Anina is the name on the business, but to her family, her neighbors, and just about everyone who knows her, she's Mo. The nickname comes from her Lao name, A-Mo — what her mother still calls her to this day.
Mo was born in Laos and fled the hardships and devastation of war when she was still young, but old enough to remember it clearly. Most people only know Vietnam from those years, but Laos lived and suffered through them too. She escaped with her mother, grandmother, and brother as refugees of war, eventually being sponsored to move to the United States. The four of them settled in Louisiana alongside a small Lao community.
That's where Mo learned English and started attending school in America. It's also where she helped her mother and grandmother sell homemade food however they could to get by, much of it traditional Lao cooking. Mo has been cooking and selling food since she was essentially a child. It was how she helped support her family and contribute however she could.
Years later, she moved to California and met Tom. As it turned out, Tom would take her all over the world. The two spent more than a decade living in Saudi Arabia, where Mo stayed busy raising their children before eventually starting a small catering business out of her own kitchen once the kids were older. She catered mostly Thai food, but really whatever people asked for — because Mo can cook just about anything. Cooking has never fit neatly into one category for her.
They returned to California during the pandemic, and Mo took a job at Pechanga. She started in banquets, where the pace was fast and the hours were long. Eventually, she transferred to the bakery department for something different. For a while, she challenged herself there: long hours, massive batches, and somebody else's name on the loaves. Eventually, she realized the next thing she wanted to build was her own.
Anina's Home Kitchen began at the end of 2025, with the first bake sales following in 2026.
Why sourdough?
Because her family loved it — and because Mo refused to keep buying it from the store.
Part of it was the flavor. Part of it was the way real, slow-fermented sourdough feels easier on the stomach than the packaged bread loaves sitting on grocery store shelves.
So she went deep into it, and kept going.
The bagels, crackers, chips, and croutons all came later, but they started with the bread.
Mo also doesn't really follow recipes. Not because she doesn't know them, but because after a lifetime of cooking, she doesn't need to. She cooks by feel. She experiments. Nine times out of ten, what comes out of her kitchen is the most delicious thing you've had in a long time.
We don't talk about the tenth time.
“You could just make this at home.”
For her, it really is that easy. She's been cooking her whole life.
This kitchen is finally hers.
