Welcome to Tech@Work Online. My name
is Melissa Nelson and I am an AmeriCorps
member at Vermont Works for Women.
Vermont Works for Women is a
non-profit in Winooski, Vermont and we
help women and gender non-conforming
individuals achieve economic
independence in their lives. And this
takes a variety of forms for youth and
adults. And for youth, we do mostly
career exploration programs, such as this, Tech@Work. Tech@Work is a
speaker series program that we do
primarily for high school students at
tech centers and it functions to
introduce students to gender diverse
role models in non-traditional career
paths to show them that anyone can
pursue a career who is passionate about
it and wants to, and to also introduce
them to people who are successful in
their career fields, here in our
community, in Vermont, and hear about
their story and their path that they took
to get this career. Today we will be doing
Culinary Arts with Hailey Cohn. Thank you for
joining us, Hailey. If you would like to
introduce yourself first.
I'm Hailey Cohn. I am a chef and I own a small catering and confections business called Satori Foods.
I cater for a lot of small retreats,
yoga retreats, different herbal
conferences, all different
small retreats, are mainly what I end up
catering, but lots of different classes
which is really fun, a lot of herbalism
classes, weekend classes, and I make herb
infused chocolate truffles.
I also currently am Kitchen Manager
and Client Communications Manager at
Woodbelly Pizza & Catering. So, busy. Those are my roles, my career roles. Okay,
wonderful. A lot of different jobs across the spectrum there.
So why did you choose this career? How
did you first get into culinary?
Oh man I was born into it, I think. My mom has five sisters and they're all Italian. And so all of,
my whole life, ever since I was very, very
little,
I was surrounded by food and people
cooking. I think all my best memories
as a child are from my aunts
and my mom in the kitchen, just having a
great time, laughing, and singing, and
cooking together, and then sitting and eating
together was always a really beautiful
way to come together and connect over
something that everybody enjoyed at the
same time. So you know, I kind of, I really
did just kind of get born into it. I'm
always like - after my daughter -
food is the second thing I think of, every single day, pretty much all day. So
basically it was something that I was
always interested in, and I would experiment a lot at
home ever since I was very young. Then I got into middle school and started throwing family parties that I would cook for and that's when I really started honing my
cooking skills. And I got a job at a
small cafe and kind of just went from there.
I've worked in restaurants and in
this business pretty much since I was 13 or 14.
Wow, alright. I think that's also perfect for our audience, to show them that they can get started now if they're interested in pursuing culinary.
I think really one of the very best ways of work
is just doing it. And, you find a job in a
cafe as a dishwasher. You start there.
That's kind of the best way to get a
culinary beginning is to start
wherever they allow you to be, near the
kitchen,
and some of the greatest chefs I know
started as dishwashers and then you just move up, you
know, and you just learn and pay
attention and get yourself engaged.
The more engaged you are in the
process and the more passionate you are
about the skill and the food as a whole, the better. That's excellent advice; thank you. What do you love most about your job?
I have so many jobs right now. Well, what
I love most about having my own business
is really the creative reign over
what I do. With my chocolates, I kind
of just will go, and, you know, the
seasonality is a big part of it for me
with herbs and food that I make, but it's also just how I'm feeling and what the
people who I'm making a product for, the
energy that they're putting out, and kind
of feeding off of that, and turning
around and feeding them something beautiful
and nourishing based on our
interactions and our connection. So I
really love that. I love connecting with
people through food. Like I said, I've
always loved making food for people and
sharing it, so being able to do that as
my job is pretty lucky. And do you find a similar joy from working with other people and not your own business, or do you
prefer your own business side of it? Both.
I mean, I think that having your own
business is really hard. It's not
guaranteed income and it's a lot of responsibility and a
lot of times, it's only you. If it's not only you,
it's still kind of only you and a staff
that relies heavily on you. So it's a lot
of weight and it's a lot of unknown,
whereas working for another company is, you have a better chance of
consistency. You know what's expected of you when you show up at work, you aren't
exactly met with too many surprises, and
you have a consistent paycheck. So I
think that there are really positive
things about working for yourself and
also working for other people. If you
find a really great business to work for, all the better.
That is definitely true.
Who you work with
is so important.
So it sounds like you've touched on this
a little bit, but what is the biggest
challenge to your job? So I guess again
having my own business. It's hard, it's
really, really hard to stay motivated
when you're unsure of your income. I
think that a lot of people experience
that, especially right now, with so many people being out of work and just being so unsure of how
to even move forward when you don't have
guaranteed income. We all have
bills to pay. So that I would say is
really my biggest challenge in having my own business.
My biggest challenge in working for
other people is trusting that I'm good enough and I'm going to get the job done
the way that is going to make everyone feel good. Because when you are working for someone
else, you're not only representing
yourself, you're representing the whole
community, whatever company
you're working for. You're that face.
In every way that you're showing up, you're representing
them. So it's pressure,
you know, and like I said, if you find
a really wonderful place to work,
we're lucky in Vermont, we have a lot of really great restaurants and food businesses
that offer really lovely food
environments and work environments. If
you can find that, then that's great. But
you want people to love what you're doing,
and you want people to trust that you're doing a good job.
So there's challenges everywhere and positives everywhere.
Okay, so I understand that you do a lot, but
what does a typical day at work
look like for you? What do you do on a
day-to-day basis? I guess, also, how do you
balance having your own business and
also working at other companies? Well, so
I usually work pretty full time at Woodbelly. In the off season, I'm doing a lot of client communications, so I'm on my computer a lot and on the phone
and having zoom meetings with clients,
and, you know, basically building menus
and contracts for them and coming up
with a lot of answers to their questions,
kind of trying to help them
feel settled and confident in us. And
that's pretty much in the off season,
that's my Woodbelly day. I meet with my
working peers, which is awesome because it's a staff of really wonderful people. Then during our busy season,
I'll be in the kitchen a lot more, doing
a lot of prep, getting everything
ready for every event that we have. And then at my own business, when I make chocolates - right now I don't make
chocolates nearly as much as I probably
should be - but usually I have a
day off a week, and I'll make
probably a hundred truffles just to kind
of supply the stores or the orders that have been placed. I guess
it's all very similar in terms of
kitchen work. I get up and do
my morning thing, and then write
myself a to-do list. That's always really
helpful, being able to check things off
as you go is really nice to feel
like you're actually being productive
and getting things done. And a lot of
times I feel, even at the end of the day, if
I feel like I haven't really done that
much, I look at my to-do list and I
find that I've actually accomplished a lot,
which feels really good.
Yeah and then, again, depending on what job I'm doing for the day, I might step into the
kitchen, make a prep list, start prepping different items that I need to prep, placing orders, and if I'm not in the
kitchen and I'm still doing Woodbelly work, then I'm doing a lot of meetings and a lot of
computer work. And, with chocolates, I'm just playing around and infusing herbs and magic into
little treats for people, which is
wonderful. Thank you for sharing. It
sounds like you have a very busy but
rewarding schedule. Okay, so part of
Tech@Work is to show students that there
are gender diverse professionals in
these career fields and to emphasize
that anyone can pursue these careers.
Have you had any challenges pop up in
your career path, based on your gender, or
not? Yeah, definitely. I've managed quite a
few kitchens and, I think, we're
lucky, again, to be in Vermont, to be in a
little bit of a more accepting place, but
even still, the majority of chefs are
male. That's changing. That's shifting,
luckily, and it's becoming more
diverse for sure and you have a lot
more gender binary or non-conforming
people stepping up to do the work and
being accepted into the work, and you
also have a lot more female chefs, which
is also really wonderful. There's
really no reason why any
career or business should be
dominated by any one thing. I
think I've definitely found, particularly
when working with younger, male cooks,
that often they just don't want to
listen to me and that's challenging. That
doesn't happen as much now but certainly
when I was a little bit younger,
stepping in, there's definitely
more kick back and a little bit
less respect, for sure.
I think it's been really
important to just know that I'm doing a
good job and trust in myself. And, as
long as I do that and have confidence in
myself in my job, then I'm able to move
forward whether people are respecting me
or not. Just respecting myself enough to know that the
advice or the delegating that I'm doing
is important and it needs to get done,
and sometimes being a little
bit blunt or, some people might say mean,
but it gets the point across. I think that to be a strong female
person, particularly in a kitchen lead or
any lead position, is challenging but as
long as you trust that you're in there
for a reason and you know what
you're doing and you feel confident in
yourself and in the job that you're doing
and the skills that you're bringing. I think that that's -
This is a tough subject because I can
just go on forever and I think that you just
have to really trust in yourself and know that what you are asking for from others, it just needs
to happen, it's right, and as long as you
know that, then other people will follow
that. I'm lucky. I have a few really amazing role
models: Crystal Maderia from Kismet is
an amazing, brilliant chef and really
demands respect and has a lot of
confidence in the kitchen and just
kind of walks in there and does her job
and really moves forward. I
think you'll always risk, in any managerial
position, you'll always risk people
thinking that you're mean or scary, and I
guess that's just a certain perspective.
If you just shift the
perspective a little bit,
we're just all trying to do a really
good job and be respected like everyone
else in that job. Thank you for sharing
your experience and it is a tough
subject. It definitely is, and, like you
identified, I think having those role
models is so incredibly important,
especially if you're having a bit of a
tough time in that career path. Having
people you can look up to and people you
can rely on and have as a support
network is invaluable, so thank you for
sharing your experience. One last
question. These are middle school and
high school students, primarily high
school students, but what advice would
you give a student who is hoping to go
into the culinary field? There's so
much. One I think, if you're passionate about food, go for it. This is one
business that - even in this time, even in
a time where people can't even really go
out to eat - we're making it work. This is one business that I'm pretty
convinced will be around for the long
haul, so there will always be food industry
jobs to have. I think it's really
important to be humble stepping in.
The more humble you are, the more you'll learn and the more you'll grow.
I went to culinary school
and I could a lot of times step into a
kitchen with my ego and move forward as if I know everything, and then I don't learn anything. I think
particularly in this business staying
humble is really important. And then, if you're passionate about food and
wanting to learn more, just trust that. Let that passion drive you and
that excitement
fill you because there's so much to
learn and so much that can be done with
food and community that is really
pertinent to the way of life right now
and probably forever. So
take your passion and run with it and trust
in it and try to learn as much as you
can in every environment. Thank you. That's wonderful advice and I agree.
It's really wonderful to see how
resilient the restaurant community is,
even during this time. I mean, the quick
transition so many of them did to figure
out how to make it work even when
everyone is staying home, so I think this
industry will be around for a long time
to come. Thank you for joining us as
our Tech@Work Online speaker and for
being so flexible and accommodating with this whole process. Okay,
just to wrap up, if you are watching this
with your teacher, here are a few
suggested discussion questions. But of
course, this is dependent on the teacher,
if they would like you to
look at this and answer them for them or
not. And so, just a few questions that we
are offering as ones that we think are
good discussion questions. Thank you for
joining us!
