Story #058 - Jennifer Lee - Food Media Network

welcome to another episode of culinary

school stories the weekly podcast that

is dedicated to sharing the stories of

people around the globe whose lives have

been influenced impacted touched and or

enriched for good or for bad from their

culinary school experience hi my name is

colin roach and i’m your host thanks for

joining us today you are an important

part of this show where we ask the

question what’s your culinary school

story so now without any further delay

let’s meet today’s guest

hello and welcome to another episode of

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so now without any further delay i would

like to introduce today’s guest who has

a great story to share with all of us

a recent graduate of the culinary

institute of america in hyde park new

york where she earned her associate’s

degree in baking and pastry a lifelong

lover of food and cooking she has worked

various jobs in the restaurant industry

including both front and back of the

house she’s also an influencer and

content creator with their own

successful youtube channel with that

said it is my pleasure to welcome chef

jennifer lee to the show jen thanks for

joining us today and sharing your

culinary school story hi i’m so happy to

be here

great so you’re a recent graduate of the

culinary institute of america so why

don’t we start are you telling us what

brought you to the decision to go to

culinary school and why did you choose

the cia yeah so i have been baking ever

since i was a little kid like before i

could even remember like before

i even started baking at home like in a

kitchen my dad actually built a

playground in my backyard and i totally

turned it into like a mud bakery kitchen

so i’ve been baking like even before my

mom even let me uh bake with or cook

with real food

um so i think it’s always kind of

been in the back of my mind but to be

honest

growing up my entire family is they’re

all in the stem field so i always felt

like almost different and that i wasn’t

supposed to or allowed to go into baking

or to go to culinary school so that

honestly was not even in my mind it

wasn’t even a possibility for me um i

think it wasn’t really until

uh like high school when counselors

would sit you down and say what do you

want to do where do you want to go to

school and then i kind of just had the

realization that i can’t like lie to

myself anymore that i’m supposed to go

to culinary school so i mean i’ve been

baking and cooking forever but i think

it really was um like junior year high

school that i decided that i’m i’m gonna

go to culinary school

awesome now did you tour a lot of

different schools and how did you do

your research i mean how did you pick

culinary institute of america and the

hyde park campus yeah so um i’m from

connecticut personally so i really

wanted something

not too far because

growing up i really i’m like i have a

huge family so we always do so much

stuff together so i didn’t want to leave

them like across the country quite yet

i looked into johnson and wales first in

rhode island um and i

toured the whole campus the summer

before i attended school and i was a

huge huge fan i actually found out that

my aunt was one of the architects that

like built the school and she gave me

like a personal tour so wow yeah so that

was really cool i kind of felt like a

connection from that just because of my

family member but um sure so yeah right

away i was really i was really into it’s

a beautiful campus it’s like on the

water and everything and i was almost

100

um like dedicated to like going there so

like that was almost my decision and

then i i also like within like this time

i applied to cia just because i knew cia

was like the number one but um i don’t

know i didn’t really have the interest

to go to new york and i know there are

the other campuses in like texas and uh

in california but new york was the only

one that offered a bachelor’s degree at

the time so that’s what i

was planning on doing a bachelor’s

degree i obviously changed my mind and

just did an associates but um it was the

two that was really debating uh between

but yeah no i didn’t like think of like

ice in california or anything else like

that so it was really just not johnson

wales in that ncia but um yeah then one

day i get this letter in the mail that

was for like an accepted student’s day

and my parents are like you know it’s

only like two hours away let’s just go

check it out so i went and um i still

wasn’t set on it i still didn’t want to

and my parents were like you know what

if you’re going to go to like a culinary

school you’re going to go to the best

one like i don’t even care if it’s like

just like the title whatever you’re

going to go to the best one and um and i

just kept talking to other students i

was in the tourists with and they’re

like you know i thought about johnson

wales too and then we started discussing

the pros and cons and i don’t know i

kind of just chose a cia like on a whim

i like that like honestly it’s just

because of the title and i don’t know

how much of a difference the education

was but that’s kind of what did it for

me sadly right the reputation was it the

same price basically and same packages

like financial aid i know they give you

that yeah for me yeah okay yeah even

like scholarships-wise so we were like

why not it’s the same cool yeah so what

are some things that you you look for

when you’re going there like maybe

there’s a listener right now that’s in

high school thinking about huh johnson

and wales or cia or some other school

you know besides the finances and the

costs yeah it’s like that but what are

some things like when you went on your

tour what spoke to you what stuck out

that said oh this is cool oh i don’t

like this the dorm rooms

i if i’m going to be completely honest i

went to johnson and wales and the campus

was beautiful the classrooms looked

great but they showed us the dorm rooms

and they wanted four people to a dorm

room and it was probably the smallest

room i’ve ever seen i’ve toured like

i’ve toured other colleges just because

of past family members have been to

college and it’s it was by far the

smallest one i’ve ever seen i was like

you know i just i don’t know if i can

live in their mom and then we toured cia

and they were like yeah even the

freshman you can get a single oh wow so

i was like yeah so and they’re they’re

pretty nice and no communal bathrooms so

i mean like i’m so spoiled in that sense

i’ve never even gone to college in a

communal bathroom so i don’t i don’t

even know what that’s like um but yeah

honestly besides the education and like

financial stuff it it was just like the

just environment just how i felt to be

on campus like outside of class cool now

once you made your mind up and you

started talking about obviously your

parents went with you to take these

tours were they supportive of you at

what point did they like okay you’re not

going to go into stem you’re not going

to follow maybe some of your other

family members were they on board from

the start or no so

i would say

maybe i’m just really stubborn i feel

like now like looking back they have

been supported from the start i mean my

mom has i think in the back of all their

minds they always knew that this was

probably what i was going to go into and

at the time i mean they they still kind

of made it seem like oh she’s going to

go and major into food science so they

kind of still tied it back to them you

know and then it wasn’t until like i

just kept saying i was like mom you know

and i just kept talking about like my

plans in the future and then they were

like you know what just we just want you

to be happy just do whatever what makes

you happy and we’re always supportive so

i mean even like going to culinary

school was their idea i was just going

to go major in business at first but

then when like you know it was time and

you had to choose a college i couldn’t

like delay this anymore they were like

you’re going to culinary school so they

kind of almost made up my mind for me

but um now like i talk about it so many

family members especially now that i’ve

graduated i found out that a ton of them

even like all the doctors and

pharmacists they wanted to work in a

restaurant like they always wanted to

own a restaurant they love culinary and

i guess i always think they like cooking

but they’re like so passionate about it

i would argue they’re even more

passionate than i am

about food and cooking so i mean i guess

it’s in my blood they just didn’t want

to admit it yeah yeah it’s so true

because i’ll be on a plane or something

and someone will talk to you what do you

do and i hate to open that door because

i don’t want to say oh i’m a chef

because they’ll be oh that’s what i want

to do

they want to have this big conversation

i just want to read my book but a lot of

them are like doctors and stuff and i’m

like you’re a doctor you want to be a

chef

no yeah

like they’re so they’re so into it too

and the moment you say the word chef or

food or baker they they get it’s like

their reaction is huge it honestly makes

me feel yeah it makes me feel pretty

good

so take us to that first day you’re

arriving you’re on campus now you’re

gonna check in you’re gonna meet your

roommates i guess you’re gonna what get

uniforms get knife kits tell us what’s

going through your mind and what that

process is like yeah so um

i i guess i don’t know like so obviously

like we had to drive it was like a three

hour drive to get there so the entire

drive i was like super super nervous um

i mean i was prepared like for like like

packing wise and and just like what to

expect i was pretty prepared because i i

tried to do a bunch of research before

and like find youtube videos of people

but there are not many you know so i had

to just kind of i don’t know prepare

myself but um the moment i got there i

mean it was really nice they had a whole

welcome team and this was pre-covered so

you know it was very normal and um they

had like balloons and everything and

they helped i didn’t even have to carry

a thing like they had a whole group help

my family carry all my stuff up to my

room and um this is before my roommate

got there so

yeah it was very overwhelming at first

and when we were still trying to like

unpack some stuff um it just felt fine

but then the moment my parents were like

you know what we have to leave now i i

got so so sad um and i know like so many

people like they can’t wait to go to

college to get away from their family

i’m like the complete opposite i could i

could stay with them like forever i

don’t know i’ve just always kind of been

like that so i was so sad and

immediately they that like when i shut

the door and said bye mom i just started

crying i was just so so sad but then my

roommate showed up so i like i wiped up

the tears i was like it’s okay

i’m like i’m excited now um they gave me

like my entire backpack and my knife kit

and my entire like uniform

so yeah it was kind of surreal surreal

to see yeah that it was actually

happening but yeah i was like excited

and scared yeah

anticipation the unknown it’s all what’s

going to happen yeah

the unknown for sure yeah now how was

your first labs what was your first lab

how was the chefs are the chefs mean

were you kind of scared did you have do

lineup uniform check or early in the

morning tell us about that yeah so

our for at least for me for uh like lab

classes we had for the first semester

just one whole class that was just the

whole semester long i didn’t change

anything it was called fundy so like

it’s just the fundamentals the

fundamentals of like baking and well i

did baking but or for culinary if you’re

culinary but um yeah so you have one

chef for the entire semester two classes

a week and it’s like an eight hour long

class so um

unlike like later on semesters you every

three weeks you will change your chefs

but for this it was just that one chef

so he was the only guy only chef i ever

really met for that first semester and

his name was chef mccarrick i loved him

so so much he was he was just like a

really really nice like grandpa almost

like he was just um i don’t know he was

like well traveled and he just knew so

much and uh he was he was really really

nice and uh really understanding to like

teach you and they didn’t want to make

you feel too afraid i know like everyone

always thinks that like everyone’s like

that like born ramsay type and there are

definitely at that school but he wasn’t

one of them he was really really great

so it was a good way to start my first

class awesome

now going back to the dorms are they

co-ed are they separated or how how many

people you said two in a room yes so

they have i think uh i think the school

view tech technically speaking they have

like maybe 15 different like lodges so

um there are different types so at cia

at the hyde park one there is hudson

hall which is like notoriously the

freshman building but any overflow will

go to like any of the other ones there’s

one called angel and pick i ended up

being a pick i mean no an angel sorry

and that was like the best thing that

ever happened to me because hudson is

the worst hall by far every single room

is tiny um it’s the oldest building and

um there are communal bathrooms so there

are like doubles and triples but in

angel there are only doubles and no

communal bathrooms so i got i just got

lucky oh that’s good that’s usually an

upper class dorm angel or it’s still

freshman i mean nowadays it’s kind of

like just whoever they can fit but um

typically i feel like it’s like

sophomore level yeah but they um they

also have like lodges and townhouses

which are like a whole different setup

so for the last two semesters i stayed

in a lodge which thankfully i

i don’t know if it was like first come

first serve but i was able to pick my

roommates that i wanted so i got stormed

with my friends and i had a whole single

room but it’s like a whole suite so

there’s like four rooms and

every single person gets a single room

and we get our own like huge bathroom so

that was really nice if you like like

the people you’re living with then it’s

pretty great great so what was your

favorite lab class and what was your

worst and why my favorite was

absolutely my confections class so that

so like not confections like chocolates

or candies it was um i think they called

it like confectionary arts and specialty

cakes i think that’s what it was but

that’s the class where we got to like

work with gum paste flowers and um we

worked on mainly like cake dummies and

we covered them like covered everything

like fondant and worked with like

molding chocolate modeling chocolate i

mean and um yeah that was a super fun

class we made so many different flowers

and i love that chef i had chef cavatti

um i’m pretty sure she’s still there but

i think she’s she said she would she’s

like retiring soon or something but um

no she was great i loved um i just loved

how she taught and that class was just

super fun like i woke up every single

morning even though it was like super

early and i like i was ready to go to

class unlike some of the classes i was

like dreading it um

but my least favorite i can like 100 say

it was my chocolates class really

yeah i absolutely hated it like i

like i’m not to really talk bad about

him but even like the chef we we really

just didn’t like see eye to eye too much

and um

he was just a really mean guy

and i just feel like he was one of those

gordon ramsay ones you were talking

about no but this is what i always tell

people i feel like there are two

different types of me there’s like the

gordon ramsay where they’re where

they’re really mean and they like yell

at you and everything but you can tell

like deep down like they’re trying to

help you know almost but then there are

the ones that are just jerks for no

reason like they yell at you and then

they tell you you’re doing it wrong but

then they don’t tell you why you’re

doing it wrong so there’s no like

learning happening so i just it’s just

when chefs teach like that i i tend to

just get a little upset just because i

feel like there’s no it’s just not

beneficial there’s no reason they should

be doing that like i’m fine if they yell

at me i honestly i have a i don’t know i

might the household that i grew up in

like i just don’t really cry like i’m

not really phased by people yelling at

me but like i don’t know like if you

yell me that’s fine but there has to be

like a reason as to why you have to like

show me your like i don’t know something

like that so those chefs are always

putting like barriers up or pitfalls for

you and hoping that you kind of fail

yeah it’s almost like they want us to

fail i just i don’t understand that

especially when they try to like claim

that they’re they’re like helping the

next generation of chefs and they just

are not doing anything to help me but uh

yeah so that one was kind of like i was

just putting the class and i was almost

expected to like teach myself and i’m

just not very good with chocolates

either so right and i was excited to

learn so was the content as well or no

just more of the instructor part of a

different instructor might have made

that class okay or i think so i mean

before i went to that class chocolates

was already um like not my like i don’t

know my like area of expertise and i

didn’t like i didn’t know too much about

it well i didn’t know too much about how

to work with it so i was excited to

learn more just to you know broaden like

what i’m good at but um yeah i i i think

if a different chef taught that i

probably would have been okay with it i

wouldn’t have been great at doing it but

i would have it would have been a way

more enjoyable class right right yeah so

tell us about the student body who’s

your classmates are they all like right

out of high school or is there some

career changes military people

transferring in more males more females

so that’s actually one thing i uh wasn’t

expecting it’s it’s like people of all

ages all backgrounds i remember in my in

my last semester uh it was like less um

like range of age almost but during my

very very first class my bench partner

was actually a 70 year old woman wow

that was a yeah she was a lawyer and she

said out of the blue she just stopped

and said i’m going to culinary school

good for her but she she ended up

dropping out two weeks in

but yeah no there are people like i mean

i remember the first day the chef will

be like tell me your name um like what

where you’re from a fun fact and a lot

of people were like oh yeah i used to

work at a hospital and i hated it so i’m

here now so there are a ton of career

changes for um for people at culinary

school i feel like the ones that changed

their career the older people that um

you know all of a sudden they just had

like a realization that they wanted to

be a chef but um otherwise most people

are straight out of high school but um

yeah it’s like it’s a huge um range of

different ages is it more females in

baking and pastry or more males oh for

sure after my first class i have i

haven’t had a class with any males so

wow yeah yeah so it’s like i i always

say to people like not even in like a

romantic way but i have had no male

interaction in so long i i have not

talked to like any guys at all um yeah

my first class i did have a few but

after that they just disappeared

what do you think that is why do you

think females gravitate more towards

baking and pastries and males at least

traditionally towards culinary yeah i

don’t know i feel like it’s still

even though like most people these days

are very

modernized and everything i don’t know i

feel like maybe i don’t know peop i feel

like it’s bad but people do associate

like baking with as a more feminine like

hobby almost creative art way of doing

it yeah yeah so yeah something like that

rather than culinary i feel like

culinary they’re like down and dirty and

like hot in there and it’s like kind of

whatever like they’re like oh it’s not

salty enough throw more salt versus like

baking we’re like to a precise point

like one gram so but there is a class

where um for one semester the bacon kids

get to do culinary and culinary gets new

baking and i love hearing the stories

because my roommate was a culinary um

student so she would tell me all about

like how she’s not used to scaling stuff

out and how she like something failed

just because she was like point one off

or something so yeah it’s very

interesting to hear them but um i don’t

know they don’t like they don’t like the

structure of the baking and pastry

that’s culinary right they want to just

be freewheeling yeah i guess i don’t

know they’re just not as a as proper as

me for us

cool so

i want to talk about academic classes

you have to take those too what do they

like is it is it hard is it a rigor or

is it pretty easy i mean is it because

people don’t think that when you go to

culinary school you also have to take

those english math costing human

resource whatever type of classes they

are so maybe you could talk a little bit

about those for a bit sure um well so i

was an associate i did an associate’s

degree so

uh associates and bachelors it’s gonna

be way different for the amount of

academic classes you have to take so i

actually only took like a college

writing class and i actually um tested

out of a math class so i didn’t have to

do that so for the academic like

standard ones where it’s like math and

like language and um english classes

it’s pretty similar to high school i

would say so in high school i took like

i was mostly like ap student type of uh

person

so i was really used to like the really

really hard classes so compared to cia

my i would say my high school classes

were actually harder than than at cia

but i mean it’s different for everyone

but otherwise besides those like english

and writing and math

all of the other academic classes are

like ones you’ve never heard of we have

more like intro to hospitality and

nutrition and like um i don’t know how

i don’t even know what oh like

professionalism so they’re very uh not

like usual like academic classes right

more like career related or specific to

that industry no very yeah so actually

if you

were to like want to transfer to a

regular college after i guarantee you

none of those um classes will transfer

through and i actually asked before so

they were like yeah we’ve never like

this is not like anything that we have

so yeah so it’s really really different

it’s not necessarily hard but

i think it really depends on the

professor you get because every single

class there are multiple professors so

you have some that are like very chill

and relaxed and some are like five pages

of like essays every night so just

depends who you have so as a recent grad

what do you think makes an effective

teacher i mean it was a good teacher you

had good ones you had bad yeah what

separates you how did how did you

connect with the ones that you thought

were good and ones that you weren’t they

weren’t so good i mean tell us maybe

what in your opinion is a good teacher

so i i mean i feel like it’s uh it also

has to do with how like what kind of

learner you are so personally like i i

love to like see things and i love

having like a not scary uh relationship

so i mean some chefs like i said are so

intimidating and mean that they almost

want to keep that they don’t want you to

almost like talk to them so i just feel

like that’s not very effective but so i

like to you know be a i like to be not

afraid to speak to them and ask

questions and mess up and i like it when

they you know show you correctly and not

not stick by their method too much so i

mean as you’ll see like if you go to

culinary school every single chef has

their own like little like method or or

some things that they’re very very like

specific about so the ones that are okay

to like not do

that i feel like are a lot better if

that makes sense so like i’ve had some

chefs where it’s like oh well you can

take um a method that you learned from

this chef and this chef and like put

them all together and kind of create

your own thing and do whatever works

best for you because they’re like

honestly

whatever way that you can do it that

works best for you if you have the same

outcome it doesn’t even matter so the

chefs that can recognize that i always

appreciate just because there is not one

way to do things like something and um

if you can recognize that there like are

different ways and there are ways that

works best for you uh rather than

someone else then i usually love those

chefs and the ones that um are just not

going to totally freak out on you if you

mess up because again like they they

like to stress that’s learning

environment and that it’s okay to mess

up but then the moment you do mess up

they love to yell at you and just tell

you you’re doing it wrong so i’m like so

what is it you gotta at least warn us

correctly you know so

yeah i i definitely think the teachers

or the chefs that i um am able to have

like conversations outside of class with

are the ones i usually like more i’m not

like almost like a friend you know

someone that uh you feel will be there

for you and to support you and help you

like a coach or a mentor rather than you

know this power struggle yeah yeah more

so yeah exactly i mean in class if you

want to be like i don’t know like you’re

in charge whatever that’s completely

fine that’s your classroom but sometimes

even the chefs are like outside of class

that just choose to like keep on

bullying you i’m like i’m just trying to

walk and cross the hall

leave me alone

so are they mostly males or females the

instructors and are they older are they

young or what do they like that too i

would say it’s a a huge like range of

like men and female and um old versus

young i think my

my year that i went to culinary school a

lot of them were starting to retire

especially when cobin like hit they were

like yeah we’re done so some of the

older ones definitely retired and

they’re like on the hunt for more newer

chefs now i think they’re they’re almost

like under staff just like every other

culinary place even the school is so

um yeah recently we do i have seen a lot

of younger chefs but yeah they’re it’s

either they’re either very young or like

very old

i feel like there’s like no in between

no in between

so now that you’re graduated graduated

in december uh

looking back was it worth it is there a

good return on your investment uh if you

could change something would you change

it would you do something different or

would you do it the same way you did it

i get this question asked a lot and i

always like

hesitate to just say like it was worth

it only because i feel like it’s just

it’s one of those things that i i will

never regret going and if i didn’t and

someone was like if you could turn back

time and choose if you were to go again

i still would go it’s something that i

definitely think has been beneficial um

to my life because this is what i want

to do so it has been beneficial but i

will say it hasn’t been as glamorous and

like like amazing as some people put it

out to be there are definitely like pros

and cons to going but um

like like i said i wouldn’t like say the

pros outweigh the cons it’s just i i

feel like it’s necessary so it’s almost

like it kind of sucks but you have to do

it at least that’s how i feel so

i always say like there are

there are definitely some like

techniques and just so many things i

wouldn’t have taught myself or even

thought to teach myself or to just learn

myself but you do go in and you do feel

like oh i like i already knew this like

why did i need to like relearn this or

whatever but again that like repetition

and just um

i don’t know the structure of like how

they train you to be and like um the

early hours and the stress and

everything that all kind of like goes

into um like just the experience in i

don’t know i feel like it has been

beneficial but it hasn’t been as great

as everyone always says it is so it’s

different for everyone though maybe give

us some specifics on some of those sure

negatives that listeners to be like

watch out for this this is something you

should know before you you know sign

that line and attend i would say um for

every single person that goes in it’s

just your own mindset and um how you

choose to do things and talk to people

but

there are definitely going to be the

people there that will try to prove that

they’re better than you or will bully

you or just make you feel lesser than

and really just ignore those people do

your own thing

i feel like the

like honestly the negatives of the

school are the people and the

environment i mean every chef is super

competitive and almost sometimes i feel

like people

like are just too

insane with the

like amount of like competition like the

competitive competitiveness that they um

they choose to like involve even in

their friendships so like outside of

class like i feel like everyone’s just

very judgmental and um and there are

definitely like clicks of like the

people that like will try to bully you

so just ignore them do your own thing um

like this is your own experience so i

don’t know just try to learn the best

you can and meet the right people and

the experience will be way better

because no matter how much you hate the

chef and everything no matter like what

the type of person is everyone’s gonna

like hate it but you can’t really

control that but the things you can

control um just try to cut the

negativity out and just uh

i don’t know make it the best and most

positive experience for you how whatever

like that is like if you meet the right

friends or like just stay in your own

room whatever it is just like do

whatever you can so do you think it’s

more of like a cutthroat competitive

environment that’s instilled there and

that’s why people are kind of competing

so i feel like maybe yeah it’s just like

the environment that gets everyone else

like to be like that i feel like the

chefs almost don’t really um almost

enforce that anymore i feel like the

chefs have relaxed but the students have

gotten more like competitive

so it’s just within like every student

so there are definitely people that i

have gone to school with that like will

just try to prove that they’re better

than you and just say all these great

things about themselves and make you

feel lesser than and it’s just important

to just either i mean you can befriend

those people that’s your own choice but

um i i like i like to tend to stay away

from them right right

so what about other activities the

extracurricular activities clubs

committees sports something along those

lines is that available or did you

participate in anything like that we

definitely do have clubs and um

activities in sports um but sports wise

it’s not as many as a normal college and

i don’t know i don’t know if there are

many i never played any sports or my

during my time there there weren’t many

that were offered that i was very

interested in i mean i’m not the

sportiest person but i go to the gym a

lot so that’s kind of like my favorite

activity i used to go to the gym like

two times a day but um there are

definitely clubs i’ve i had many friends

that were in clubs i

was kind of boring i didn’t participate

in like anything like that they did do a

lot of um activities and stuff which are

to like normal colleges

they’ll sound really boring like we had

like bingo night

movie night things like that yeah

exactly and i mean they were fun because

technically like our school were not

allowed to have parties or do anything

like like a normal like 20 something

year old would do um so i mean it is i

guess as a whole we are more boring

but um but it’s okay it was it was fine

what’s the what’s the big what’s the big

thing to do up there for a campus what

do people do what is the uh was gonna go

to hyde park what is what is the draw

they go to marist they go to the college

next door to party oh really

i actually i never went but i heard a

lot of people did or they’re the ones

are like really really into the

activities that go on at night so i mean

they do have a lot of activities some i

mean towards the beginning of the

semester especially for the freshmen

they have like so many they’ll even

bring you like out bowling and stuff

like that and but that time it’s gonna

like be super super fun but then it’ll

die down because as like the time goes

on they’ll like put less and less effort

into it but um every fall they’re both

that’s when the most some activities go

on oh cool

so is there a class that you didn’t have

that you wished you had or was offered

that you didn’t take or that they didn’t

offer that you wish they did offer i

wish this school um for calling like for

the kitchen classes they offered more

creative ones like for

as in like cake decorating cookie

decorating um stuff like that because a

lot of the school a lot of the kitchen

classes that they offer or that are

mandatory to take are very um like old

school french um like high-end

restaurant fine dining type of desserts

and i mean i love to that i got to learn

that because i personally wouldn’t have

like wanted to learn that myself

but then the school will say something

like oh fine dining is dying and uh you

you really shouldn’t be like doing this

like you should be learning bakery stuff

but then they don’t offer that so i feel

like everything they say is just very

like hypocritical and they’ll say

something like oh yeah like you see how

like during coven all the fine dining

places like clothes and it’s just like

the take out bakeries and we’re like

yeah so why don’t you teach us that

stuff and they just don’t so the

curriculum hasn’t caught up to what

they’re saying then right yeah exactly

so yeah i would have loved to learn that

more because i do love doing more of

like the creative decorating um aspects

of baking rather than like just sitting

there and like like whisking batters

cool

i want to take a quick pause here at

this halfway point in the show and ask

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today

okay now back to the show

so let’s talk about your youtube channel

because you started that while you were

at cia and it just blossomed and then

you’re still going today with it and

talk about what was the impetus to start

that and how did it take off and what

was your kind of creative thought

process as you were creating those so i

feel like as a kid i also like besides

baking i i always wanted to like famous

but um and i always like loved watching

youtubers and i just thought like wow

that’s so smart because you don’t have

to live in la you don’t have to like

live in a big city to go to like casting

calls or whatever you can just have your

own phone or camera and just record and

upload yourself it doesn’t matter if

people watch you like you can still put

yourself out there so that has always

been something i always wanted to see

why you always joke around like i used

to say like subscribe to my channel even

before i had one and i think it

it took until it was may it was may of

2020 so i was actually still at home um

yeah this is when i got sent home from

school during coven so i was just at

home i was extra bored like more bored

than usual and i was like i don’t care

about the judgment anymore i think i’m

just going to do it and when i first

started i was like okay well now what do

i film though if i’m going to start this

so i like this one video popped up um

that was like i’m going to dress up as

like a different decade every single day

of the week so that’s what i ended up

doing it’s a very bad video so don’t

watch it but in the second video i was

like oh i guess i could talk about like

my experience at culinary school because

i don’t know like i feel like that’s

interesting it’s not talked about so i

just like on a whim i was like i don’t

think anyone’s gonna watch this and i

just filmed it in my room and i don’t

know like i think like not even a month

after i just started getting emails like

in my email that was like youtube you

have like this comment this comment this

comment i was like what people are

watching it and it just uh i don’t know

it just started getting really big and

after that i was like oh my gosh i have

like a following now i can actually like

i felt pressured to make more videos and

it was it was like good pressure it was

like i was excited to do it so yeah i

just i was never gonna plan to make

videos about the cia but that one did

really well and i was like i guess this

is something people want to watch so i

just kept doing it sure because there’s

a lot of people that may want to go

there right they’re thinking about it no

yeah and that was my intention behind

those videos it wasn’t ever to

necessarily promote the school or to

just talk about stuff i just wanted to

help people because i felt like there

wasn’t a big um i don’t know there

weren’t many culinary channels for like

normal people like besides like the

school’s videos right so i just thought

whatever i can do to get the word out

there help them just talk about like

just everyday things besides just like i

don’t know i just wanted to show them my

everyday life get them prepared give

them a heads up warning

so why don’t you give us the link to

that case anyone’s listening wants to

check those out yeah sure so um my

youtube channel is just jennifer lee um

yeah cool and i’ll put that in the show

notes too with your bio so if someone’s

listening and wants to look at that

afterwards perfect now that you graduate

are you going to continue that uh vlog

that you had yeah so um i’m kind of

segue in towards just like my like

normal life um here and there i’ll still

talk about like my school but i guess

now it’s just kind of following more

towards what i’m going to do in the

future i guess if i get like a new job

and i’m like a pastry chef i’ll show

them behind the scenes of that but just

whatever wherever my life takes me uh

the vlog will just follow along my life

yeah awesome now i did see that you were

one of the graduation speakers how did

that happen how did you get picked and

what was that like yeah so i i remember

when it was like a month like maybe

three months before graduation we all

got emails that were like a list of

things you have to do and one of those

things was we had to pick a student

speaker for graduation and i sat there i

was like i have no idea who could speak

i myself wasn’t even like in mind like i

didn’t even think about that

so i just never submitted it i never

submitted anything i was like uh

hopefully i still can graduate because

after the deadline was over i was like

they were like sorry you can no longer

submit this i was like i haven’t even

thought of anyone and then a week later

i get an email i was like

congratulations you were picked so i

guess students just picked me um which

was really exciting and it made my day

that’s an honor huh yeah i know i was

like oh that’s so close like i didn’t

even submit anyone so yeah i was like

that was like the student address right

so how did you have to plan for that

they tell you how much time and what

you’re supposed to say or the topic yeah

so they uh were actually not very

helpful they sent me an email about i

was like so you’re doing it um i’m i’m

gonna help you along and we’re gonna

like collaborate up like on this um

after that email they really they really

didn’t send anything else they were just

like they were like here are the

guidelines and

basically they kind of just wanted me to

stay like an advertisement for the

school they were just like no negativity

just say just talk about the good stuff

not too much about your life just uh

what are the good things about cia make

it very generic so um was i really in

love with that speech no but um for like

to follow the rules that was like the

best i could think of so sure no but it

was still fun it gave me something to do

during graduation yeah and people can

look on your channel and see a video of

that speech right a little little bit of

it little snippets yeah yeah yeah yeah i

put in my graduation video so if you

guys want to check that out so if you

could change that and could have said

anything you wanted to what what was

some of the things you would have added

now that now that you’re not there right

if i didn’t have any rules or like

guidelines in that speech

i mean

when i talk with when like joking around

with my friends they were like you

should just get up there and shout don’t

come to the cia i mean like i wouldn’t

be that blunt and say that because it is

still a graduation ceremony but i would

definitely say like

because i think one of my sentences they

i got away with saying like through all

the times like all the stressful and

exhausting times like i probably would

have just gone on and on and on

crazy chefs mean people you might you

might there are nights where you’re just

gonna cry and does not want to wake up

and go to class but you know we thought

through it

i don’t know i probably would have just

talked about more of the realistic

aspects like not even being negative

it’s just really what happened i would

have said more about that um yeah but

instead it was just like life’s gonna be

good life is great here love the cia

is there anything you wish you knew now

that you graduated before you started

there like if you could say this is

something or to a listener you need to

know you need to be prepared for you

need to be expecting when you go there

it’s just the it’s kind of weird so my

friends and i talk about this all the

time we always say like the parts that

we don’t like it’s less things that

happened or things that we’re doing it’s

almost just the feeling of being there

so it

it kind of sucks because it’s it’s like

you have to learn the hard way and go

through it yourself before you can

really tell it’s for you i mean i guess

like my problem now is like the harsh

reality of culinary school is you just

don’t get paid very much so if you want

to go out in the real world and live in

a big city like i really want to move to

new york more than anything but it’s

just like financially can can i afford

it yet but instead i mean if i don’t

work 10 hours a day 10 plus hours a day

in a kitchen making minimum wage for

like a few years can i even afford to

like move out if i don’t like save up so

now it’s almost just like i’ve graduated

but i’m almost gone lazier so it’s

almost like i i put myself through that

before and i know what it is like and i

just don’t want to work 10 hours in a

kitchen anymore which kind of sucks

because if i don’t do that it’s like

what am i going to do did i just waste

my degree so right now it’s almost just

like i need to save up uh to do the

things i really want to do but to be

able to save up i have to do a job that

i don’t necessarily want to do almost so

i feel like that is something it’s just

like you have to really keep in mind the

realities of what this is going to be

like after you graduate but that’s what

i would tell myself and what what doors

that degree will open for you which ones

you still remain closed right because

just because you have that associates

what is that going to get you in the

market exactly i feel like now it’s

almost like you just feel like you

wasted your time and your money almost

because the jobs that i can get a high

schooler can get so it almost makes you

feel like oh was it even worth it and

obviously in the long run like if i

really want to own a place in the future

if that has helped like those skills

that cia has taught me will help that

like tremendously but like if we’re

talking about like right out of college

it hasn’t like none of nothing that cia

has taught me is really helping me yet

or like even the title it’s not really

helping me too much because the jobs i

can get like i said anyone can really

get so right especially now anybody if

you want to work in the food service

industry you get a job yeah dying for

people and that’s why now like more than

ever it i almost feel like i don’t want

to always because and i feel bad because

it’s like i want to help these

businesses but um it’s just so

understaffed that when i worked during

the summer if i wasn’t feeling well and

i called out sick we had to just close

the whole place because if i wasn’t

there no one was making the cakes and

then i feel so guilty it’s like do i

prioritize my health or in my well-being

or like just helping the place keep like

stay running so you have to really just

think about all of that and right now

it’s like it’s like i’m not even lazy

but i don’t know it’s like i want to

work but just not under the

circumstances almost which sounds really

selfish but it’s kind of just how it is

now you were originally going to go for

your bachelor’s degree and then you

chose not to just get out with the

associates is that because you had that

realization that this wasn’t going

anywhere necessarily or was it because

the place cia wasn’t what you wanted or

how did that make you change so i

actually uh i actually thought like

figured that out like during my first

like semester there so i just got a

bunch of warnings from people that did

graduate with a bachelor’s saying don’t

do it so then i started questioning oh

why why not like you got one was it

really that bad and basically how cia

works at least is that if you get a

bachelor’s your course runs the same

exact like you do the same exact classes

and everything as an associates but then

the moment an associate’s person would

graduate you stop and you will just take

a bunch of academic classes

so you take the same amount of um

kitchen classes and everything and for

the most part you take the same classes

but then after you’re done with all of

that you’re just going to take a set

amount of academic classes and the

reason why i chose not to do a

bachelor’s is because i found out those

academic classes aren’t really

beneficial in like almost a resume sense

if i were to decide one day oh i am

going to use my like bachelor’s like a

business degree like like culinary

business degree that business degree is

not recognized by the world as a

business degree it’s more just

recognized as a culinary business so if

let’s say i really wanted to escape

baking for a little bit work a nine to

five all of a sudden

that company might not recognize those

credits or degree like that degree as a

business degree so that’s why i just

chose not to i was like if i’m going if

i really want a business degree that bad

i’ll just go to another like normal

college and just get that but yeah right

go to a business school where you’re

exactly recognized and instead of going

to a culinary school which you’re not

going to get any more lab classes you’re

just going to get business academics so

you might as well go to a business

school exactly it’s not if you want to

go for a master’s they’re not

transferable at all yeah exactly hmm

makes sense so it was a good decision to

realize that so yeah give you some good

advice i know yeah um is there career

development there is there a place that

when you graduate that helps you

find jobs or get you on interviews or

could set you up or set the graduates up

for success so they have like a whole um

like you sign in as a student like this

is like a whole website that um has a

link to a bunch of like employers and

stuff like that so it’s less the school

will help you it’s just more like the

resources they provide so the resources

are there like if i really wanted to

reach out to someone i have like a whole

list of people that i can reach out to

so like technically speaking like they

kind of do but they’re not going to

one-on-one help you really

it’s kind of just for you to figure out

you know do it on your own it’s like

yeah

jobs listings yeah here’s some jobs you

can reach out we’re not going to be like

the middle person now you said you went

there because of the name culinary

institute of america does that help when

you go get a job with other alumni

you’re like hey cia cia give me the job

does that help or no so now that i’ve

worked like back of house um and like i

was able to say like i went to the cia

or i was i’m a current uh student at the

cia it almost doesn’t it does but it

doesn’t so there are there are types of

people that were um like bosses that

will say oh that’s so impressive or

we’ll be like wow the cia or there are

the types that will say oh

a cia student they’re going to think

they’re better than everyone else and

that is what i’ve come across they’re

the i i’ve had a boss that were like oh

you go to the cia i’m like yeah is that

bad they’re like oh well you know

cia students they they tend to

you know be really stuck up and you know

and this fancy pants yeah exactly and

that’s kind of what i’ve like been

trying to escape i’m like no no i just i

just went there i trust me i’m not i’m

not like that

so it helps but um you have to present

yourself not in that way not in the cia

way yeah don’t expect the name just to

carry you right it’s gonna have to come

down to your skill level and your

personality yeah and just who you are as

a person because again there are there

are the types that will be really

impressed by the name but then there are

the there are the ones that will be like

almost turned off by it

did you find that in general when you

were working that culinary degree no

matter where it’s from as opposed to

someone who came up to the hard knocks

school you know worked on their own and

grabbed it that way is there a

difference they look down at you like

you’re the college person or i i you

know i actually wouldn’t say they look

down on people that graduate from a

culinary school they do um appreciate it

because there are basic things that they

don’t have to teach you because

especially when i worked

at a bakery in the summer we were really

really short stuff like everyone else

but so we were trying to hire someone

new someone was really interested but

they had almost no culinary or baking

experience like in their background at

all so my boss ended up just being like

oh i’m sorry we can hire you just

because they don’t have the time now to

train you so i guess like in like now

setting if you do have a degree they

they don’t view that as bad just because

they trust you enough to hop right in

and just get things done versus like

someone that needs training and they

don’t necessarily have the time to to

like teach them so

it’s like good and bad i guess depending

on how times are right right sure

in the past and probably still to this

day there’s been problems in our

industry that has plagued it you know

things sexual harassment bullying

alcohol abuse drug use you know

lots of stress you know people talking

about mental have you seen anything like

that in your experience whether that be

in school or out there in the workforce

now is it changing is it still bad i

think it’s gotten a lot better um it’s

definitely still a thing it’s not it

hasn’t just gone away but um like in

school definitely some of the chefs that

are almost make it seem like they’re not

there to help will definitely cause you

stress and depending on the person they

might not take it well and they might

just want to drop out that’s why i

always tell people like yeah you’re

gonna get accepted to the cia the

acceptance rate’s like almost 100 but

more than half of my class that i

started with are gone they all dropped

out within the first month wow so it’s

like can you handle that it’s a lot of

stress and a lot of pressure for

something that

you know you’re not going to get paid a

lot for in the future like right away so

it depends on the person but yeah stress

wise i i feel like no matter what no

matter how well you can handle it you’re

going to feel a lot of stress but um in

terms of even like like safety and like

sexual harassment and stuff like that i

feel like personally i have been

fine like every single environment that

i’ve worked in has been really

professional and really amazing but like

we’ve had chefs um that i still talk to

now that are great that will say like oh

yeah i take that very seriously like

we’re not gonna let anyone bother you

especially like as a woman in like

faking i feel like a lot of like

culinary people might feel i don’t know

like they’re better than you because i

have had a friend that went on an

internship and she had an old french

chef that threw stuff at her and she had

to go to the hospital she had like so

many bruises on her from like sheep

hands and stuff like hurting her and she

was just too scared to speak up because

she didn’t want to lose the job so i

mean it’s definitely still a thing it’s

definitely still present um you just

have to make sure you’re careful and you

uh find the right places to work at

right and speak up if it does have

behind human resources like get out of

there i guess yeah no and that’s why i’m

always like i am like i encourage you to

say something even if you’re scared just

because like you don’t want to go

through that you know so these 50 that

dropped out do you think it was because

they picked the wrong career to start

with i think so they didn’t really know

what they were getting into like that

lady that you said was 70. she went in

there she probably thought oh i’m just

going to cook some lunch and have a good

day and then you’re going to stand on

your feet you got to clean you got to

scrub pots and pans is it like a shock i

feel like the people that end up

dropping out are the ones i expected a

culinary class versus a culinary college

i feel like even in movies and tv shows

it’s not like a culinary college is not

portrayed it’s always just like someone

living a home and they’re gonna go to a

culinary class cook for an hour and have

a chef be like that that like soup

tastes bad and then they’re gonna be

like all right and just go back home and

just relax and that’s i feel like what’s

really shown in media but it’s just not

like that at all and i feel like half

the people that go are just like they

didn’t realize how much almost like a

military school it is it’s very like

it’s very strict there are things you

have to do there are things you can’t do

you have to follow rules and it’s uh

yeah the hours are long and it’s not

like a normal college so yeah i feel

like the people that do drop out are the

ones that didn’t realize that it’s just

not for them or they didn’t realize how

tough it was gonna be so what was some

of your what was your earliest lab

classes you guys had to go to oh time

wise yeah oh uh five in the morning what

was that i think uh why am i like

forgetting right now i’m pretty sure

it’s five yeah five something like that

like a breakfast class or baking yeah

baking surprisingly was uh not as early

as culinary which is i think i think

it’s weird because usually you know like

breads classes they make you show up

really early but i didn’t have to do

that so i the earliest i had to wake up

was like 3 30 just because i like to get

like an early start and like take my

time to get ready but you know like one

thing i always tell my cousins that um

just go to regular colleges he’s like oh

yeah i have an 8 a.m and i showed up

like right at 8 a.m so like i’m all set

like if we had an 8 a.m you have to be

there at like 7 45

no later than that you know just and

they’re like why and they’re like do you

go in and set up we’re like no we just

stand at the door

just just to show the chef that we’re

professional and we’re ready

that’s like stuff you have to like think

about it’s like you have to like take in

time they won’t let you in right they

check your uniform they won’t let you in

they do the lineup and no you go home

yeah check check your nails check your

hair check your shoes make sure they’re

clean no stains

now how uh how’s the food there how is

the cafeteria food is the students

cooking for the students

did you get to eat in the labs tell us

about that yeah so that’s something i’m

like i like to passionately talk about

in a positive and negative way so so

yeah in like our lab catching classes we

depending on the chef you can definitely

like take home what you made and eat in

class sometimes so that’s definitely

allowed that’s it’s great i love that

but um the part that i always think is a

problem that the school needs to change

now is our we have one cafeteria

technically it’s called the egg so

there’s like a little marketplace that’s

a place where everyone hangs out and

it’s like a normal cafeteria so unlike

normal colleges it’s not like a buffet

per se we have different stations and

the food option is great

so many people at school love to talk

down about it and they’re like oh it’s

gross and i feel like those people are

just like picky eaters almost i’m like

if you compare it to normal colleges

this is great we’re getting like nice

meals but sometimes i mean there are

cases where a lot of people get the

stomach bug i don’t know if it’s just

because it’s a change of like whatever

but i definitely got it and everyone

loves to blame the egg that’s like the

thing that everyone does they’re like oh

i got the stomach bug from the egg and

um easy turns so yeah yeah everyone just

loves to say that but um the thing i

hate is that the school is really smart

about not having to pay a lot of people

so the people that run that are the

students

and the only problem with that is that

we all have the same times that we’re in

class so once those students get out we

get out too and when i’m ready to eat

it’s closed so that’s why i’m like you

can’t just hire someone in that in

between time or something because

there’s the am class and the pm class

but what about that time in between

they’re just closed well that’s when

everyone’s off so it’s like the time

when i’m ready to eat and everyone else

is ready to eat like i can’t eat so

that’s why it’s like it’s like some of

my friends are they’ll be like oh i want

a midnight snack i can just head to the

cafeteria i can’t because the times are

strictly whenever classes so that’s

something that i definitely think needs

to need to change i mean but otherwise

besides the egg we do have like our main

um hall where we have all the kitchen

classes and the culinary kids will serve

the anyone else so there are like other

options but yeah i just feel like the

timing so when they’re doing their

production you can go buy the a lab

class and grab a bite yeah definitely

made yeah oh good and so the am students

would work the pm cafeteria and the pm

students who work the am but when

they’re in between there’s nothing

happening which is probably right around

lunchtime right when everyone’s out yeah

it’s just like it’s just all cleaned up

and it’s just everything’s just like

closed

and yeah usually just one station that’s

open and there are not many options so

yeah

who are the workers those are like work

study they’re students that are just

working on campus to help with their

tuition i think it’s uh it’s a mixture i

i definitely have had a lot of friends

that have just like worked there but um

otherwise

yeah there are just like people that

that’s just like their job so it’s like

a good mix it’s an easy way to get a job

oh for sure yeah rather than have to

leave and go somewhere else

and there are like many different like

places in on campus that you can get a

job so job-wise there are a lot of

things that you can do how’s the weather

oh it’s fun up there it’s kind of

upstate new york i mean you get a lot of

a lot of snow i mean no problem snow

days they have a close yeah i only ever

had had one snow day though i haven’t

gotten that lucky it always knows on the

weekends which always sucks

but um no yeah so i’m from connecticut

i’m only like two hours away so it’s

exactly the same um like whenever it’s

raining here it’s raining there whenever

it’s snowing here it’s snowing there so

like when i facetime my family i’m like

you guys have snow too they’re like yeah

so i’m very used to my roommate was from

la in california so this was like one of

her first times ever seen snow so she

wasn’t very used to it but uh it was

nothing new for me

so now that you graduated what’s next

for you what’s your immediate plan what

do you what’s your long term what do you

think you’re going to be doing five

years from now what’s what’s your what’s

your goal you know i have always been a

very uh like a structured planned person

i’m kind of crazy like that in middle

school i made like my ten year timeline

of what i’m going to do i’ve definitely

like fallen off of that a little bit but

um yeah so this month i decided i was

just going to take like a month off um

kind of just like think about what i’m

going to do and just really take the

time and like think about it so right

now all i’m working on is just like

youtube and just like instagram just

like content creation type of stuff and

i’ve been lucky enough to be able to

collaborate with some brands lately so

that’s been really fun and i’ve been

working on that um i’m definitely not at

a state where i can do social media

full-time but even though i love it um

so i definitely do have to jump back

into uh just being like a pastry chef

but um

after this i am just i’m seeking for

jobs like right now as we speak so i

hopefully will

find one but so basically i don’t want

to move out from my house yeah i think i

want to wait till like the end of the

year just uh just like i just want to

settle a little bit just kind of save up

and then i really wanted to move to new

york in the city and but my parents just

think it’s a better idea for me to

go to boston first because they’re like

boston is kind of you know it’s a city

but kind of less and uh i have family in

both in new york city and boston but i’m

like way more in boston like right in

boston so they’re like i feel like

that’d be really good for you and i’ve

kind of just uh i’ve settled on that and

i think that’s fine with me so i think

after this year i’m probably going to

move there and uh there are a ton of

bakeries that i’ve always admired there

so um i would definitely be really

interested in working at some places

like that i mean like i feel like the

best situation would be to

find like a food media type of job

because i love doing that um so but i

probably have to like la or something so

i’m kind of just okay with anything

right now i’m just kind of i just want

experience and i’m not looking for

anything really long term i just want to

find what i like and don’t like but um

in the future the goal has always been

to open a bakery so

that is definitely still the plan but

i’m just not ready for that yet because

that means i would have to settle down

and find a place i really want to live

but i’m it’s probably going to be in

like la that’s where i’ve always thought

so great so if someone’s listening that

wants to offer you a job or someone’s

listening that wants to reach out and

ask you more questions about cia or

anything else how can they get a hold of

you sure yeah um well you guys can uh go

on my instagram it’s jennifer l a and

then lee led so that’s my instagram you

can definitely shoot me a dm um i have

my email always it’s jenniferla lee

business um gmail.com and that’s linked

in my youtube and my instagram and i

think we discussed my youtube before so

yeah you can uh find any of that my

resume is always in my like links in my

bio so perfect i’ll put all those two

again into the show notes in the bio so

if anyone’s listening thank you be able

to reach out and contact you awesome

thank you

so now with this youtube channel you’re

an influencer so maybe tell us two three

influences uh that had an effect on you

whether that’s personal or professional

and as you’ve gone through it you want

to give a shout out to someone that has

had an influence on you i

so i know a lot of people always say

like their mom or dad or like their

family personally like i love them and i

look up to them but they have definitely

not influenced me for vista

like funny enough i think

i mean i’m not like the biggest like i’m

not like still a huge fan of her or

anything not not like in a bad way but

um giada de laurentiis that’s how you

say her name from the food network yeah

i grew up instead of watching like

cartoons i love watching the food

network and i remember every single time

for some reason when i turned on the tv

it was her show so i always ended up

just watching her show and i uh that was

what i wanted to do when i was a kid i

wanted to be a food network star i mean

i i could still want to do that maybe

but um yeah she definitely made me

really want or just like enjoy watching

full cook and not bake so that was

definitely an influence but um everyone

helps me in different ways but for food

wise i would i always she’s always my

go-to answer just because i feel like

she’s what really like influenced me to

want to do this awesome great well as we

come to the end of our chat today before

we wrap up is there any last-minute

advice or guidance that you want to

leave with the listeners something you

want to share whether that be about

going into this as a career or even

going to culinary school or the culinary

institute of america i would say

just really like just listen to your

heart it sounds really cheesy but if you

if you can’t decide if you want to go to

culinary school or not just really sit

down with yourself and just think can i

can i see myself doing this in like 10

years can i see myself being able to put

up with all the stress and everything

like that and if you’re really

passionate about it just do it because

you don’t want to regret it later on you

don’t want to be like my old bench

partner that decided at 70 that she was

going to go to culinary school so i

would just say like if you really want

to do this and you feel so passionate

about it and you love it i would say

just do it because i mean you can always

change your mind like them but um it’s

no i mean it’s a good field to be in

it’s a lot of work and it’s really

stressful but i mean i love it so i mean

i always complain but i still go back to

it every single time right do you think

culinary school is needed or required i

i don’t think so i definitely don’t

think so i know a lot of people that are

super talented one of my good friends uh

sam she started her own business and she

never went to culinary school she just

always had the interest so she was

self-taught and she’s doing really well

right now it definitely it definitely

helps especially if like stuff like fine

dining like i said i never really had

that much of an interest in like doing

that type of like entrepreneur stuff so

i never really would have pushed myself

to learn myself so in that sense i i i

do love i love the skills that uh the

school has taught me and the discipline

so it definitely helps it’s like an

added little bonus but if you’re able to

teach yourself and you’re okay with

doing that then i don’t think it’s

necessary at all experience is key

honestly yeah good yeah so like you said

someone is thinking about doing it do

the research do that due diligence you

don’t get there and then have to drop

out you know make sure this is really

what you want and so you can enjoy that

experience get the most out of it yeah i

think it’s important not to like like

glamorize culinary school too much

either it’s hard and it’s tough and uh

it’s tiring but um it is fun at the same

time but i feel like a lot of people if

you really if you really just need um to

like decide just think of it in a really

really realistic way yeah

i know some of the schools like johnson

and wales they have what they call like

fly-ins where students especially in

high school can come to the campus for

like a week in the summer or weekend and

like kind of test it out and do a trial

run that may be some good advice for

someone that’s kind of on the fence go

test it out kick the tires before oh for

sure i don’t know if cia offered

something like that or you could take it

yeah after um after well they had the

accepted students day where they kind of

just gave you a tour it was pretty brief

but um it actually wasn’t until after i

accepted that i went to something called

green and gold weekend which we stayed

overnight and everything but i’m sure if

you

ask the school be um more than happy to

most culinary schools are pretty social

like public places people love to treat

it like a museum so even just like even

if you’re not interested i’m pretty sure

you’ll be able to uh like ask and

they’ll be okay with it yeah walk around

yeah let’s check it out go for a tour

and stuff maybe sit in on a class and

see what it’s all about before you go

and oh yeah that’d be great

well that’s just about all the time we

have for this episode i want to first

thank you jen for coming on the show

today and sharing your culinary school

story with all of us we really

appreciate your time and your honesty

and your insight on the culinary

institute of america yeah thank you so

much for having me i love being here

great thanks again and i enjoyed our

chat bye bye bye

and the big thanks and appreciation also

goes out to all of you the listeners we

hope you enjoy the show and this episode

you all are a big part of this show so

please let us know what you think your

comments are always welcome and they

help us in making the best show possible

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culinaryschoolstories

gmail.com that’s culinaryschoolstories

gmail.com

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code 207-835-1275

that’s area code 207-835-1275

and if you like the show we have a big

ask of all of you and that is to share

the podcast with everyone you know

and to give us a positive rating and

review on apple podcasts okay until our

next culinary school story take care and

be well bye bye

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member of the food media network

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Story #058 – Jennifer Lee

NAME: Jennifer Lee

CULINARY SCHOOL AFFILIATION: Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, NY

PHOTO:

BIO:

During her later years in high school, Jennifer accepted a position at a bake shop in Mystic Connecticut, where she worked in the front of the house taking orders and assisting customers, eventually becoming a barista, and helping in the kitchen with the baking.

Contact Info / Social Media:

YouTube – Jennifer Lee – YouTube

Email – jenniferlaleebusiness@gmail.com

Instagram – http://www.instagram.com/jenniferlalee

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