Tamekia MitchellCotright

My career as a private chef started as a whim when I was cooking solely for my family, and then I branched out to doing events. People just loved my food, so I decided to make it a business. I've been in this field for well over 6 years now. I learned a lot of my skill from my mother and my grandmother, just watching them prepare food when I was a little girl. That's how I know how to prepare for large quantities of people - I can't cook small to save my life. I cook from the heart and with love. I run a small operation, mostly just me and my husband, who I call my sous chef. Although he's not culinary inclined, he does all the work outside the culinary scope. I'm the marketing individual, the website designer, the shopper, and the cook. I took training for my business from a chef that was a CHOP champion, who guided us through the business side - what we should charge, how we should put ourselves out there so our clientele could find us. I've learned that your close-knit circle may not necessarily be your clientele when you open your business. Most of the time, I do meal preps, and one of my highlighted features over the past year has been dinners for two. They've become really popular because people want that exclusivity of a chef coming to their home. My other clients are meal prep clients who want to focus more on work or family and take cooking off their plate. My biggest achievement is building the clientele that I have just by being who I am. I'm very coveted of my clientele list. Being able to go into these rooms and cook for people that are very prominent has been an accomplishment. My client list includes people who hold titles, CEOs, and things of that nature. My clientele is very multifaceted - from helping supply what families need to a newly divorced father who wanted to woo a woman with a dinner for two.