My culinary influence started early. Before I could reach the counter, I was on a stool—baking cakes with my maternal grandmother, making homemade buttermilk biscuits with my paternal grandmother, watching my dad make gravy, and cutting up crookneck squash from the garden. I was intrigued, and so began my foray into all things culinary.

My first teachers didn’t use measuring cups; I learned to cook intuitively and trust my instincts. I would spend countless weekends creating new dishes from ideas I had dreamed up. These were the days I embraced whatever I imagined. Sometimes there were tweaks, and others were absolute failures! I learned at such a young age to experiment and enjoy the process. By the time I was old enough to get a summer job, I had a lot of experience under my belt. Before long I was making biscuits at Hardee’s every Saturday morning behind a glass where the customers could see the process. I like making biscuits and still do often.

I started my own catering company at nineteen years old and had a full-time job as the vegetable cook in a very busy, massive cafeteria. It was a lot of work and all homemade. I had my own personal dishwasher assigned to my station. I was the youngest in the kitchen and admired for my work ethic and skill. They said, “Grass didn’t grow under my feet.” I was easily churning out 40 hotel pans of 12 different sides a day. I found a few new pieces of equipment I fell in love with—a commercial compartment steamer that held four long hotel pans, a steam-jacketed kettle, and a tilted skillet the size of a coffin. I also had a floor stand mixer and my very own gas 8-burner range with 2 giant oven and a massive butcher block table with pots dangling above and under. This was my station, and I was the only one responsible for it. Although I was quite young, I learned a LOT about commercial kitchens during this time.

More of my story to come!