Purpose Lab Resources

"It's funny, I'm like, I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse that when the going gets tough, I'm like, I'm just going to figure it out. People always tell me, you're crazy. I'll write another cookbook, or I launched this online cooking school during the pandemic because I was like, well, people still want to learn how to cook. It totally came through for me when I needed it."

"I always loved to eat. I mean, from the time I could talk, I was always talking about food. In high school and college, I really took to cooking, and then I realized that no matter who you're cooking for, they appreciate it, and you can show love through it. I forget that the thing I probably enjoy most about it is how you can affect other people through it. Everybody loves food, and to talk about food or to be given that gift, I get so much satisfaction out of people finding joy in what I do."

"The best part about growing older is that I'm more locked into it. I know it's there, and when I steer away from it, when I get away from it, my body tells me immediately, like you are not on track anymore. I can make decisions based on my gut around this, and anytime I'm like, what is really making me happy, it always comes back to this. It comes back to serving others in this way. Anytime I do something just because someone's like, oh, it's going to pay really well, I know. The more you listen to yourself, the easier it becomes to stay in it."

"I've never had a big ego around what I do, but I do believe we all show up as ourselves. No one is like me, no one is like you, no one can do it exactly like I do. I don't really worry about competition in what I do. I've always been able to understand that I'm not competing against anybody except myself, and that's really helped give me the courage to be like, if somebody's hiring me, it's because they want me."

"It's amazing to me that it never felt calculated. I just kept saying yes to the things that felt right to me, truly on a gut level. That thing that everybody thought was a bad idea for me was actually the best place to start. My parents were like, what are you doing? You're going to work in a retail store. But it turned out to be the most amazing training. I was running a $25 million store at age 22. By saying yes every time I was asked to do something for my externship, I ended up testing recipes for a cookbook for the owner of the cooking school, 200 recipes in six weeks. It was completely insane, but that led to her calling a really well-known food writer. Everything just kept going."

"It's super scary to have the courage to always follow it. There were a couple of times when I was making really decent money, great benefits, and things like that, but it no longer felt like the right thing to do. Even when I was going to quit to go to cooking school, I had just been promoted, and everybody thought this was amazing, but it wasn't part of what I really wanted to do. When I left Williams Sonoma, people thought I was crazy because I had just been promoted to VP, had all the amazing benefits, and here I've got two young children to support. But I was like, this is, I can't be all things to all people, and I'm going to figure this out. It's so crazy that the universe kind of shows up for you if you believe enough in yourself."

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"From the time I could talk, I was always talking about food. Cooking, and then I realized that no matter who you're cooking for, they appreciate it, and you can show love through it. Whether it was somebody that I knew, a member of my family, or someone in the community, it just became this thing that gave me such a good feeling. It is in my heart and soul. It's just the thing that lights me up. Every single step I took has helped lead to where I am today. Every time I said yes to something, I just kept asking, is it around food? Does it feel like the right decision for me? I know it's my purpose because I light up when other people light up from it. The more you listen to yourself, the easier it becomes to stay in it."