“I do everything– I’m being serious. I do everything here. It goes from marketing to supervising to administrative work. I have multiple hats that I carry. If there is a call out, I jump in, and I assist in all the stations. I am a chef as well. I went to this food fair. I think you guys have a convention center here, but in New York we had this big one called Jacob Javits Center. I went there when I was in my freshman year of culinary school, and my chef was like, ‘you’re trying everything, Jennie.’ I was like, ‘what if I’m allergic?’ He said, ‘gotta try everything.’ So I was like, ‘okay, chef.’ So I went there, and there was a mystery sign with meatballs. I hate mystery signs. It could be chicken, it could be beef, it could be fish. It’s ground, so definitely not fish. I don’t know if it was turkey, chicken, or pork. If it was chicken, it would be a little lighter, so that’s not chicken. It’s either beef or turkey. Those are my two chances, I’m taking it. So I took it, and I was eating it, and it tasted like chicken. It’s not chicken. They were like, ‘it’s alligator’… It’s gator. The whole moral of the story is: at least you tried it, so that you know what it tastes like. I’ve always been a big person who didn’t try things. You never know what it tastes like until you try it.”
“Before coming into Baltimore, before doing Marriott or Tillary, I was a private chef for a celebrity. I don’t wanna say the celebrity’s name. I was working with him for two and a half years. He’s a movie star, comedian, singer. I really loved working with him. I worked for Mr. Washington. There’s only one Mr. Washington. He doesn’t take any crap. I never had that experience with him because he’s like, ‘hey, Jennie’s my go-to person. She gets it done.’ I had no problem. I met a lot of celebrities: Busta Rhymes; I met Sunny [Hostin], the commentator; P. Diddy, his sons; Cicely Tyson; I’ve met LL Cool J, Jay-Z, Drake, Chris Brown, Will Smith, Willow Smith, Oprah.”
“I went to culinary school, graduated, then I went and got my master’s for finance and entrepreneurship. I do virtual cooking classes– mostly on Zoom– teaching families or individuals how to make a delicious three-component meal between 30 minutes to an hour. I do everything that’s budget friendly. It tastes good, it looks really good, but it’s not expensive. That’s my whole thing.”
“That chef hat never comes off. I wish it does, but it never comes off. I have two little ones; I have to cook for them all the time, and I’m just so used to cooking.”
