If we are meeting for the first time, let me begin by saying I am truly humbled that you follow my comings (cooking) and goings (antics) through your social media platform of choice. Did that sound geeky? It should, I was a tech nerd in a previous lifetime. It’s relevant, I promise.

If you read my backstory [read my backstory here] you know that I was going about life pretty sickly (more on that in another post) until I discovered I have Celiacs along with intolerance to Casein and Soy.  I spent 2 years adjusting my cooking style to fit into a mostly paleo lifestyle, a change that proved to be physically and spiritually transformative. My soul lit on fire as I had the epiphany that I had found my passion.

I threw caution to the wind and decided to make a huge career change, trading in my briefcase for an apron–actually, spatula makes more sense–I traded in my briefcase for a spatula. Who still wears aprons?

To be fair, it wasn’t THAT simple. It took a several months of going into my office and feeling empty despite my success on paper. There may have been tears. Ok, there were tears. Lots of tears.

It wasn’t until I came home one day feeling very sad [read: incredibly depressed and lost] that I threw up a simple wordpress site selling myself as a personal paleo chef and put in my 2 week’s notice the very next day that I started to feel the weight begin to lift.

There is this wonderful quote from The Alchemist that goes “When you truly want something the whole world conspires to help you achieve it”.  If you’ve never read this book, you should. But I digress…

From that point on the “conspiracy” began. Within 3 months I had a full client list. Within 6 months I had a celebrity client list. Today I am cooking for professional athletes and am collaborating with Michael Mina to bring a paleo experience into the fine dining world. Basically my face looks like this all the time:

This path, however, isn’t without pitfalls or mini failures; this isn’t dumb luck or coincidence. Which brings me to why I am here, and what you can expect from me moving forward. After that, you can decide if I am someone that you want to continue to follow.

I am going to be sharing this journey out loud. You’re going to see more than just the dishes I make my clients; you are going to see me.

Food has always been emotional for me; it’s a vessel that allows me to connect with another person. Whether I was pitching a big client, or when I was a counselor, or simply getting to know a new person, I always invited them over to cook dinner.

That time in preparing a meal is very intimate and the connection is long lasting.

So to better connect with you, I’m re-developing  my website so I can bring you more of what you’ve been asking for on Facebook/Instagram. (I told you the former life as a tech nerd would be relevant!) The new design will allow me to bring you more recipes, more cooking videos, more about how I got to this point and, of course, what’s happening next.

To be honest, I believe sharing all this is actually the only way I can really continue on this path and be successful, to be fully transparent about what it takes to start over from scratch and fulfill a passion.

I am chuckling just a bit about this post as I am not always this serious. In fact, I live in a state of perpetual snarkiness so you can expect a lot of that too, I have a very “Shut Up and Eat Clean” mantra when it comes to my approach on food.

Today, I am wrapping up a BIG move from San Francisco to Los Angeles to work on 2 incredible projects. I’m teaming up with some extraordinary people [some that you might know of] who share the same #JERF [Just Eat Real Food] mission.

If you and I are parting ways after this post, I totally understand. Feelings, honesty and motivation cause some people to break out in hives. Awesome isn’t for everyone.  (I warned you, snarky.)

If we are taking this relationship to the next level and you want to receive recipes, updates, and word on events or the upcoming ebooks you should sign up for my email list here. The newsletters will start to go out in the middle of July when the new website is up and running.

If that is too much too soon, we can keep it casual through Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Beyond that, I also want to express gratitude to many of you who have sent me messages thanking me for sharing my human side. That is the most surprising part for me: the outstanding support this community offers someone like me. Seriously, Thank You!

Ok, on to moving, literally, I have to move some boxes downstairs now.

In the future I promise that posts won’t be this long. Ain’t nobody got time for that!

Feed ya later!
Mary, The Paleo Chef