My background reads less like a career path and more like a map of the whole industry — operations, tourism, distribution, food brokerage, manufacturing, sales and marketing, culinary education, networking, professional development. That wasn’t indecision. It was curiosity. I wanted to understand how every piece of this industry connects, and honestly, I still do.
I’ve had mentors along the way who took the time to show me how the pieces fit — which is exactly why I take guidance and community as seriously as I do. Nobody figures this industry out alone, and I don’t pretend to have.
Two roles taught me the most about leadership. As Marketing Manager for the American Culinary Federation Chef’s Association of Arizona (ACFAZ), and earlier at Institutional Sales Corporation (ISC), a food service food broker out of Chicago — both gave me real creative freedom, not just a job description. My work was connecting people to information and opportunity, and at ACFAZ in particular, building out networking and professional development wasn’t a task on a list. It was the most rewarding part of the job.
The details matter to me, always have. I’m Gen X — I was doing sales and marketing on the internet before half the companies I worked for even had a website, and I was in the room at digital and social media conferences while the rules were still being written in real time. I’ve never waited for something to be settled before I started paying attention to it.
The details. Note my dress and my cake matched; my mother loved to bake.
The love of butter started young.
