Chef / Pizzaiolo at Altamarea Group

Food brings back a bunch of fond memories for me because when I was younger, around the age of 12, I used to spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking along with my grandmother. She made cooking fun and forced me to tap into the creative side of my personality. Every Friday I would help my grandma cook thousands of Rishtat Burma (traditional Libyan pasta) because she loved to cook and feed everyone in the family and neighborhood. She taught me the happiness one can receive by feeding others and this motivated me and made me realize that I found happiness in feeding and cooking for other people. Hence I became a chef.

I started my career as a line cook which helped me learn the basics in the kitchen. Working with some great restaurants as sous chef as well as chef de cuisine helped me gain expertise on handling huge volumes and handling stress under different circumstances in FOH and BOH processes.

The hospitality industry is one of the very few industries that allows a person to give back to the community. I love the fact that I have the chance every day to bring a smile on my customers' faces by being able to offer them great food.

I started my own business which forced me to learn the business and strategic side in addition to owning the kitchen.

The recognition I have received over the years gives me motivation and drives me to be more creative and do better each and every day. Being able to create magic with various ingredients of food to create a recipe or a dish is what encourages me everyday to go to work and do better.

Over the years I have gained knowledge about not just how to give customers the best food, but also focus on the kind of food the customers prefer and want.

I have hired, trained and worked with various people under different roles which has taught me the importance of how to manage and grow with people on your team.