Culinary
DELETE
Chef & Entrepreneur |
Experience
2022 - Present
Entrepreneur
Honolulu, HI
Education
Advice from DELETE
Quotes about career path, skills, and teamwork from an industry leader.
I'm a recovering perfectionist and being that way can really take a toll on you and how you see the world and enjoy life.
I was pretty burned out when I previously left the industry. Adopting new concepts like being more accepting of how things happen, learning to relax, not trying to always be in control, and embracing the beauty in imperfection have really helped my perception of life shift. I know these concepts will help me prevent burn out in the future. Especially with taking care of myself being my top priority now. I feel I’ll be able to maintain my sanity and just have more fun. We all need to be having more fun!
Self- care doesn't have to be expensive.
I do the following on a regular basis: yoga, meditate, and drink lots of water.
How do I maintain a healthy work/life balance?
I'm honestly still figuring that out.
I rely heavily on Google Docs for daily operations.
A highlight of my career (so far) as a result of being part of a team was receiving a Michelin star within 5 months of being open!
I definitely couldn't have done that on my own!
To do my job, I can’t live without my plastic Matfer bowl scraper.
I research things that I'm interested in most and then sometimes I’ll stumble on something new because of it.
I read lots of cookbooks, new and old, as well as travel and taste other chef’s and families’ food. Doing so is like being in someone else’s mind and you can adopt new practices that way. Especially when you're open to it. There’s more than one way to do so many things and choosing the way you like doing things most is such an important part of a cook's journey. You won’t learn that if you don’t expose yourself to new concepts.
The possibility of being able to do things my way and create spaces for people that would otherwise not feel comfortable inspires me.
Food has been bringing people together for centuries and I want to keep that going in a more respectful, inclusive, sustainable, equitable, community-driven, loving, and warm – like your grandmother’s hugs – kind of way.
A huge lesson that I’ve learned is that creativity in this industry can be expected not cultivated, but that's not how creativity works.
Yes, some people are born creative but they still need to exercise their creative muscles to operate fully in their own creativity. So it's so important to not beat yourself up if you can't creatively perform like someone else. I used to think that because I couldn't just rattle off a bunch of ideas quickly that maybe there was something wrong with me because so many other people could do that. I just had to realize that I’m more thoughtful than that and that's totally OK. It's actually awesome (LOL). There isn't anything wrong with you, you just need to figure out where your creative muscles are and then just exercise them. It will come more naturally and get stronger with practice.
Eating and cooking are truly two of my favorite things to do and I love that they are able to be my passion and profession.
I also just take pride in whatever I do, so excelling will naturally come because of the amount I care.
Love is an important factor in cultivating and maintaining an environment that's conducive to feeling inspiration, motivation, and learning.
To keep my team motivated, I did my best to create an environment where everyone wanted to come back to.
First, I made sure that everyone felt mutual respect and love. I did my best to include everyone in the tastings for new menu items and get feedback from everyone and change things accordingly. Then, we made sure everyone knew our main goal was so that we were all on the same page. Even if everybody didn’t know how to do everything it was something we were all working towards. We were a very small staff, but very close like a family.
When hiring, I look for someone who:
(1) can follow directions well, (2) is willing to learn, (3)
can take constructive criticisms and critiques – and knows the difference between a critique and disrespect, (4) is able to know and admit when they’ve made a mistake and can then take responsibility and learn from those mistakes, (5) has integrity.
I’ve learned so much about so many different things that I would have never known about if it wasn't for diversity.
Diversity is so important to food. It brings so many different ideas, views, techniques, palates, passions, flavors, and ingredients and puts them all in the same room. Knowing about other cultures opens your eyes to what others are able to contribute to the world and I think that's such a beautiful and necessary understanding, especially living in America.
All of my jobs have had an impact in some way or another, but there are two that stick out the most.
(1) The position I took directly after culinary school at Uncommon Ground. This was where I really started to understand and know how to BE a cook.That made a huge difference in my decisions moving forward and how I operated all together, which is a big deal for someone starting out. (2) My time as Chef de Cuisine at Oriole. That position helped me to grow into a chef and helped me choose what kind of chef I wanted to be. Oriole was the catalyst to my position at Kumiko where I became the first black woman to have the opportunity to receive a Michelin star. So both of those jobs made very big impacts on my career.
It’s important for us to be responsible for our own education after a certain point in life.
I make sure to stay informed and have my own goals so I can consistently grow – not just wait for someone else to teach me something.
Advice that has stuck with me:
follow my heart and do what’s best for me. Applying this advice to every decision I make is how I have been able to navigate this industry so well.
Roles in Culinary
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