Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Antuna Capestany.
Hi Laura, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’ve always believed that property can be more than just buildings it can carry a message. That belief is at the heart of the La Victoria Miami Collection, a series of five townhomes we’re developing to preserve and share the rich cultural history of Cuba through architecture, story, and hospitality. But this idea began long before Miami in 2001, in Seattle, Washington, I founded a group called Together We Build in response to the fear and division that followed 9/11. We brought Muslims, Jews, and Christians together to build homes through Habitat for Humanity, standing in solidarity against hate at a time when members of these communities were being verbally and physically attacked. Our work showed that even in the darkest moments, unity and compassion can prevail.
I was honored to receive the Bank of America Local Hero Award in Seattle for this effort, and our incredible Muslim leader, Jawad Khaki, was awarded the Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom Award in 2002, alongside Larry King and Representative Amo Houghton, at a moving ceremony in New York City’s Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center. It was a life-changing experience. But none of it would have been possible without my father, Eddie Antuña y Montalvo, a proud Cuban who quietly supported me behind the scenes. While I was on construction sites, he cared for my four young children.
My father was my rock but he also carried secrets. He never spoke about our Cuban ancestry. Anytime I asked, he would say, “You’re American now. We don’t look back. Be grateful you’re American.” And so, for most of my life, Cuba was a mystery. But as he lay dying of pancreatic cancer in September 2002, he finally opened up. He apologized for withholding our family’s history and made me promise that one day, I would go to Cuba and learn all I could about our roots.
For years, I didn’t pursue it life was busy, and travel to Cuba was complicated. However, in 2019, when relations opened up, my husband Jimmy, who is also Cuban-American, and I traveled to Havana through the Copperbridge Foundation. Our guide, Geo Darder, had researched my family and arranged for a different Cuban historian to dine with us each night. What we learned stunned us: I learned my family was one of the most influential in Cuba’s history.
I discovered that my ancestor, Lorenzo Montalvo, was sent by the King of Spain in the 1700s to be the Minister and Commander of the Navy Arsenal & Royal Shipyard in Havana, and was also the Commissioner of War. Every generation that followed played a pivotal role in shaping Cuba. I learned that my family members were Oligarchs, Sugar barons, Generals in the revolutionary army and part of José Martí’s inner circle, Abolitionists, Early Feminist Writers, Social Influencers, and even a relative named Catalina Lasa who wrote under a pen name about the Art Deco design and fashion she was seeing in Paris and later built one of the first and most luxurious Art Deco home in Havana which introduced Art Deco to the Americas.
While in Havana, I visited the home where my grandmother Elena Montalvo raised my father. It had been rented out for decades to the Japanese Ambassador, who still lived there. To my amazement, he welcomed us with photographers, hosted a traditional tea ceremony, and said something that would stay with me forever: “In our culture, we believe you cannot know who you are until you know where you come from. And your family made a mark on Cuban history.”
That trip awakened something in me. During COVID, Jimmy and I began researching, slowly piecing together a family story that had almost been erased by time and by Castro’s regime with his revisionist history. We uncovered libraries with wings devoted to our relatives’ writings, and photos of social change makers, records of estates, salons, and movements. There was so much history and so much pride that had been hidden from me.
And that’s when I realized: this is my calling. To tell these stories. To give them a voice again.
Now, through the La Victoria Miami Collection, we are building homes that honor this lost legacy. These townhomes are not just short-term rentals they are living tributes. They celebrate the elegance of Havana’s forgotten Art Deco, the resilience of its people, and the brilliance of a family once silenced. Each home is named for an ancestor. each detail is intentional.
This spring, I will release my debut historical fiction novel, which I have been working on for the last 6 1/2 years..
“The Last Prince of Cuba: A Daughter’s Journey.” Is the first of many books to follow.
It’s based on my father and grandmother’s life in 1950s Havana, a glittering world of privilege and peril he never spoke of until the very end. Through historical fiction, I am reclaiming the truths he could never say aloud, and my youngest daughter Olivia Capestany is writing the screenplay for a streaming service. We are writing a “Outlander of Cuba” type book and show. My daughter Olivia graduated from the prestigious Tisch school with a degree in Dramatic Arts so basically writing for film and TV. She graduated this July with a Masters Degree in Executive Production in Film and TV from ECAM in Madrid Spain. Our hope is to offer our story in Spanish and English.
I didn’t expect to become the keeper of these stories. But here I am once again using the act of building to preserve, to heal, and to inspire. These homes carry a message to our Cuban community.
“The Last Prince of Cuba historical fiction book and the La Victoria Miami Collection are two sides of the same mission: to recover and honor a lost legacy.”
The novel tells the hidden story of a once prominent Cuban family based on my own whose influence spanned generations but was nearly erased by revolution and exile. It’s a story about identity, memory, and the importance of knowing where you come from. It’s also about a daughter (inspired by me) uncovering the truth about her father’s life in 1950s Havana a world of beauty, complexity, and contradiction that he never spoke of where my upbringing was one of financial struggle, father’s addiction followed by sobriety a completely different world in what my father grew up in.
The La Victoria townhouses were created with that same purpose: to preserve Cuban culture through design, storytelling, and hospitality. Each home is named after one of my ancestors. The interiors feature recreated Art Deco elements inspired by Havana’s golden era that is only found in Cuba and will be recreated in Miami. Just like the book, the homes are a tribute to the lives, architecture, and cultural richness that were lost but not forgotten.
Together, the book series (hopefully TV series) and the townhouses offer a fuller picture of a Cuba that once was, and a hope for the Cuban community to reclaim its history. The book brings the emotional and historical narrative to life; the homes physically embody that narrative, giving guests a place to feel, connect, and reflect.
In short, The Last Prince of Cuba is the story.
The La Victoria Miami Collection is the setting reborn.
Our hope for our Cuban American community is to Remember who we are. Remember the lives we once lived. And when the day comes to rebuild our island may we do it with pride, with beauty, and with our history firmly in hand.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Yes, there were definitely struggles along the way.
We began this project during the height of COVID, which made everything more complicated especially the permitting process. We submitted our plans to the City of Miami and what should have taken a year or year and a half ended up taking over two and a half years to get through. The delays pushed back our timeline and forced us to navigate constantly shifting circumstances.
Another big shift came when my husband, Jimmy, made the decision to retire early from his career as a Part Owner and General Manager of a Subaru and Mazda dealership in Seattle so we could fully focus on building the townhouses and researching the book together. That decision changed not only our finances, but our entire way of life. We left behind our Seattle community, where we had lived for over 30 years and raised our four children, and returned to Miami a city where I was raised, but where I had to start over in many ways. I had to reach out, build new relationships, and find people who believed in our vision.
The emotional challenge has been just as real as the logistical ones. This project is deeply personal it is about reclaiming Cuban history and telling stories that were almost lost. There’s always a risk in doing that. We’re taking a leap of faith, hoping the Cuban and Miami community will embrace the townhomes and the stories they represent.
But we believe it’s worth it. Because honoring the past is one of the most powerful ways we can shape the future.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As a mother of four adult children, I am most proud of the socially conscious, compassionate, and driven individuals they have become. Each one is contributing meaningfully to society, and I am deeply grateful to have shared this journey with my loving and supportive husband, Jimmy Capestany. We have been happily married for 32 years and together for 38.
Professionally, my work has always been rooted in community, collaboration, and purpose. I am a community organizer, fundraiser, and storyteller with a passion for using shared spaces, whether physical, social, or cultural, to bring people together across differences.
One of my proudest accomplishments is founding Together We Build, an interfaith community in Seattle created in response to 9/11. Through this program, Muslims, Jews, and Christians worked side-by-side on Habitat for Humanity home builds to counter fear and hate with action and unity. That project was recognized nationally and taught me the power of community led change.
In addition to my organizing work, I have served as a lead fundraiser and event chair for more than 15 plus major efforts from school and theater programs to large nonprofit campaigns raising millions of dollars for causes close to my heart. One of the most memorable events I created was Habitat for Humanity’s first fundraising luncheon in Seattle. I invited Dr. Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, to be our keynote speaker. I had met him years earlier at the Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom Award ceremony in New York, where I was involved through my interfaith work.
Dr. Gandhi spoke to a crowd of 800 about peace, legacy, and building bridges in our communities. After the luncheon, he generously offered to speak at a second, evening event. So with our Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities we came together again to host Peace Pizza, a high school event created to spark interfaith dialogue among teenagers. We expected 50 students who RSVP’ed. Over 500 showed up. I almost cried.
Dr. Gandhi received three standing ovations from the high schoolers. The Q&A was electric. We ended the night with breakout workshops where students engaged in deep conversations about faith, identity, and understanding. It was one of the most powerful evenings of my life.
What sets me apart is my ability to see the big picture and bring it to life whether that’s through building homes, organizing cross-cultural events, writing stories, or developing culturally meaningful properties like the La Victoria Miami Collection. My work bridges generations, geographies, and communities with a constant focus on preserving legacy, inspiring connection, and creating beauty with purpose.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
If you are just starting out, here is what I would tell you: Believe in yourself no matter what. I was held back in 3rd grade because I couldn’t read. I am dyslexic, and I didn’t learn to read until the 5th grade. School was hard for me, and I struggled academically. But that struggle shaped me. It taught me resilience, grit, and most of all, compassion for myself and for others.
Make your learning disability your strength. Because I struggled in school, I became a better listener, a more empathetic person, and someone who truly sees the potential in others
Surround yourself with people who believe in you. My father was my rock. My husband has been by my side for 38 years. None of us succeeds alone. You need people in your corner people who remind you of your worth when you forget, and who celebrate your wins, big and small.
Listen deeply. One of the greatest lessons I learned is that everyone has a story. I have learned from people of all backgrounds Jewish, Muslim, Christian and those stories have shaped who I am. My husband always says, “You have two ears and one mouth so listen twice as much as you talk.” It’s advice I live by.
Start with purpose, not perfection. Whether I was organizing a multi-faith Habitat for Humanity build, raising millions through grassroots fundraisers, writing historical novels rooted in my Cuban family’s story, or developing a community of Modern Art Deco townhomes in Miami, I never had all the answers. But I had passion, a clear “why,” and a refusal to give up and that’s what moved things forward.
So wherever you are starting from know this: you don’t have to be perfect to make a difference. You just have to begin. Lead with heart. Believe in your story. And let your challenges become the reason you succeed.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lavictoriamiamicollection.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lavictoriamiami?igsh=eTA3eTZnNWhxZDdw&utm_source=qr
Image Credits:
Eva Blanchard photography – Picture of me in the Pink dress.
Laura Antuna Capestany
