Mary Colorio

The business-savvy Colorio uses her mother’s byrek recipe to build a prosperous national food corporation.

Mary Colorio relied on two things when she started her business: a recipe and determination. The former she learned from her mom—Albania native Irini Llambi—the second was innate. Colorio was born in Marlboro, Massachusets, and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, but her parents were immigrants. Her father, Todi Stillo, moved to the United States in 1918 to make enough money to return home and marry her mom. Afterward, the two permanently relocated to the States in 1934.