Today we’d like to introduce you to Pamela Nears.
Pamela, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve always had a passion for learning about food, cooking it, and growing it. It starts with the Suzy Home Bake Oven and a family of home cooks from the south and you can’t help but love the inspiration. Born and raised in Southern California, food was a family affair. Mother being from the south, all were welcomed to the table and it was a place of connection.
Storytelling and sharing were part of the experience. In grade school, there were cooking classes connected to a teacher’s travels so again opening a new avenue of experiences taught me about cultural diversity. Wanted to go to culinary school, but the university degree was thought to hold more value and open more doors as far as a career was concerned. Once in Corporate America, I would experience great positions, and yet the food was always a calling. My outside interests in food kept me at arm’s length from diving in 100%. A company that I was working for laid off 80% of the department, including myself, I decided I would step through the door that was opening and pursue my passions for food and never looked back. There’s so much more to food than being a chef in a restaurant and I recognized this by working and apprenticing at food places of interest that taught me about a craft or artisanal way of creating. I’ve done local and international travel to learn about how to grow food, share & eat healthy real foods, and how it’s important for communities to thrive in a social justice context. Research and development have and is my true love. So much good happening to bring awareness to food and I’m excited about sharing it.
Has it been a smooth road?
It’s been a pendulum, taking the good with the bad….and the bad not being so bad. You learn from your mistakes and never know why you are at a certain place until some great unknown mystery reveals itself to you. The biggest struggle might be me…really valuing the knowledge that I have to share and how much more I can learn.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Pamela Nears a.k.a. The Small Kitchen Chef story. Tell us more about the business.
I’m a consultant. My job is to step into a role and do it well with efficiency & a sense of expertise. R & D to cheffing for various types of culinary set-ups. Seeing where the client might have a hole and help fulfill their needs. Being a team player and leader if needed. Lending my experience and knowledge on a particular subject is key.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
As we remain more connected, there will be more people like me helping various communities understand how to translate real and delicious foods as it brings more people together. Understanding how to feed one another in a wholistic way through true regenerative systems.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 3102595473
- Email: [email protected]
Image Credit:
Mud Baron
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