My life has been many things, and it certainly hasn’t been a series of prepared ingredients in bowls.

I started my career as a U.S. Air Force officer and worked in the Services Squadron at Dyess Air Force Base. The Air Force implemented a force reduction initiative, and I found myself searching for a new career at the age of 24.

Since then, I’ve owned a nutrition counseling business, taught high school science, taught community college nutrition science and health & human sexuality, catered, planned events, and wrote and edited articles for a news-magazine. I even wrote a curriculum and taught an online nutrition science class while working as a barista at three different coffee shops.

Then I went to culinary school and worked as a line cook, a catering cook, and a prep cook. I have contributed recipes to Modernist Cuisine at Home and cooked with their team in their first promotional series for MCAH, culminating with cooking with the team at Charlie Trotter’s finale dinner.

My first job as a dedicated product developer was with Beecher’s Handmade Cheese in Seattle, and I haven’t looked back since then. Product development work has started to fill my entrepreneur streak with the security of a steady income. The boss I worked for had more ideas than we had hours in the day to explore, so I was constantly testing ideas. His faith in me that I could go from line cook to food scientist propelled me forward.

Recently, I worked as one of three Senior Product Development Scientists for Bulletproof 360, running their food and beverage lines and focusing on the bottled coffee. Then my husband and I quit our jobs and traveled for Fall 2019 and have started pursuing work about which we are passionate.

I have just moved away from the R&D bench and into business development with Griffith Foods, an international company that customizes solutions for its large customer base, from snacks to flavors. I travel up and down the West Coast working with clean label snack brand teams to solve their product challenges and help them innovate in the fast-changing food trends and utilizing sustainable ingredients.