I am a foodservice sales and marketing professional with experience and insights from all aspects of the industry. My food service portfolio includes operations, distribution, manufacturing, brokerage, marketing, education, training, networking, and professional development.

My food service experience started as a waitress, bartender, and in the kitchen. Front and back of the house in casual and fine dining restaurants, cocktail waitressing and bartending, and banquets too. It wasn’t until I started working in distribution that the infatuation with the industry developed. I loved learning about how the foodservice industry worked.

When I started working in distribution is when my infatuation with the industry developed.  I loved learning about how food service worked and I enjoyed the people I was working with and met through my job.  It was then when I realized I wanted to make food service a career.

I use to check out material from the distributor library all the time, study the IMPS/NAMP book like a bible with the Food Lover’s Companion Book within arms reach, and I was always asking questions. 

While working for a food distributor, I learned about the American Culinary Federation and supported the local chapter with donations and attending events. Yet, as a non-chef, I didn’t think there was a place for me at the meetings.

In Chicago, I became a member of the Illinois Resturant Assocation attending their meetings and events but was confused when someone invited me to join a networking group.

When I moved to Arizona, is when I learned the importance of networking by attending networking event groups in Phoenix metro and proceeded to do a lot of that, even running two networking groups and eventually, marketing and events manager for the American Culinary Federation Chef’s Association of Arizona.

Other organizations I have worked with are Slow Foods Phoenix and the Cactus Section of the Institute of Food Technologists. With these experiences, I learned so much about culinary education, Arizona agriculture, and our community.

Marketing is also another love of mine and has always been aware of combining marketing with sales. The easier it was for a distributor representative or customer to access me and the information they needed about a product or service, the more we sold. Simple stuff, or so I thought: me and my rose-colored glasses. I wear them often.