— Melissa Bryant

That's, uh, you know, really pertinent, especially for Rouxbe grads and every, anybody working in this sphere that wants to, uh, have an impact on their communities. Um, I guess I would say it really depends where you live and the kind of community that you work in. I'm here in Connecticut, really chilly Connecticut today, I might say. And, um, and, you know, Connecticut is peppered with a couple of cities, but mostly we're small towns. And so what I have found, well, maybe this applies even, even to bigger cities, it is, it's really a question of networking, getting to know the people in your area and getting your, your name about, um, when you hang out your shingle and begin to want to start cooking, you know, get certified. It depends what it is that you wanna do, but whether it's, it's through Rouxbe and cooking, uh, classes. Um, and if you wanna do that work in your community, or if you are working with clients with lifestyle changes for health or for the environment or for any other purpose or even environment, uh, employee wellness programs that, uh, I've done as well. You know, it's, um, you know, the, there are different programs, whether it's the t Colin Campbell program with Plant-Based Nutrition certification or Neil Barnards Food for Life training, or, you know, there's so many wonderful opportunities in in the whole food plant-based world. If, if that's, uh, what you're, you know, what you're interested in as well. And that's helpful just to broaden your background and to lend credibility to what you do. And then start, start with, um, you know, giving a talk, uh, things for free in, in the library or in in local churches or schools or, you know, see what's available, the local Y or, you know, parks and rec, you know, depends, depends what you have in your, in your neighborhood so that people come to see you, um, know what you're about, know what you offer. Um, there may be, um, uh, programs to do a cooking series if you wanna do cooking classes. Um, doing, you know, I'm, it, it, it, since C-O-V-I-I, I haven't been doing quite as many. Um, uh, I used to do regular cooking classes, even with the permission of the health department in my town out of my kitchen. I don't do that right now. Um, but I work with our visiting nurses association with a cooking series that I'm gonna be doing for them. And, you know, there are, there are opportunities all over. Once you start, uh, building a name for yourself and a reputation, and then, you know, people, word of mouth and treating people right and helping them is, is just takes on a life of its own. And that's how you can grow, uh, you know, your business. Those are wonderful, wonderful responses and some very good seeds for planting a business or a career or, you know, when I was a student at Rouxbe, I never thought that it would be become the trajectory for a new sort of career for myself. But that's what happened. And what a great thing.