Growing up as a latchkey kid in New York City in the 80's meant one thing: You learn to fend for yourself. By the age of six, I was already taking the bus home alone. I'd let myself into my family's apartment and make an after school snack; pizza from scratch. From dough to sauce, I made everything. These early forays into the culinary arts were always exceptional, whether it won rave reviews or, there was one time, my father chipped a tooth on the freeform dough. Either way, it was the start of something big.
I graduated from high school at sixteen and took a year off before heading to college. Like most 16 year olds, I had no real marketable skills except for the pizza thing and my early blossoming love of food; I'd been driving my parents crazy for years by reading cookbook recipes aloud and watching The Frugal Gourmet and Julia Child ad nauseum. I decided to try cooking. A family friend who’d eaten my food for years happily took me on as her personal chef and my obsession became my profession.
I brought my personal chef/catering skills to LA in 1996. Since then I've worked as the personal chef to several actors, directors, and producers. I was kitchen manager/catering director of Element Hollywood, catering for clients like CAA, US Weekly, and the American Music Awards and getting national press coverage. My baking skills were featured at Spiderclub and Avalon before Element. I created birthday cakes for people like Donovan Leitch (a chocolate cake covered in gold leaf for his "Solid Gold" party), Michelle Rodriquez (chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and chopped peanut butter cups. It sounds cloying but it was incredible!), and Lindsay Lohan (white cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting decorated with edible tropical flowers for her jungle themed 18th birthday...before she was a big ol' train wreck). I still contend that Sprinkles is biting my style. I was the original cupcake queen of LA. I brought them into style in 2002!!!
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