something like it and found a way through. When you feel alone, seek out people whose stories look like yours, learn from them, and keep pushing. Believe that what you’re trying to build is possible, even if it takes longer or looks different than you originally imagined. Sometimes you have to believe in it before anyone else can see it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://louizapdx.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/louizapdx/?hl=en
