“Sarung Banggi” was one of my mother’s favorites, it was a popular Kundiman song from Bicol, a region in the Philippines where my mom is from. “Sarung banggi sa higdaan nakadangog ako nin huni nin sarong gamgam,” my mom would sing throughout the house.

The Austin area is a bustling business scene, with new companies popping up every day. While some are owned and operated by families, other local businesses are also run by couples. Many of these couples say that their businesses grew from a shared interest that drove their success as well as their relationships.

COVID-19 hit the spring semester of my freshman year at the University of Texas at Austin and by then, I had just familiarized myself with campus and started to socialize with others. The pandemic cut...