— Rebecca Williams

I don't know where you live, but here would be my recommendations that where you start is not where you will finish. By that I mean, getting some practical hands on kitchen experience is great. And I think that going to a reputable catering company might be a very good way to go. I have a lot of friends who have owned catering businesses, and they're always telling me how surprised they are with the increase in requests for foods that are plant-based or vegan. So catering is one way to go. There are many, many vegan restaurants. And I was, when I was thinking about this question, Rebecca, it made me think of, uh, many, many years ago when I was in undergraduate school and it was time for me to do my practicum, and our professor said that we had to find our practicum on our own. And I handwrote a letter to the director of the most prestigious hospital in the Philadelphia region saying that I was an undergraduate student in public health and here's what I enjoy doing. And I told her what my GPA was. Um, and she had me come in for an interview, and then I did my whole semester practicum with her, and then she offered me a job when I graduated. So I think a nice letter to anybody who you follow on social media to anybody whose food you love, as long as they get to see your passion for, uh, the plant-based foods that are important in everybody's diet, I think that is a great way to go. And I also was thinking about this because when I finished Rouxbe, I had a friend who owned a vegan restaurant at the time, and I went to him and said, so I really wanna learn how to work the back of the house. I'll wash dishes, et cetera, et cetera. And he said, well, we could put up pop-up dinners together. And this is before Pop-ups were pop. So I did that with him for, oh, maybe about two years. So just follow your passion, follow your heart, have a good resume, and, um, keep up on your social media because I have also seen many, many people get jobs that way.