Emma Lkhagvhjav came to the U.S. to give her son a future.

Teddy had been diagnosed with brain cancer when they were still living in their native Mongolia. In 2013, with $800 in her pocket, Lkhagvhjav moved her family to Colorado to find him help. The boy emerged healthy from a five-year treatment plan.

Once the emergency was behind them, their dreams for the future shifted to something more tangible.

“I want to open an ice cream shop,” she told us. “It’s actually my son’s dream.”

Today, that dream is playing out on 16th Street.

Last fall, after years of saving and waiting, Lkhagvhjav opened Ichigo Matcha soft serve shop in a kiosk at 16th and Larimer Streets, serving coffee and taiyaki. The Japanese dessert features fish-shaped cones brimming with ice cream.

She is an early investor

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