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CareerTalks with Cat Cora

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First Female Iron Chef Cat Cora joined BV PTA's "CareerTalks" to inspire BVMS students to begin exploring different types of careers. Once a month, on late start Fridays at 8:45am, students will have the opportunity to meet with established professionals to learn about career pathways. Get ready to BE INSPIRED!

Show Transcript

okay and so today we have a really exciting guest with us the way we're going to do this we're going to have her talk open up to questions after she is talked for a while and Pantea is also here career talks that we're doing this morning and you've got me join in the past we are excited to keep it going and keep expanding your horizons to new career path while you're in middle school so hopefully when you get to high school there different tracks and you can follow and pursue your passions all right great so I just want to introduce everybody and right now I'm going to bring out Cat Cora Cat Cora is a world-renowned chef restaurant or contributing editor television host and personality he is an avid philanthropist a health and fitness expert and a proud parent of six so without further due please welcome the incredible Cat Cora Mae and also my great friend Cat Cora everybody hi everybody good morning brighten early I look forward to talking about the great career that I've been so blessed to have and and then take questions from all of you I'm really here it's an honor to be here to inspire all of you and especially in these uncertain times with a pandemic but I know there's a big world out there waiting for us afterwards and you guys are you do you have so many so many goals and dreams and that's fantastic and I hope that I can be of help today and inspire you as well so I am going to start off with my first question for you cat that is going to be how did you learn that you love cooking and did you learn from your parents yeah I actually grew up in Mississippi and the Deep South and I was actually adopted to a Greek family in the South believe it or not and I don't know if you guys had feta cheese and biscuits but they're really really good together so I kind of brought both concert together in my cookie I was inspired at a really young age my mother my grandmother and my father will all great books and I was surrounded by a lot of people especially a lot of Greek Americans and he from other cultures who taught me a lot about different Cuisines and actually really made me feel very passionate about cooking so I started cooking when I was I would say is is young as I can remember I bake cookies and have tea Hardee's in then I started learning how to grill work on the grill with my dad my dad taught me how to grill and smoke different needs and marinade and my mom and my grandmother taught me how to bake and how to make a lot of distance from all over the world because I had lived all over the world so I'll learn from a lot of different cultures I mean as you know cooking as a Melting Pot of so many different cultures what your culture your background you have something to Tribute to The Culinary world no matter what you all are going to have recipes and Heritage in your culture that you can contribute greatly to this big bass culinary world out there because you know we're all from somewhere and bring with us an incredible amount of traditions and I'm sure your parents in some way shape or form or instilling traditions in with you now when you're in a middle school and going to high school and then you'll pass that along to your family so that's why what happened with me and that's how I really learn to to love cooking and being around the restaurant industry and my grandfather had restaurants my godfather had restaurants and so I was at a very young age I was around the restaurant different restaurants inside the restaurant going in order and great food having fun everybody was happy everybody smells and the size and the sounds and it just made me really fall in love with with restaurants eating out and being with family and friends and so that really Stokes My Love of Cooking in a big way and then I just carried out onto into a career later on great yeah that sounds amazing I guess why don't you take us back sort of into your early years of cooking and wouldn't you know when you were a kid and you were thinking about putting you know putting different flavors together and how you got onto this path of cooking you know what the journey was for you no I mean I think I started really taking on my own identity cooking when I was about 15 years old so not too much older than all of you who are on here I started really even though I've been cooking almost my whole life you know with various duties and helping my mom in the kitchen or my grandmother and my my family she started cooking by myself when I was fifteen and I remember the first thing I started with was just cooking a wrote just roasting a chicken because chicken is inexpensive and you can do a lot of different things spices on it put mayonnaise on it but all kinds flavors on it and it really is such a great chicken is a really good thing to try things out on try different flavors out on because of those reasons it's an expensive as you know it's got kind of a mild flavor so whatever spicy put on it's actually changes the flavor in a big way so it's a really good thing to practice on with us practicing on our roasted a whole chicken or a chicken breast or what-have-you it's a start practicing different flavors and taking different spice isn't adding that's what I started doing when I was 15 because I knew at that point I really didn't want to go into the restaurant industry I wanted to be a chef I just didn't know how I was going to get there because when I was your age we didn't have celebrities we didn't have the big restaurant industry we don't have food TV so it was a different Journey for me because I really had to forge my own way and that industry versus now for all of you any of you hurt interested in going into the millions of ways to get there and there's a lot of you know Avenues out there and resources out there for all of you to kind of go right into cooking and your weather is Connery school or in restaurants something else in there restaurant industry or hospitality industry there's a lot of ways to do it for you opened up by people like myself and Julia Child and a lot of chefs that kind of had to force the past and so I actually went to college first before I went to culinary school because I thought well if it's time there wasn't as I said it wasn't food TV and food not working Master Top Chef existed so I can really have a way in to the Connery field very easily especially being in Mississippi so I decided to go to college I got a degree in physiology which is now Sports Science and and after that I decided you know what I love doing this I love wellness and health and fitness and you know I work out everyday I love that industry but I love the food industry more so I decide at that point to stop thinking about going to culinary school and once I had decided to do. I met Julia Child I'm not sure if you all know who Julia Child is I'm sure a lot of you do Julia Child was really a pint one of the first especially female Pioneers in this in this industry with suit with your TV shows and cooking and booksin you know the whole thing is she ended up being Mentor mine and she guided me to The Culinary is America which is a New York and that's a long way from Mississippi but I said well you know what I'm going to go because it was at the time she told me it was like the Harvard of culinary schools it was the best school in the country and one of the best schools in the world so I decided to fly. In got accepted which was very hard back then and I went to Connery school and that really started off my path not only having a college degree something to fall back on which so far I haven't had to do that and use that degree but I've used the news ocean part of it and a lot of my cooking because I love to cook on the healthier side I like to cook foods that traditionally might not be healthy but I take him and I make them healthier so I love you create a new ways of cooking and ideas around food and that's really what I did so I went to the corner instead of America I graduated with honors I was really really excited about being there it was really I found my sometimes I would say this to all of you I wasn't I will I'm going to be really honest and high school and you know in junior high school I was very social but I didn't have I had I was in a straight A student I mean I really struggle with your school wasn't exciting for me it was very hard to focus and so I was very social and other things a lot of activities when I went to Connor school and I found my passion dust I made Straight A's I was on the honor roll I was I was in the top of my class and sometimes it's be patient with your journey because sometimes you have to find that passion and then you're just going to fly you're going to excel you know don't let don't get discouraged if you aren't at the top of your class in junior high as hope your class in high school or be patient you will find your passion but you have to do a little get outlook for what makes you feel passionate and your bass and inspires you and you just want to do it every single day for the rest of your life and sometimes at Journeys going to sometimes you're going to say I'm going to go and I'm going to start you know this career sometimes it changes so you'll have to be a little flexible to but be patient with that you know I don't you should always try your best you should always do your best in everything you do just keep going for it and keep trying to find that at one thing are those couple of things that inspire you and then you're just going to Excel and I have no doubt about that I can I can almost guarantee that for all of you just be patient with it and just again anything you do do your best at so I just wanted to say that message because sometimes people think that you know I had it easy and it wasn't easy you know I can't a small town in Mississippi my my mom was a nurse my dad was a school teacher and we didn't have a lot of money at all I'm self-made everything I did I did you know with a lot of love and support but it wasn't an easy road but I can tell you this it's been amazing one and it's been exciting and everything that I've done in my career has been not only a it's it's tough but it's also so rewarding and something that makes me want to get up everyday just hang in there and just again always try your best and you know when a door shuts another one will open you know and just always remember that it's not always an easy bro worth it and just keep trying to find in your group cuz you will find your groove definitely add the path to where you to get to culinary school was definitely not easy but once you became a culinary in the world of culinary arts tell us about the path to becoming an entrepreneur that entrepreneur that you are how is how did that develop after culinary school I went and you know I did something and to all you ladies out there and the guys out there but especially the young ladies out there you know I went to I decided to do something very very brave and that is I decided to go cook in France and a time and do an internship and France at a time when women were not allowed in French kitchens in three star Michelin kitchens I just want to say this is one of those moments where you never give up I got eight rejection letters I wanted to go to a 3-star Michelin Kitchen in France and cook and get some experience I got eight rejection letters okay in a row yeah that would make a lot of people give up and I'm letting you know I'm giving you the story because it's an important one and never giving up on your dream so I stuck in there I got to acceptance letters after that so you know I I I definitely I was patient I stuck it out I got those acceptance letters and I actually went and cooked in France into three star Michelin restaurants at a time when women and girls were not allowed in French kitchens they only took guys and so I just say that because that's one of those moments in life you're at a Crossroads and you got to decide I'm not going to give up or I'm not going to stick with it and I'm going to try really hard to follow that dream something really want and that's one of those moments so I didn't go in and cooking in France at a time when women weren't allowed in French kitchens and I was really the only thing I was really the only woman in the kitchen a girl the kitchen at the time I was in my twenties but and it was very it was to say was brutal is an understatement a really really are but I stuck with it and I came back and it open so many doors for me just that six months of my life that I gave to cooking in a time when in a play it was extremely difficult with only man I came back and so many doors open for me at that point and it was really what catapulted me in a lot of ways first of all I had so much confidence in myself when I got back and I felt like I can do that I can do almost anything and so they gave me a lot of confidence I got a lot of job offers and it really did open a lot of doors for me to go into TV which is what I really wanted to do initially when I was a young I want to be an actress but I knew that that was a very very hard Road from where I was so I went to culinary school partly because you know I really wanted to cook and I love that industry but I also use cooking as a to perform a television it was a sweet surprise I really wanted to do TV I didn't know if that was going to happen but again I was I tried really hard I did things that help get there so sometimes you have to forge your own destiny if that makes sense to all of you have to be the one that is in charge of your own future and sometimes you have to try really hard to get that sometimes things seem impossible so what I did was I start calling her and start TV when I was cooking in a restaurant I finally gotten to a place I was an executive chef after France I was in sous chef and executive chef my way up to the restaurant where I was an executor partner and I did a TV show a local show and I said well how I love doing television this is really cool this is something I kind of always wanted to do and I took that tape and this is how you have to create your own destiny I took that tape on my own no one told me to do that I just took the tape and I sent it to Food Network and I said the note saying watch the please watch this tape TV in audition for a show and it's not that easy always let me let me just say it's not always that easy I got very I was at the right place at the right time and I was dedicated to making that happen for myself but see that's how you can manifest some things for yourself out in the world you can make those things happen so they called me and I did get an audition and that's how I started on my journey and TV and working with Food Network it was at a time when sitting at work is just starting so I got my foot in the door and was able to start a career in TV through Food Network and then later I have no doubt going back to my time France helps me secure a role as an iron chef and so that shows you how doing something early in your life and remember that was wow that was about 10 years before when I cook but it helps me 10 years later Sakura role as an Iron Chef so you can see where sometimes our sons will say you know I just hope none of this all this hard work and making Straight A's and working hard for nothing and I always say it's always for something you may not see it right away but your hard work you're doing now is going to help you later down the road is going to  no and high school it'll help you to the college you want to get into it will help you with your career later on so everything is for something everything happens for a reason so that's why I say always work hard you don't have to be you no number one and everything but always work the hardest your best because it will help you for your future always so that's just something that you see how 10 years before working really really hard cooking in a French kitchen where I really wasn't no one wanted me but I did anyway here's later do something that I was really excited and passionate about and so becoming Iron Chef was I think one of them you know highlights of my career and something that I still you know once you're an Iron Chef you're always and Iron Chef and so it's really one of those things that you do all that hard work paid off I didn't know what it was going to what door would open but it always pays off work always pays off and following your passion great that's just incredible so much information cat Purge the kids to if you have a question posted in the in the chat so that we have it there and we can get to all of your questions and we will have more questions as we go along so I guess we should talk about the eye Chef I mean to me it's such a fascinating thing to gloss over it and say you're an Iron Chef maybe you can explain a little to the kids about what that means and how you change that of the the field by coming the first woman Iron Chef I think that it was interesting I've became an Iron Chef in a way that well I'll back up Chef had already been started 10 years early in Japan so they'd already been doing Iron Chef for a very long time in Japan it was where it started originated from and then when the United States to network decided to buy the rights to actually create an Iron Chef show here in the US until what is the iron chef competition what what is it about science what basically has started was is it Iron Chef America it started on Food Network on in 2005 is was four of us there were four Iron Chef so they set us up as for Iron Chefs I got a call again I'm in you know pointing out that all the hard work I've done before and tell cooking and frying pans and having a color in the country helped for to my path to be an Iron Chef so that's where all your hard work stop for a lot of reasons and it could be a lot of different ways but this was a big one for me to become an iron chef and it was because for years I dedicated myself to doing get a great food television network you know working really hard and kids men's around the world including France and New York and really really perfecting my craft as a chef and so you know a lot of dedication passion inspiration went into being the best that I can in my field and that paid off so that's where you're being the best in something you'll find your Pap you all find your path somewhere to be the best in whatever field you choose I'm getting calls from here on me tell me why I'm saying what do you do with Iron Chef as it was four of us and there was four chefs or the Iron Chef we had to make five dishes and one hour but we had to make 5 really 25 dishes and so we had to do that in one hour 60 Minutes that was real time that didn't stop the clock they didn't you know that was not a you know it was 60 minutes straight through whoever whoever cases your food and loves it the most out of those judges they scored you on originality taste you know presentation so you got just on that from 4 different judges and whoever came out on top one and that's really and we did this week after week after week after week you know we Stones iron chef for years I mean it was on for 12 seasons and you know I 12 or 13 seasons and now I'll be run reruns all the time and it still on it got a cult following and you know this was just a really an open a lot of doors that broke down a lot of barriers for women especially in this industry of a lot of female chefs because on any time you know you can show for me it was about showing that I could cook as fast and hard as men in the kitchen and that's what Iron Chef data gave me a platform just to show that to the world so that women out there and and also young young guys as well wear fire. A lot of fans at Work men women boys girls Grandma's I mean there was a lot of different fans but it really showed that women could cook as hard and fast as man and that was so great about it because it broke down more barriers for with I think in this industry amazing Josh Josh Goldstein has a question as I just think I'll ask his question interesting question he's an eighth grader who loves to cook and he wants to know what do you think is a better path working at a restaurant and learning that way or going to a culinary college that's a great question and you do I think back when I was from me I was living in Mississippi and not having a lot of outlets to go into the culinary World from me going to culinary school was really a great move that's something that helps me really learn the culinary field and helps me get contacts and help me meet other top chefs in the industry in New York and all over the world so that I could then call on them for jobs later I'm so that was really really extremely helpful for me now you know fast forward 25 years or 20 years I mean the Connors scene has changed a lot, and you can call if a restaurant that you really like and say hey I'm going to come in I really want to come in and you know you don't work for a week for you for free and yes that's something I did a lot you know and it's something that is very very helpful if you could if you can go and cook for a chef bypass a Connery if you don't want to go to culinary school do you want to go straight into a restaurant you call up a restaurant you call you talk to the shop talk to the sushi out for you say hey I want to come in I love you restaurant I'd like to come in for a few days and work for free show you my skills and show you what I can do and show you how responsible I am because I really want to work for you and those are the things that you can do those are some tricks and tips that you can do in the field to to get your foot in the door because it really once you get your foot in the door have to work you're really really really hard when you get in there Show Me What You're Made Of go in that kitchen whatever they need done you do it and you do it really well and more most likely you'll get a job and that's really getting your foot in is fast-tracking right into a restaurant that you really admire and you really want to work for now I also love education so if you really want to go to school and culinary school nowadays The Culinary Institute of America has a four-year you can also get your undergraduate done to a Connery school when I went to culinary school it was only a two-year program so you couldn't do that but now you can you can get a four-year degree so you can go in and get undergraduate and get your culinary degree at the same time which is fantastic so you know it just depends on where you were you know how you know I believe in education so I'm a big believer in in college and getting a degree and getting that discipline that you would get in college I think it's really raw important verses bye-bye bypass in college and going straight into a career or job so I would suggest that from you going out of high school if you were really interested in cooking school get a four-year degree get your undergraduates get your culinary and then go out and do whatever you want to do so that's that's really from me the direction that I would suggest go in it okay great beautiful to see that you're a true outside-the-box thinker you persevere you're driven all of those factors have been I think really contributed to your success and every path you've taken and I think one of the things I try to teach my kids or share with them is think outside the box you know definitely get the education and learn and be a part of everything but sinks and seeing everything you've done you've been creative it's really inspiring to see that thank you so much yeah I think that you really have to you know there are traditional routes to get your foundation no College when you go to a 4 culinary school there's a lot of traditional route I did the same thing I took you know I got a four-year degree in a in a really good major that was important to me and said that I was in passionate about and then I will go on and pursue that coloring career that I really wanted that was my very first class in a priority and I think at that point once you're out of that and those traditional you really have to be tenacious you have really be thinking outside the box as you said you have to really try everything to meet you to really get to your goals and drains and it's not a clear path I always say there's never a linear is there a straight line why does this you know one door shuts you got to try another door you know if if that's not with something else is it working for you to try something out you know it's like what I did was I took that that I had of myself until Vision open up a whole Connery career for me and a whole career on her that I would have never dreamed possible when I was a little girl Mississippi so you have to really be smart and always say work smarter not harder you always have to work smart and because there's not one path so that's something to really really remember that it's okay to go knock on doors it's okay to call done everything you know to reach my goals and that that is the way you have to do it and there's a for every job there's a thousand other people who want your that job you know for every career there's 1000 other people that are trying to make it in that career for every position on a television show or a food TV show there's you know a hundred thousand people who want a job so you have to be the one who stands out to do that you have to really think outside the box and be creative thank you thank you there a couple student questions here so let's see I think we've got three and Sophie Hahn wanted to say she said you're so inspirational what was your best memory on iron chef wow there was a lot of them I will tell you I have to say one of them in there was so many Crazy Ones I mean you know there were times where so much happen in the kitchen you know people would turn your fire at your your oven off people slip and fall cuz we're running all over the you know I think Bobby Flay got electrocuted one time I might holes I'm almost cut his finger off I mean it was the craziest things that went down in kitchen Stadium but I would say my experience was with an ingredient so I got Barracuda one time which is this ugly ugly gnarly fish that's like probably weighs about a hundred pounds has scales like about the big as a you know a quarter gnarly t it's so I had to take that fish and run across the kitchen and butcher that fish meaning you you know you fillet a you do all these things to it you get to the to the little fillet and cook that I have to say there was scales everywhere they were teeth every where there was no fish skin everywhere and it hadn't been one of the heart and it's a really tough fish is not flaky and moist and you know it's one of these really very careful how you cook it because it really chewy if you cook it too much and that was a really really I'd have to say one of the most challenging battles I had for myself and for my competitor because we both could not believe that they didn't scale the fish for us so I mean I have to say there was a lot of it that does that's one of many examples I mean we did the show for so long that I mean we there were so many things it that went down and the kitchen that you know just it was exciting crazy scary and it was if you see when you watch Iron Chef is stressful when you're sitting on your couch it's really stressful a hundred times more when you're in and this in the kitchen doing it so I mean something that was a Tipping Point in my career it was something that I think they so many people around the world inspiration and you know I took my role really seriously and I aren't shop and if I knew that I was on stage 4 to be a role model and so I think for me I know I'll never forget it as one of highlights in my career amazing okay I'm going to have a couple of the kids I'm going to ask them to unmute themselves for their question so Evan engram and I'd love for you to ask a question I'm going to come down here and ask you to unmute and here we go inside how you took it taking a lot of cultures with you but what's your specific favorite cuisine hi Evan yeah that's a great question. You know I grew up being greek-american I grew up even though you might think growing up in Mississippi Southern my favorite which I do love Southern today believe me it's really delicious you can only eat it you know your talk is fried catfish and hushpuppies and biscuits and gravy but I can only eat it every so often but I do love that Cuisine I think my favorite though is Medici I really I've traveled all over the Mediterranean from Morocco to Greece to Spain Italy France have a lot of incredible experiences all over the Mediterranean and I just love those areas they grow some it's so Sunny there and it's so many places most of the year and you just get this incredible cultural experience along the Mediterranean that is so inviting lovely and just some of the best cuisine I've ever had in my life and so I think Mediterranean and it's one of the healthiest Cuisines as we know it's why the healthiest Cuisines on the planet so Mediterranean is always been my soul food especially with a special nod Greek cuisine because I started cooking Greek cuisine and rolling grape leaves and working with phyllo dough when I was probably eight years old I really really young and so I have to say Mediterranean Cuisine because it's so healthy it so delicious is probably my favorite great question sorry. I have another question from Holden hold on I'd like to have you go ahead ask your question so I want to look how did you learn to cook that looked just like by yourself and not like having a fall by Sia thanks to that's a good question to you Holden I mean thanks for asking that you know it's funny it's like it really I've never thought of that but now that you say it we have the internet we have YouTube so many resources now and you guys have so many resources to cook by either you could even just you can take cooking classes you would even have to necessarily go to culinary school I know a lot of our kids learn on YouTube skills and techniques that's a great question I don't know my parents just teaching me I would have never known how to make a lot of the dishes had I not had a cart just a cookbook in front of me or my my family teaching me so I didn't have you know when I was your age I don't have internet to have YouTube I know that's so hard it's so impossible to believe that but we didn't we didn't have the internet even so in a lot of homes and even have computer so I know that it's crazy to even think that but that's the truth I just learned I learned by my family teaching me how to do certain things and you know it wasn't always there wasn't always a recipe sometimes you just need a wing it you know so it's really fascinating a great question because I never thought about wow how did I learn how to cook back then when we didn't have the internet enough that you know we didn't have YouTube in the internet so that's how I did it just really learning from family and QuickBooks okay great and I'm Naomi the question let me see if I can find you if you can unmute yourself Naomi let's see what foods do you like to cook thanks for asking how are you good we love to cook almost anything in our house we cook so many different things only honey like we could we bake not together you know I know Nicole is well my wife is a really good Baker and we make pretzels and we make fun cheese fondue and we bake cookies and cakes we also make a lot of savory food I'll make this really great cinnamon stewed chicken that I grew up on which is delicious it's with the tomato sauce and you know lots of lots of herbs and things and it is really delicious we make a lot of tacos in our house we grill a lot I like to grill out I think this weekend I'm going to be grilling some steaks out on the grill and making a big dinner cuz Gavin just had his bar mitzvah so we're going to be celebrating with all the kids so we just really I kind of like to pick different things you know I like to make sometimes the kids want me to make my lasagna which is really good recipe for my grandmother that I had sushi we even make sushi in our house believe or not is lots of I'll go buy a partial to Sam and they really like salmon lots to salmon sushi so I'll go buy a big fillet of salmon raw salmon and well and I'll get some Nori which is the you roll it in and I'll get some sticky rice and they'll just make nigiri and no Roll Sushi and that's a fine that's a fun thing that we love to do we probably do that I don't know once every couple of weeks so that's a fun thing that you can actually do at home to enter I heart you just go on you to take the sticky rice with a nigiri and you you know make sure your hands are wet and you just passed you know a little ball of rice slice it salmon or tuna and he just laid over it. Some soy sauce and some wasabi easy easy when you guys could all do it home and very yo not super expensive but that's an easy one to do at home that we love to do that's great I mean I'm just thinking too you know I am on your Instagram which I think is at Cat Cora is that right I know that you were doing through the covid-19 quarantine Cuisine quarantine Cuisine quarantine it was a on quarantine that we did for my last quarantine cuisine lines from the very beginning of covid-19 I'm at this point and they were having a hard time figuring I mean nobody Cooks at home really 7 days a week 3 meals a day write how many of us did that before funny trying to work from home and so we really wanted to be a resource for people to reach out to families to help them get through dinner every night and to cook dinner and to get you know I have people. questions I had a lot of celebrity Gaston as well and it was just a fantastic time I mean we really really wanted to be that was our little part of helping the world through covet so that was a lot of fun it was so so amazing to connect with the world we had people from all over the world tuning and and it was just great I loved it and try to do something different in the kitchen and I think a lot of those videos are still up there for the kids to take a library there bored.com you guys go to my website recipes videos there's you know a lot information they're really really fun things and it'll keep you busy for a while cooking through all the recipes and videos we have on the website so go to cat quora.com check it out and sign up for our newsletter and yeah it's it it's a good resource for all of you yeah question for you need a parent if you'd be around me I'm going to have you and me and asked I can't I actually was curious a couple things one is if you weren't a chef are there any other careers in The Culinary industry that you might pursue and just to understand for sure some of these children that love culinary and he loved the experience of being in a coronary environment are there other options for them in culinary career absolutely there are thousands of other options other than being a chef in a kitchen everyday I mean I have friends who left The Culinary World friend since you were really dear friends of mine still are today one became a a private and she works for the family she's an estate manager now she works for a family she make sure she she kind of runs our household and their menus every night and cooks for them I have a friend who when is the wine business came and sells wine for really upscale winemakers so there you can be a general manager you can do in Euro in the front of the house you can be a general manager you can go in so many other in a hotel House Resort cruise ships not cruise ships now but like it's some point we were over when radek Ovid new there so many there's thousands of other options and directions you can go with l&n distribute food distribution I have a friend who sells and she works for a sugar company and sells all kinds of raw sugar sweetener Stevia all in anything and everything onto restaurant she does wholesale there's a a lot of those types of jobs to so there are thousands and thousands of jobs and it'll listen we are at the food industry in the restaurant and hospitality industry is the second largest industry front and the first largest is government the second largest is the hospitality industry so that gives you any idea of how many jobs are available out there in this industry that don't have to do with cooking everyday thousands so you can just go online and you can see what all the jobs and that's what I did when I was looking around for you know in the beginning of my career and culinary I knew that I wanted to be a chef at all so just you know you can research that and say how many jobs are available in what types of jobs in The Culinary industry you can just go on in and check it out and something might pop out at you that's really interesting I might want to do that so there's such a plethora of information out there on how and what types of jobs are in the industry but remember where the second largest industry of the so thousands and thousands if I wasn't a chef I'll probably well I'm kind of done every job in in in the in the restaurant industry accept food distribution but I've started my own company Connery Kompany that Nicole and I are Partners in now I've I've worked every position you could possibly imagine in the restaurant at word of the dishwasher I've been a prep a cocktail waitress I've been a bartender I've been in general manager I've been an owner Chef sous chef Paso every job I've covered pretty much in the in the restaurant and then you know now creating a brand and open restaurants C products I mean you know so there's been there so many ways to to do that was kept it's exciting for me is to be able to do so many different things in this industry versus just being in a restaurant close because I am in many years and then I I still cook everyday for my family I still cook and check in with my restaurants and what's going on with all of our business is but I'm not in the restaurant cooking every like I used to be so there are ways to also build your career where you can start your own company eventually and you can move out of that cooking everyday and still keep your hand in the kitchen but doing other creative things as well now it's it's fun when you get to that point so I've I think that I've covered a lot of positions and enter any of the kids there any of your interested in becoming a crush after they can see their baby students and Joan going to culinary program in high standing in the high school right now Beverly Hills High he's in the culinary program as an elected so he's cooking almost every day or preppy something to get ready to cook it so that's been really fun for us to watch him he's cooked beautiful food I mean not good great like amazing so I've been very very impressive that and we have Paige and Gavin have also been cooking Jonas and Gavin were on a culinary a junior culinary program with Great Wolf Lodge so they were actually they actually helped create the kids menu for Great Wolf Great Wolf Wolf Lodge so if you ever go there when we open again you'll see some of their Creations on there and and we have changed he's a beast in the kitchen so Kate can cook for 5 hours straight and he blows me away as well so we have some Wilson Talent does anyone else have a unmute yourself my question is have you ever make the rainbow explosion cake actually we bought a few of those I haven't made one yet but we got to do that. Like I said has to be the next project that's a great great how to put on a website on Instagram when we do we have we love the rainbow explosion cakes Craig cat it's just been such an honor having you here today I think we all just you know you're so inspiring and your career is just so selfish you know you're such a self-made person and and for the kids to just hear how hard work and determination never quit attitude no are the things that carry you through whether you're you know the greatest or you're just a hard worker you just keep staying on your path don't quit it's just it's very inspirational to hear you tell your story even even as your friend so I really appreciate hearing it and thank you thank you for coming to PS4 how to spell much to do so take care good luck thank you thank you everybody okay

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