I was born in Fargo, ND. After high school, I moved to NY to attend The Culinary Institute of America, where I graduated with my bachelor's degree in Culinary Arts Management. I stayed on at the CIA for an additional year in their Manager in Training (teaching assistant) program, where I was responsible for assisting the professor with all aspects of the classroom. The fun thing about this classroom was that it was a fully functional restaurant open to the public. After finishing my time at the CIA, I joined the restaurant division at Nordstrom. Nordstrom is a fashion retailer with many locations across the country. Nordstrom’s philosophy on food was to create scratch-made food with the best ingredients and earth sustainable products. I was with Nordstrom for over five years, first as an assistant restaurant manager and ending as a head chef, working in three states, Pennsylvania, New York, and Wisconsin. I was also selected for several high profile menu development teams for Nordstrom’s corporate restaurant division.

I love the food service industry, but I noticed what I enjoyed most was teaching and educating those around me. Consequently, I decided to make a career transition to become a FACS teacher. When I was in high school, I was greatly impacted by the Family and Consumer Sciences department. The cooking classes I took were what helped drive my desire to go to culinary school and become a chef. I look forward to being able to impact young people just as I was impacted.