Chef & Entrepreneur, Founder of Connie's Underground

A huge highlight in my career that I was able to accomplish as part of a team would definitely be receiving a Michelin star within 5 months of being open! I definitely couldn't have done that on my own!

When hiring aspiring professionals the skills and attributes I look for are: (1) Someone who can follow directions well. (2) Someone who is willing to learn. (3) A person who can take constructive criticisms and critiques and knows the difference between a critique and disrespect. (4) Someone who can know and admit when they made a mistake and can take responsibility and learn from those mistakes. (5) Someone who has integrity.

I’ve learned so much about so many different things that I wouldn’t have ever known about if it wasn't for diversity in kitchen spaces. Diversity has positively impacted my career mostly because it brings so many different ideas, views, techniques, palettes, passions, flavors, and ingredients and puts it all in the same room. Knowing about other cultures opens your eyes to what others are able to contribute to the world and I think that's such a beautiful and necessary understanding, especially living in America.

One huge lesson that I’ve learned throughout my career is that creativity in this industry is expected, but not cultivated, and that's not how creativity works. Yes, some people are born creative, but they still need to exercise their creative muscles to operate fully in their own creativity. It's so important to not beat yourself up if you can't creatively perform like someone else. I used to think because I couldn't just rattle off a bunch of ideas quickly, maybe there was something wrong with me. So many other people had that ability. I had to realize that I’m just more thoughtful and like to think things through more, and that's totally OK. It's actually awesome. There isn't anything wrong with you, you just need to figure out where your creative muscles are and then exercise them. It will come more naturally and get stronger with practice.

All of the jobs I’ve had have made an impact on my life in some way or another, but there are two that stick out the most. Uncommon Ground, which was the position I took directly after culinary school. This was where I really started to understand and know how to BE a cook. That made a huge difference in my decisions moving forward and just how I operated altogether, which is a big deal for someone just starting out. The second job was my time as Chef de Cusine at Oriole. That position helped me to grow into a chef and helped me choose what kind of chef I wanted to be. Oriole was the catalyst for my position at Kumiko where I became the first black woman to have the opportunity to receive a Michelin star. So both of those jobs made very big impacts on my career.

Some advice that I’ve received along the way that has stuck with me would definitely be to follow my heart and do what's best for me always. I feel listening to that advice and applying it to every decision I made was how I was able to navigate this industry so well. Also, making sure that I stay informed and have my own goals so I can consistently grow, not just wait for someone else to teach me something. I think it's important for us to be responsible for our own education after a certain point in life.

I rely on Google docs a lot to help me do my job. Some things I use it for are (1) To keep track of recipes (2) Writing menus (3) Journaling (4) Creating Instagram posts (5) Planning ahead for YouTube

There are three self-care things I do on a regular basis. I do yoga, meditate, and I drink a lot of water. Self-care doesn't have to be expensive.

How do I maintain a healthy work/life balance? I'm honestly still figuring that out.

One tool that I can’t live without in the kitchen would definitely have to be my plastic Matfer bowl scrapper! It's such a versatile tool I carry it in my back pocket.

I continue to educate myself by researching things that I'm interested in. Occasionally I’ll stumble upon something new because of it. Reading lots of cookbooks, new and old, as well as traveling and tasting other chefs’ and families' food. Doing that is like being in someone else’s mind and you can adopt new practices that way. Especially when you're open to it. There’s more than one way to do so many things and choosing the way you like doing things most is such an important part of a cook's journey. You won’t learn that if you don’t expose yourself to new concepts.

Eating and cooking are two of my favorite things to do and I love that they are able to be my passion and profession. I take pride in everything I do, so excelling will come naturally, as it does to anyone who truly cares. My good experiences in this industry have made a bigger impact on who I am than the bad ones. The bad experiences have helped me in ways that I didn't realize at the time. I continue to fight for what I know this industry can be. This industry will breed love if you let it. Having done this for so long then taking a break from it helped me to realize that there are so many aspects about it that need to be different. I hope I can change some of that with the things that I choose to do moving forward. The possibility of being able to do things my way and create spaces for people that would otherwise not feel comfortable …That inspires me. Food has been bringing people together for centuries and I want to keep that going in a more respectful, inclusive, sustainable, equitable, community-driven, loving, and warm, like your grandmother’s hugs, kind of way.

Currently, my team is me, my husband Garrett, and our assistant but in the past to keep everyone inspired, motivated, and educated I would try and stay as informed as possible and be as open and honest with the team about pretty much everything. I did my best to create an environment that everyone wanted to come back to. Making sure that everyone felt mutual respect and love. I would do my best to include everyone in the tastings for new menu items and get feedback from everyone and change things accordingly. We made sure everyone knew what the main goal was so we were all on the same page. Even if everybody didn't know how to do everything it was something we were all working towards. We were a very small staff but very close like a family, which created an environment that made communication easy. Being such a tight-knit and small group we were able to have dining experiences together which cultivated inspiration and good times. Lastly, love is an important factor in cultivating and maintaining an environment that's conducive to feeling inspiration, motivation, and learning.