By the spring of 2023, Lila Claire Newman had grown tired of dating apps. One afternoon in April, she opened Hinge out of habit and came across Lency Federico Cantú’s profile. His profile photo looked as though it had been taken with a manual camera — “a little analog,” Newman said, “and that caught my eye.”
Cantú had recently moved to New York from Houston and was newly open to dating. After they matched, the conversation took off, and they spent hours chatting through the app before moving to the phone.
A few days later, they went on their first date at Bibi Wine Bar in Manhattan’s East Village, sharing a bottle of pinot noir and patatas bravas. “I immediately felt at ease with him,” Newman said. “My guard came down. It was a rare feeling.”
They talked about films, art and Newman’s upbringing in New York City. “She was completely fascinating to me,” said Cantú, who had spent 25 years in Texas before moving to New York. “I wanted to immerse myself in the culture of New York City and learn everything about it.”
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“There’s a catch here,” Newman said she thought at the time, “rather than him being a catch.” They stayed until last call, and the evening didn’t end until 2 a.m.
Newman, 39, grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary humanities and theater and performance studies. She also received a master’s degree in acting from the now-closed Drama Centre London in Kings Cross, London. In addition to working as an actor, voice-over artist and writer, she is the individual giving, special events and creative projects manager for the Young People’s Chorus of New York City.
Cantú, 40, is the owner and chief executive of Telcon, a Houston-based telecommunications company with operations in New York. Cantú was born in Indio, Calif., and graduated from the University of Houston with a bachelor’s degree in business.
A month after their first date, they became exclusive. In June 2023, Newman invited Cantú to her friend’s wedding in London, where they spent the first few days exploring the city together, before a record-breaking heat wave settled over the area and Cantú started to feel ill on the wedding day.
“That night, I felt like I was hallucinating,” Cantú said. “I thought, I’ll just have a drink — but after appetizers, I had to leave. I never do this.” Initially suspecting the flu, he asked Newman to pick up Covid tests, and they both tested positive.
“We were quarantining in this hotel during the heat wave with no AC and the tiniest fan they gave us, just baking there, trying to heal,” Cantú said.
“I think you meet the right person and it makes you ride the occasion in a way that you haven’t before,” Newman said. “I chose not to look at this trip as ruined.”
They returned to New York and began building a life together, traveling and playing music (Newman on banjo and Cantú on guitar). In April 2024, he moved into her Upper West Side apartment.
On March 14, 2025, Cantú proposed to Newman during a weekend trip to Kingston, N.Y. After rain derailed a planned hike, the two wandered to the edge of town and, at dusk, found themselves sitting on a bench outside a historic Dutch church and cemetery across from the Hotel Kinsley. There, Cantú proposed with a Tiffany & Company diamond ring.
They married on May 9, at the Hotel Chelsea in Manhattan, before 71 guests. Larissa Martell, a certified life-cycle wedding officiant ordained by Universal Brotherhood, officiated the ceremony.
Afterward, a mariachi band burst through the doors and led guests down the hallway into the Piano Room for cocktail hour. Cantú, whose parents are from Mexico, asked the band to play “El Son de la Negra,” a traditional Mexican folk song, replacing every mention of a dark-haired woman with “rojita,” meaning “little redhead woman,” a nod to Newman’s red hair.
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