The Story Behind the Food.
The Heart Behind the Music.
EARLY YEARS
My name is Lamese Ugapo — chef, songwriter, husband, and father of seven amazing kids.
For most of my life, I’ve worked in kitchens. Long hours. Early mornings. Late nights. Feeding hundreds, then thousands, as the years went on. Food became the way I supported my family — and it became a craft I grew to love.
But before all of that, I was a songwriter.
Music was the dream I carried since childhood. I wrote melodies on napkins, hooks in my car, choruses between shifts. And eventually, that dream opened a real door:
I signed a two-year publishing deal with a small label out of Colorado.
It was the first time someone outside my circle believed in my music.
THE NASHVILLE MOMENT
When my contract ended, the label asked me to extend it. And my wife — Anna Marie — was as always, supportive yet practical.
She was willing to move our whole family to Nashville so I could chase songwriting full-time.
But I hesitated.
I was afraid of failing.
Afraid of what people might say.
Afraid of letting down the woman who believed in me the most.
Anna Marie generously gave me two years to write songs without a single placement and without a single cent of income.
So I turned down the contract extension.
And with a growing family to care for, Anna Marie asked me to find something stable — something that could truly support our children.
THE BIRTH OF GWEN MARLOWE CATERING
One night, Anna Marie had an idea:
“Let’s start a catering company.”
No investors. No big kitchen. Just heart, hustle, and faith.
Together, we built Gwen Marlowe Catering, named after family (our two oldest daughters, Marlowe and Gwen), legacy, and the people who shaped us. What started as a small idea turned into a thriving business serving weddings, corporate events, celebrations, and film productions.
We built it dish by dish.
Client by client.
Event by event.
And we never looked back.
RETURNING TO THE DREAM
But music never left me.
Even during 18-hour catering days, melodies would come. Lyrics. Ideas. Stories from real life, real love, real sacrifice.
Now at 48, with a lifetime of experience behind me, I’m stepping back into songwriting — not afraid anymore, and not running from the calling I once ignored.
This time I have something I didn’t before:
A story worth telling.
A wife who never stopped believing.
And seven kids watching me show them that it’s never too late.