Chasing my dreams from courtrooms to kitchens.

In the tenth grade, two things became clear to me: I wanted to be a lawyer and I shined in front of an audience. My dream of becoming a lawyer came true with relative ease, but with a lot of long nights and hard work. I earned a spot in one of the most prestigious employment law departments in the world, and then had multiple opportunities to practice law in corporations. Dream job as a lawyer? Check! I lacked the talent to be a stage performer. So, my performance skills manifested in other ways - I appealed to juries and judges while practicing, taught classes on various subjects, assumed leadership of many organizations, launched a podcast in recent years, amongst other things. Dream job being in front of an audience? Check! Suffice to say, my tenth grade self was right on the money. For having known for so long and been able to live many of my passions in life, I am privileged.

 

My 16 year old self did not anticipate the biggest transition I would go through: switching from the courtroom to the kitchen. As circumstances changed in my life in 2012, I decided to leave my in house lawyer job and join my family business. The mindset shift, economic downsizing and skillset deficit I encountered during this transition were massive. Yet, indisputably, it has been the most rewarding and life-changing move I ever could have made. When I joined my mother and sister in business in 2013, together they owned and operated 13 franchised locations. What a difference a decade makes. Since then, my mother has fully retired, my sister and I have substantially reorganized our organization, and we have grown to 21 restaurants. 

 

I thought that switching careers from lawyer to business owner would be the end of one to star another. That I would no longer focus on the law and would be solely focused on my P&Ls. Contrarily, I use my legal training in some way every single day, usually multiple times. And, though I thought my life would be confined to the kitchen, I have found myriad opportunities to continue to hold an audience - teaching training classes, leading within the franchisee community, and speaking publicly on a variety of topics. I have managed to continue to feed two of my lifelong passions. And, I look forward to seeing how they continue to manifest on the newest leg of my journey as a best selling author, public speaker and thought leader.