A passionate and dedicated culinary student, I began my journey into the culinary field at a young age. I started my food blog, Yourtastebuddy.com, in 2011. Over the years it became a website where I displayed my culinary achievements and activities. Your Taste Buddy Catering was created in 2013 and steadily grew though-out my time in high school. In the summer of 2015 I opened my first restaurant, at age 17. CLASS kitchen, an entirely student-run operation, served 80 guests per night on Fridays and Saturdays over 6 weeks. Along with my friend and co-owner, we developed a menu, a budget, and a concept that we then put into action. I have now, through CLASS kitchen, worked though staffing, budgets, purchasing, cost control, contracts, and much more.I then interned at the Montage Resort in Laguna Beach CA through all 6 foodservice departments and then worked full time at the fine dining establishment, Studio. While in school at Johnson and Wales for Culinary Arts and Food & Beverage Entrepreneurship, I lead the Club of Culinary Excellence, the second largest culinary club on campus as well as founding my cutlery company, Forge To Table Knives.Forge To Table has been in operation since 2017 and grown to sales in all 50 states and over 37 countries through our network of independent retailers and our E-commerce platforms.