“I came to the US as a classical ballet dancer, but I needed a second job as well to pay the bills and stumbled into this job. I feel comfortable in this job and I’ve fallen in love with cooking while working – before this job, I didn’t know what it was like working in professional kitchens or what the job was like; being here has sort of opened my eyes to it all and I’m amazed by everything, I really like it.

Philosophically, I believe that in life much like in ballet, nothing is impossible to achieve if you work hard and aim for your goals while always moving forward. Ballet and the kitchen also have one thing in common, in ballet you need to transmit emotion to the public through your dance routine, and in the kitchen, you have to do the same thing through the flavors, they’re both conveying emotion through different art mediums.

In the end, both cooking and ballet are tough, and they will leave you with some scars, but it’s all worth it for the artistic expression.”