Influential Woman · Culinary Food Beverage

Stephanie Gutierrez

Chef De Cuisine, Aramark

San Antonio, TX

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Associate's Degree in Culinary Arts Degree The Art Institute of San Antonio

Her Story

About Stephanie

I've been working as a culinary chef for sports and entertainment at the Frostbank Center for about 10 years now. My journey in the culinary world started young, working at restaurants, then I moved up to working at University Hospital in the kitchen for food service. That experience led me to an opportunity at the AT&T Center with the Spurs. I did one day here and just fell in love with the whole experience, hearing the fans and everything, so I've stayed here ever since. In my role, I oversee all the suites and catering, handling any caterings that come along. My team feeds the Spurs players, their families, and the owner rooms, plus every suite we have here at the Frostbank Center. I would say I'm one of the busiest here. What I'm most proud of is being a humble leader. Everyone comes to me for advice in this industry. I feel like us as women have to work almost twice as hard as men to be recognized, so being recognized as a female in this industry is really amazing. My leadership is what I would say is my greatest achievement.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Stephanie

01What do you attribute your success to?

I would say my hard work, dedication, my family, and my son. I'm also a single parent, so that drives and motivates me. Being a single mom really pushes me to keep going and give it my all every day.

02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?

The best career advice I ever received was to do it with passion, or not at all. I remember one chef had told me that. You know, every day you come in, you give it your all. That advice has really stuck with me throughout my career and guides how I approach my work every single day.

03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I would say, you know, just keep pushing forward. Always keep your head up, be humble. That's one of the biggest things, staying humble. Once you stay humble, you'll always have people that would follow you, and will help you out, and do anything. And just being the leadership, treating everyone the same. I feel like us as women have to work almost twice as hard as men in this industry to be recognized, so it's important to stay motivated and know that we're not alone in this industry.

04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

I would say the biggest challenges here in the industry is just having people to actually come to work, because we're always getting a lot of call-outs, and it's just us having to fill in the spots, multitask, and then I get hit with random caterings that will come up the day of, and I have to work my way and just make everything happen. As a client, we can't say no to the Spurs, you know what I mean? So we have to be ready to handle whatever comes our way.

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