The Next Chapter in the Laboratorios Toledo Legacy: A Daughter’s Journey From the Shadow to the Spotlight.
Así las Cosas by Ferraiuoli
“It’s very lonely at the top.”
Ilia Margarita Morales Toledo doesn’t say this with complaint or regret. She says it with the clear-eyed honesty of someone who has lived it, as CEO of Laboratorios Toledo, co-owner of a women’s professional basketball team, president of Girl Scouts Caribbean Council, and single mother of two.
In the latest episode of Así las Cosas by Ferraiuoli, host Maristella Collazo sits down with Ilia Margarita for a conversation that is both a continuation and a counterpoint to her previous interview with Ilia Toledo, the visionary founder who built Laboratorios Toledo from the ground up in 1988.
This time, we hear from the daughter who now carries the weight of continuing a legacy while proving she earned her place at the table.
“Being the daughter of Ilia” comes with big shoes to fill, and bigger misconceptions to overcome.
A Childhood Spent Running Through Laboratory Halls
Ilia Margarita was born in 1987 in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, only one year before her mother opened Laboratorios Toledo in nearby Utuado. As she puts it with characteristic candor: “The laboratory was my little brother, my younger sibling, because I was born in ’87 and the laboratory opened in ’88. And it was always my competition.”
That competition shaped her childhood in ways both challenging and formative.
“I always lived in the laboratory’s shadow because my mom had to work every day,” she recalls. “She would get up early… if she didn’t take me to school, my dad did.”
But it’s her father’s role that Ilia Margarita pauses to emphasize, recognizing something not every woman in her mother’s position had: “I admire him from the perspective of a woman because it’s not easy, perhaps having and recognizing that he supported my mom 100%. He was there, he picked me up, he dealt with me, he took me shopping. He was the one who spoiled me, and sometimes, well, not all women can have that. So it’s a privilege.”
Her father’s support allowed her mother to stay at the laboratory until 10 PM, to build what Laboratorios Toledo has become today, a testament to partnership that challenged traditional gender roles in Puerto Rico’s business landscape.
The “Love-Hate Relationship” That Built Understanding
Ask Ilia Margarita about growing up with the laboratory, and she’ll tell you honestly: she had a love-hate relationship with it.
“I would arrive from school on the school bus directly to the laboratory. I ran through all the laboratory’s floors. During Christmas breaks and summers, they put me to work, they put me to work on the second shift so I wouldn’t go out and party.”
But here’s the transformation: “Today I’m grateful for it, because it was the way I could learn and understand the entire business. If that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t know much of what goes into the laboratory’s operation. I’m not a medical technologist, so I can’t be behind an instrument processing samples. And I think that was the best way for me to learn what Laboratorios Toledo was and what was done inside Laboratorios Toledo.”
Ilia Toledo’s vision wasn’t just about building a business, it was about building continuity. And it worked.
The Education That Almost Took Her Elsewhere
When Ilia Margarita entered university, she didn’t dream of taking over the family business. She dreamed of hospitals.
After studying in Mayagüez, she pursued two master’s degrees at the Medical Sciences Campus: one in public health and one in healthcare administration (hospital administration). “I love hospitals,” she says. “I’ve always dreamed of having a hospital. And I love it, the hospital smell appeals to me. Something very particular.”
But during her hospital administration internship, her preceptor gave her advice that would change her trajectory:
“Ilia, why are you going to take on other people’s headaches when you can take on your own headaches?”
Words of wisdom that landed.
“Demonstrating I’m Not Here Because I’m Ilia’s Daughter”
This is perhaps the central challenge of Ilia Margarita’s professional life: proving she earned her position.
“It’s very difficult because maybe she [my mother] sees putting on my shoes or vice versa, me putting on hers,” she explains. “And it’s completely understandable. I was there, but it wasn’t my responsibility. So now my responsibility is to continue the business, which is a very difficult task, to maintain it, to grow it.”
The Moment That Crystallized Everything
She shares a story that still stings:
A few years ago, Laboratorios Toledo was acquiring another laboratory. The transition day had arrived—contracts signed, team in place, ready for the takeover. But the selling owner suddenly demanded additional payments beyond what had been agreed.
Ilia Margarita, leading the negotiations, said no. The agreements were finalized. This is what we’re doing.
The owner’s response? She called Ilia Toledo directly and asked, “Why is your little girl saying this?”
“It was a click moment of: You’re here doing your job, and simply because I’m the daughter, they have to try to minimize you.”
Building Leadership Beyond the Laboratory
Ilia Margarita’s response to being minimized? Diversify her leadership portfolio.
“I’ve looked for ways to ensure that I’m president of the association, of administrators, the American College of Healthcare Executives. Or I was, past president,” she lists. “I’m now president of the Caribbean Council of Girl Scouts and co-owner of Ganaderas de Hatillo, which are things my mom had nothing to do with.”
This strategy is brilliant in its simplicity: If people want to attribute her success at the laboratory to other factors, let them watch her succeed elsewhere entirely.
Co-Owner of Ganaderas de Hatillo: Women’s Basketball as Leadership Laboratory
In 2025, Ilia Margarita became co-owner of Ganaderas de Hatillo, a women’s professional basketball team. The decision wasn’t just about sports, it was strategic on multiple levels.
That purpose? Gender equity in a male-dominated space.
“I firmly believe that women have to have the same level as men, not that they’re better, just that there’s equity. And I thought that platform was perfect for that message I wanted to give. Because basketball has been labeled as very masculine. And the reality is, sometimes it is. But there are professional women on our island who really go the extra mile to put Puerto Rico’s name out there, and we see it in world tournaments. Our women have made it to the Olympics.”
But the learning went deeper than symbolism. On the court, she discovered lessons directly applicable to the laboratory:
“You have to work as a team. It doesn’t depend on me if the girls are going to make baskets or not. I’m delegating responsibility on the court. In my case, my team had 12 players—five played on the court, and those five were responsible for what was going to happen. So you can extrapolate that to your work team and understand that it’s not entirely my responsibility.”
Shared triumph. Shared defeat. The necessity of delegation.
And yes, there was the challenge of being “la nena” in a partnership: “I had two male partners this year. I was the girl, and it was very difficult. I have to work in a world of women’s basketball in a machista world, because it’s still a machista world. It was a challenge—still today, to sit at that table and, as I said recently, to sit without permission, because I didn’t ask anyone for permission. I sat there.”
Girl Scouts: From Brownie to President
If there’s a through-line in Ilia Margarita’s life, it’s Girl Scouts.
“Much of what my leadership is today, I owe to Girl Scouts. My survival experience, teamwork, working with everything around you, with the resources around you. I owe that to Girl Scouts. So for a long time I said, I have to give back what Girl Scouts gave me.”
She joined the board, working her way up through roles. When Maristella Collazo was president, Ilia Margarita served as first vice president. The path to the presidency was intentional, driven by deep understanding of what the movement offers Puerto Rican girls.
In October 2025, the ceremonial baton passed. Ilia Margarita became president of the Caribbean Council of Girl Scouts.
Her Vision: Taking Girl Scouts Back Outdoors
When asked about her priorities for the next two years, Ilia Margarita’s answer is immediate and passionate: more outdoor programming.
Her vision balances tradition with expansion:
Keep the entrepreneurship: “Cookie sales are an entrepreneurship program—that’s where you learn to sell for the first time. Having those skills to take a little box of cookies to Plaza las Américas and stand in any mall on the island and stand there to sell a cookie to an unknown person gives you skills that no other program is going to give you.”
Expand outdoor experiences: “I want our camps to be equipped to give girls programming where they can be more outdoors. More experiences in nature and what we can do outside. Surviving programs, programs to make a campfire, programs to make a bow and arrow—the coordination, the experience.”
Why it matters now: “That bonding, that bonding process of camps, especially around the campfire… that sisterhood and that community that forms. That’s so beautiful, so necessary.”
After Hurricane María and the pandemic, Puerto Rican children lost access to outdoor experiences. Ilia Margarita wants to bring that back, for resilience, for skills, for the kind of confidence that comes from mastering fire and knots and navigation.
The Loneliness of Leadership (And Single Motherhood)
Maristella observes that leadership at Ilia Margarita’s level must be “a very solitary path.”
“Yes, yes, yes, yes,” Ilia Margarita confirms immediately. “I’ve always read that the C-suite—it’s very lonely at the top. It’s very lonely. And that’s the reality. So you can have many friendships and, but there are moments that are yours alone.”
The vulnerability deepens: “This happened to me too when I decided to get divorced. You say, this is lonely. You’re alone in a process that doesn’t have anyone to pat you on the back and say ‘I’m here with you’ and ‘I’m going to help you’ and ‘I’m going to pick up the kids.’ It’s very complicated.”
The Tools That Keep Her Sane
When Maristella asks how she stays mentally healthy amid all of this, Ilia Margarita’s answer is refreshingly direct:
“Definitely, you don’t have to have all the tools. And this, many people see it as taboo, and the reality is it can’t be. You have to have a psychologist, psychiatrist, coach.”
Therapy. Coaching. Professional support. Not as weakness, but as strategy.
Advice for Second-Generation Leaders
Throughout the conversation, Ilia Margarita offers wisdom earned through lived experience:
Advice for Second-Generation Leaders
- External experience provides context, appreciation, and comparative knowledge that enriches how you approach the family business.
- Building a leadership portfolio beyond the family business demonstrates capability independent of lineage.
- Don’t internalize others’ underestimation. Let your expanded success speak louder than their assumptions.
The Legacy Continues. On Her Own Terms
This conversation, coming after Maristella’s interview with Ilia Toledo, completes a portrait of generational leadership that is both connected and distinct.
But what makes Ilia Margarita’s story particularly powerful is her refusal to be defined solely by her inheritance. She doesn’t reject the laboratory, she loves it, has committed her life to it, brings formal education and fresh perspective to it. But she also insists on being seen as more than “Ilia’s daughter.”
The laboratory is her legacy. But it’s not her only legacy.
Watch the full episode: Así las Cosas – Ilia Margarita Morales Toledo (Published March 12, 2026)
Read the previous episode: 45 Years of Vocation: Building a Puerto Rican Healthcare Legacy – Featuring Ilia Toledo
About Así las Cosas by Ferraiuoli
Así las Cosas is a podcast series hosted by Maristella Collazo, Capital Partner at Ferraiuoli LLC, featuring conversations with Puerto Rican leaders who are shaping the island’s business, civic, and cultural landscape. The series explores leadership, legacy, challenge, and the human stories behind professional success.
Host: Maristella Collazo, Capital Partner, Ferraiuoli LLC
