Andrea Marcella Ramos

I'd say probably because I have just an insatiable quest for knowledge. I'm always trying to learn something, or even if it's something I already kind of knew how to do, or I knew about, but I kind of forgot about it, I might touch back and think, oh, let me brush up on how to make pasta, or oh, I kind of forgot how to do this certain type of painting. There's a lot of these things that we might not think go together, but what you can apply towards painting might help you with baking and pastry, like applying an egg wash. Or if you learn your knife cuts from sushi, that can apply to when you're in the bake shop and you have to cut a really intricate piece of cake. I'm always looking for ways to connect different skills and keep learning.

One of my chefs actually told me, whatever gets you to the finish line. I thought that was such a good life lesson that you could apply to so many things. Even if you have a lot of laundry and you don't want to do it, if you just do a little bit at a time, whatever gets you to the finish line sometimes. It's truly a good one. I tell everyone, whatever, my chef William told me that, and whatever gets you to the finish line. Sometimes it's working on it a little bit and coming back to it, or finding out what works for you to get you to the finish line. As long as it's done correctly and nobody's getting hurt, then, especially in the kitchen, if nobody's gonna get sick or get hurt, then whatever gets you there. If you have to make your salad dressing early and then do all the rest of your prep and then mix the salad at the end, whatever gets you there.

I would say go with what you feel in your heart and your soul, and don't worry about what anybody else is thinking or saying. Because for every one person that might make a sour face or a bad comment, there's gonna be at least 10 people that kind of agree but might not really say anything, and a whole lot more people that, if you can reach them, they're gonna be shouting out in support. And regardless of any of those people, you just have to think of what you will feel comfortable with at the end of the day. When you go to sleep at night, what is gonna make you happy?

In the culinary field, I would say after post-pandemic, there's been a really wild turnover of people that have left onto their own kind of businesses or left the kitchens for other industries. We have some newer people that I've seen lately that they know it's a higher-paying job, but their heart's not in it, they don't have the integrity. They don't understand it, it doesn't come natural to them. They're really interfering with the job pool and with the pay rate, because now the pay rate is decreasing because there's an influx of kitchen staff. And their skill level isn't great, so people are really reluctant to hire without knowing any references or if you know what you're doing. It's kind of spoiled the job market in the kitchens lately. But as far as the creative work for creative work, I think right now is probably one of the best times more than ever, because of the way technology is, and now people are kind of fighting AI a little bit more and they're going back to more homemade or handmade, filmed stop motion, cartoon animation. They're going back towards real live action, they're going back to more traditional types. We want humans!

Integrity is a big one. I think to be able to do things that you're confident about, that you can stand behind, and you're not gonna be dishonest about it, you're gonna be proud and happy. And you're gonna do it to the best of your ability when you're doing things with your integrity. And you have integrity in your house or in the workplace or with your friends or your partners or anything, as long as you're doing things that you wholeheartedly hold close to you that you put everything into and you believe in, you're gonna get good results. To me, as a cook or an artist or anything, I want to know that everything is truly authentic and it's real, and regardless if people are viewing it that way or not, I know that it is.