Today we’d like to introduce you to Camille Bernardi
Hi camille, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up in a family full of cooks and bakers. Every reunion or party, my family has the grill lit, the kitchen full of people running around and the smell of so much delicious food. Food always brought us together.
The main reason I became a chef was because my dad was a chef. He had his own restaurant in The Valley called La Forchetta. Unfortunately he closed it but that’s when he started to make his famous pizzas to sell to some of the best Argentinian restaurants in Los Angeles. I was 5 years old helping him mix and shape the pizzas. He would always give me a little extra piece of dough so I can do it myself.
We then moved to Miami to reopen my dad’s restaurant called La Forchetta D’Angelo in Coral Gables. I was 7 years old. I remember loving when he gave me the chance to help in the kitchen. I would make my own little pizzas and pass them around and I remember feeling so happy. I understood why everyone enjoyed cooking.
Unfortunately my dad passed away shortly after and we had to close down the restaurant.
As I started to get older, I found myself trying to learn how to cook. I would cook for all my friends, for teachers, and neighbors. I did culinary classes in high school, competed in a culinary competition and got 1st place and then with the help of my teacher Mr. Greenberg, I got into Johnson and Wales University.
4 years later I graduated with a Bachelors in science in Culinary and Foodservice Management. During those 4 years, I worked in a few restaurants but noticed I wasn’t enjoying it. I didn’t like the repetition and the fact that I couldn’t be creative.
I slowly learned a bit more about private chefs and thought it sounded like fun. I put “Private Chef” on my instagram bio, started taking pictures of my food and practicing plating, started cooking for friends and that’s when I started doing small events.
I worked with a few other chefs, learned so much about doing events, got to work on yachts, in mansions, around amazing people. It was a dream. Best part of all, I got to be creative. I got to be face to face and talk to people and see their smiles when they would eat the food.
Then the pandemic hit. Everything stopped. I realized I always wanted to go back to Los Angeles, so within 3 weeks, I sold what I could, got a trailer with all my culinary equipment and books, my clothes and decided to travel across the country with my cousin and my cat.
When I got to LA, I had to start from zero. I had all my family still here but I didn’t have my clients. I started promoting on instagram and slowly started getting more clients and people reaching out.
I’ve always been one to write what I want and who I wanted to cook for. Shortly after I moved, many youtubers and celebrities that I wanted to cook for started reaching out to me. I would cry everytime I got a new client that I had written down. I couldn’t believe it. They each started recommending more people and I built my new business in LA.
Now I am doing what I love, what makes me happy and what helps me make others happy and bring them together.
I couldn’t have done it without the support from my incredible mom, godmother, and the rest of my family for constantly inspiring and teaching me.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road has definitely not been smooth.
Being a private chef is an incredibly competitive job. It’s also a job that requires you to be there whether you have employees or not. I enjoy cooking myself for my clients, but there is only so much you can do yourself.
Food prices increased which also made it very hard when having to raise prices of food and service so much.
There’s a lot I’ve done and learned from and believe that everything you go through teaches you something and makes you the person you are so I wouldn’t take back any tears or worries. Instead I use it as motivation to do better.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a Private chef in Los Angeles. I do daily home cooking, small events, and meal preps.
I love cooking food from around the world and always add my own little twist to it. I am also starting to work on cooking videos and cookbook and I am so excited for that.
I am proud to say that I love my job and I put my all into everything I do.
I am also happy that I’ve manifested cooking for some of my favorite people that I always wanted to cook for and now have even become friends with some of them.
Every chef is unique, every chef has their flavors. What sets me apart is I am passionate about what I do and I’ve been told it shows in the food.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Being able to make others happy makes me happy.
I believe love and kindness brings so much happiness.
Adventure and creativity, working to accomplish goals and dreams, that all makes me so happy.
I believe one can do anything they want as long and they believe, write it, envision it, and put their all into it.
Life is great, so do everything you’ve always wanted to do.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ChefCamilleBernardi.com
- Instagram: @chefbernardi
- Youtube: @chefbernardi
- Other: TikTok- @chefbernardi
