Layla was born on November 3, 1987, along with her twin sister Nina, to Samara and Wassim Ali-Ahmad, and they became an instant and very close family. As you might expect with twins, Layla and Nina spend the first 18 years of their lives doing everything together — same friends, same classes, same sports teams — everything. They were opposites in most ways but complemented each other well, and were similar in the ways that mattered most. They were raised in a loving and lively house with their parents, grandparents, aunties, and sometimes cousins. Layla loved being part of a big family and adopted her cousin Nathalie as an extra sister.
If you met Layla, then you already know how special she was and these windows into her personality will resonate with you:
• Layla embraced everyone and kept up a relationship with what seemed like the whole world. She both accepted people as they were but also inspired them to be better. She made an immediate impact on those she met. Although her family knew all of this, they did not understand the scale of it until she died and they received an outpour of beautiful words from hundreds of people at every angle.
• Layla got her degree in Civil Engineering from Cal Poly SLO but after a few short years in engineering, decided it really wasn’t for her. She took the brave step of abandoning her comfortable salary to start from the bottom and pursue a career in food. She took a series of jobs in wine, spirits, coffee, and otherwise before she decided to found Beach City Food Tours, a food tour company in Long Beach. Right as she was starting her business her cancer came back as Stage IV but it never stopped her. She built a successful business with strong ties in the community she loved and never missed a beat, no matter where she was in the world or what brutal treatment she was enduring.
• She never let cancer define her and was absolutely determined to beat it. Layla and Nina used to joke about the ‘1001 ways to torture a cancer patient’ and she endured them all with grace and strength for a chance to live. Remarkably, she rarely complained, kept in touch with all her friends, never missed an event if she was in town, and comforted everyone else when they were scared of losing her.
• Layla lived every minute of every day to the fullest and her loved ones find a small comfort in knowing that she lived more in her 32 years than most people do in 80+. She loved:
• Entertaining — her personality type was ‘The Entertainer’, and she lived up to it. She was funny as hell with a strong silly streak and she loved to make you smile.
• Travel — her country count had hit 35 or so before she passed and she had made many plans of all the places she would go when she recovered. She was always scheming on weekend getaways from treatment and managed to squeeze in trips to many interesting places.
• Animals — all the dogs and cats in the family can somehow be traced back to her. She had big plans for her next rescue when she was able to settle down again.
• Friends — she invited 35 girls to her bachelorette party, none of whom could be cut from the list when Nina tried to negotiate with her. When she wasn’t in treatment, she would meet up with a friend for virtually every meal.
• Food — Not only did she start a successful food tour business, but she used to take her family and friends to explore the depths of every kind of cuisine both at home and abroad.
• Comedy — she went out of her way to find the funniest stand up, both live and on tv and used it to get her through her darkest days.
• Family — no matter what, she always made sure to demonstrate just how much she loved her family. ‘Acts of service’ was her love language and the primary way was with food— cooking for you, taking you out somewhere special, or picking up something she knew you loved (no matter how far out of her way it was).
It is brutally unfair that Layla got cancer at 26 and passed on at 32, but she never dwelled on the ‘why me’? Instead she channeled her energy into rebuilding her life, demonstrating her love, and making the best of any given day. The words most often used to describe Layla in all of the cards, texts and posts are: strong, brave, beautiful, inspiring, funny, smart, loving, fun, caring, and real.
Although the world suffered a big loss on March 19, 2020, when Layla transitioned, the best way to honor her is to live life inspired by the lessons she taught us all.
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