Discover the Heart and Passion Behind Chez Maryse
(Sam, Owner & Chef Antoine pictured left)
In the 1980s, a young Hmong girl fled war‑torn Laos and found refuge with a loving French family in Toulouse who introduced her to the beauty of French cuisine and the simplicity of a life centered on kindness, connection, and shared meals. Their generosity shaped her understanding of what it means to belong — and what it means to give back.
At eighteen, she began a new chapter in the United States. Through determination and hard work, she earned a masters degree in Psychology and Social Work, turning her lived experience into a calling to uplift others. In 2007, that calling became a reality when she founded a nonprofit dedicated to supporting and empowering adults with disabilities.
Her mission didn’t stop there. Inspired by the family who once opened their home to her, she created Chez Maryse where community, inclusion, and opportunity come together. Adults with disabilities are not only supported through her nonprofit — some also work at the café, contributing their talents and helping shape the warm, welcoming atmosphere.
Just as she was once embraced and given a chance to thrive, she now strives to do the same for her community — offering meaningful work, fostering independence, and encouraging others to join in building a place where everyone has the opportunity to grow and belong.
Meet Maryse
Maryse was born into a family history both fragile and fierce, shaped above all by the quiet courage of her mother, Léontine. Léontine came into the world in a small Pyrenean village carrying, from her first breath, the weight of difference. She was the child of a love that history deemed forbidden—a fleeting, luminous bond between her mother and a young Laotian engineer.
In the aftermath of the First World War, when France lay wounded and broken, help was summoned from its colonies in Indochina. It was then that this young engineer arrived in the remote village of Suc/Sentenac to help rebuild what war had torn apart. There, far from home, he met Maryse’s grandmother. Their love unfolded quietly, tender and real, yet bounded by the harsh limits of a world unready for interracial unions. When his work ended, he returned to Laos unaware that the woman he loved carried his child.
Léontine was born into absence. She would never know her father, only the cruelty of a village that named her “bastard” before it ever knew her heart. Yet from that wound grew something extraordinary: an unbreakable strength of spirit, a deep compassion, and an uncommon humanity. Pain did not harden her; it refined her.
Through her mother’s story, Maryse learned to love without judgment, to open her heart without condition, and to believe that family is not defined by bloodlines or borders, but by care, dignity, and belonging. This inheritance—woven from love, resilience, and tenderness, became the quiet foundation of her life, and later, the profound meaning behind her bond with Sam./
In the wake of the American withdrawal from Laos, as the shadows of the Vietnam War stretched across Southeast Asia, countless Hmong families faced impossible choices—some found sanctuary in America, while others remained amid the uncertainty and upheaval of their homeland. Sam’s family, searching for hope, turned to the French government, who welcomed them as refugees. By the late 1970s, they arrived in Toulouse, a city unfamiliar with the sudden arrival of so many Southeast Asian families and children, each carrying stories of loss and longing. The French government, unsure of how to bridge these worlds, enlisted Catholic charities to gather local families and villagers—seeking open hearts willing to embrace these children as their own. The intention was simple but profound: to help these young souls adapt quickly, to learn the language of their new home, and to find belonging. It was through this compassionate initiative that Sam was placed with Maryse, marking the tender beginning of a relationship shaped by resilience, kindness, and the quiet promise of acceptance.
Maryse radiates a rare and luminous beauty, her spirit aglow with kindness. Laughter dances easily on her lips, and she weaves wonder from words, often quoting poetry with a gentle grace. Her soul is deeply attuned to art, each creative passion infusing her presence with a touch of bohemian elegance—effortlessly blending sophistication with the warmth of a free spirit.
Click the links below to see Chez Maryse in the Media:
