Chef

I grew up in Mexico City, when I was 12 years old I moved to the US and lived in Houston and Austin and started cooking when I was 14 years old. I come from a line of women that love to cook and cook for a living. My great grandma loved to cook, and she was always baking at home. My grandma had a lot of different careers and one of them was baking, and I grew up literally watching her bake. And my mom just loves food and is always cooking in the house, so it was definitely a natural thing for me to cook. Then I went to culinary school in Austin, Texas and traveled a lot and worked under a lot of different chefs. [Eventually,] I moved back to Mexico City and then moved to New York for Mexico City and now I live in Lummi Island.

My first sous chef job was when I was 19 years old in Houston, Texas. I don’t like to say I’ve ever suffered from burnout, I like to say more that I learned from it. I think that when you are young you want to take over [all possible] opportunities. Sometimes when you don’t have the proper mentor to guide you in terms of where you’re going, you burn out, and this is the type of industry where that happens. But, you know, I learn from it, and it’s always like an experience that when something bad happens and something inadvertent, you grow from it and you make sure that it doesn’t happen for the people that work for you. You guide them through the growth process of becoming a manager.

The hardest lesson I’ve learned in my career is not being able to spend important moments with my family. In our industry it takes a lot of effort and a lot of time; and you give up important moments with your family.

First of all, the most important thing is to get to know the person behind the stove and the knives. For me, it’s about personality. It’s important when somebody comes in, you can tell right away if the person is genuine, and honest and has a smile and is willing to, you know, learn. And that’s the most important thing. Sometimes people that have a lot of experience come with an arrogant attitude and you never have space for growth with people like that because sometimes they don’t want to listen and they want to do it their own way. I think that most importantly, people that [do well here] are those that are experienced and genuine. You know if there is someone without experience, but they are patient and want to learn and are eager to work and be disciplined and also have fun - that is also the type of person that goes to work in one of our kitchens.

One of my most important mentors in my career is Chris Shepherd. He’s a chef in Houston, and he taught me so much: how to be a leader and how to make sure that I have time to listen to people and to also be patient.

My cooking is mostly influenced by all of my travels. The culture that is mostly prominent of my cooking is definitely Mexican and then I literally take memories from when I lived in different places. It’s not a specific culture, more of like what’s around me in the moment and I use techniques I learned in my career.

I think the crowd pleases by innovation. So, if you stick to yourself and something that is delicious and seasonal, that should be alone a crowd pleaser. You want that crowd that respects the work that you’re doing and innovating with whatever is around them and produce they are familiar with and experiences that are similar to yours and techniques - like corn on the cob - create those flavors with another vegetable or another ingredient and you can still make people smile. 

My part of my job that is my least favorite is answering emails [laughs] or computer work. I think all creative people will tell you that. My favorite part of my job is creating and being outside, being next to fire, being next to ingredients and just having fun with them. 

You know, people talk about kitchens being a tough environment and it’s one of the toughest ones, but it’s not the toughest one. Every career has environments that are, you know, tough. So, I happen to be in kitchens that yes, are normally male-dominated, but for me, I was very lucky to have male and female mentors that guided me through the most important thing is like, they saw me for my talent, not for you know, not if I were male or woman. For me, when I see a woman in the kitchen, I always want to train them in the same way and guide them through the process. You can be yourself; don’t lose that. The minute you lose yourself you don’t have your own style of cooking. I like to talk them through and explain to them - not only women, but it’s important for younger and older people not to lose themselves. 

A quesadilla

Oatmilk

Friday nights are usually different nights, but usually ends with a nice mezcalito 

Cool pairs of pants or a nice skirt and boots. I can wear my hair down or up - The pieces are super versatile and I definitely tuck in the shirts or belt the dress with a nice pair of earrings.