Currently building a freelance Interior Design business.

- Provide service to customers by greeting and assisting with sales and problems.- Examine merchandise to ensure that it is correctly priced, stocked and displayed.- Establish and implement policies, goals, objectives, and procedures for my department.- Creatively enforce visual merchandising and branding.- Step in for managers when needed to handle store operations such as placing orders, receiving deliveries, dealing with vendors and store opening/closing procedures.- Train all associates on my department procedures and recovery.- Assist management in new employee training and continued work assessments.- Lead weekly, monthly, and yearly inventories of the store to lower shrink and accurately keep track of merchandise to insure consistent stock levels.- Assist with weekly price changes and corrections throughout the store.- Lead store reset crews, seasonal floor moves and task groups as needed per quarter.

I was put in charge of all the baking and prep for the back of house. Every morning I made the breakfast case items before inventorying the weekly orders. I then made all the round, sheet and wedding cakes needed. I also made the buttercream icing and pouring fondant. Once a week I would make specialty cakes, pate-a-choux, and any special requests. I did advanced cake decorating for Fri/Sat orders or whenever needed. I received/checked in/paid for all deliveries of bakery supplies.

My responsibilities included 3-4 hours of prep for my section of the dessert menu. I was training to replace the Head Pastry Chef before Katrina hit and the restaurant was closed for renovation. I made cheesecake, pecan pie, chocolate sheba, ice creams, bread pudding soufflés, molten cakes, madelines, hippenmasse garnishes and rum sauce. After my daily tasks were completed I worked 3-4 hours of lunch service.

I was assistant to the Head chef, Baker and Pastry chef as well as the Prep cook when needed. I mixed, scaled, proofed and baked off the Artisan breads under supervision. One day a week I assisted the Pastry chef with her scheduled tasks. The Head chef had me work on side projects for him as well as finish breakfast and pastry items. When needed I prepped lunch items for the line as well as dinner items for service. This was an interesting experience. The owners were Belgian and spoke fluent French. The PC was on a work visa from France and several of the prep staff were from Senegal.

This was my first kitchen job out of high school. I needed 6 months of kitchen experience to be accepted to the C.I.A. I started off on the fryer, but worked my way up to the flat top grill, the back station and occasionally was allowed to plate/expedite. It was a hot, dirty job but I learned a lot and met a lot of great people. I was the only girl and the youngest but everyone treated me as an equal and helped me move up. The team atmosphere and family business attitude made me sorry to leave.