As the Associate Director of Culinary Arts & Nutrition I oversee all things food at the Gary Comer Youth Center (GCYC). Our department offers a daily free meal service to all of our members and community participants, we run after school enrichment programming for 8 to 18 year olds, offer teen and young adult employment for folks aged 16 to 24, and also run and operate an events catering business.

I've worked at GCYC for 3 years and took a winding road to where I am today. My initial interest in food and nutrition began as a collegiate athlete. I graduated from UC Berkeley in 2013 with a degree in Art and Education and then spent 2 years abroad playing water polo professionally. Upon returning home to the San Francisco Bay Area, I decided to go to culinary school and began working in restaurants. Making the move to Chicago in 2016, allowed me to work in one of the most robust culinary scenes in the US and eventually led me to GCYC where I could bring all of my interests and skills together.