A little more about me…

Born to immigrant parents, both raised and worked on the family farm with a close up view and understanding of where our food comes from and how it comes to be, from seed to table.  We didn’t know it as kids but they gave us a great education in food, and in life. We had a vegetable garden where we could easily see how things grew. We had to help shell beans, make tomato puree for sauce, jams from strawberries or peaches.  We saw chickens being killed and sausages being made. There were no illusions of where our food came from.  

After high school I went off to chef school. First in cuisine cooking but eventually switched to pastry and became a certified pastry chef.  I was fortunate to have studied under a great man who lived long before I did and would tell me about his apprenticeship where they had to make their own, well everything, for the pastry shop.  There were no bakery ingredient suppliers in those day. If you needed a fruit filling, you had to clean fruit and make it yourself. There was no bag, box or can you could open. They took basic raw ingredients and made everything from scratch. This was just an extension of the education I had at home, re-enforcing the importance of good quality, fresh food.

From there I went off to work for an ingredient manufacturer and that was quite a different education.  I was lucky enough to work with some very skilled food scientists and learned a lot about how our food is made, why they use certain ingredients and why they add preservatives and other additives to processed foods.  This explains why we refer to manufactured foods as formulated and home cooked food is created using recipes. These are two very different things. 

These experiences are actually in part the reason I turned to holistic nutrition.  Getting a closer look at how our food is made and how the use of chemicals, preservatives and additives are utilized not to increase the quality of the foods manufactured but to increase such things as shelf life, appearance, taste and/or texture and unfortunately, the addictiveness of these products.  All this has been done without the consideration of how it can affect the health of our bodies especially if consumed on a regular basis for long periods of time. Basically, if a manufactured food product doesn’t kill you instantly it is regarded as “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) for consumption. I have seen the food industry for what it truly is and for what we need it to be for us to live well and truly thrive.

A whole-istic view of our health is what I believe should form the solid foundation from where we may be able to transform our health and our lives. Create balance for ourselves. Our health cannot be compartmentalized.  There is no separation. The whole is greater than the one. All the pieces we need to keep us healthy and happy need to come together. We need to dig into our past and bring forward all the things we’ve forgotten…all those things our grandparents and great-grandparents knew instinctively or learned because the time was taken to pass this vital information down from one generation to the next.  For me, this is my mother’s voice in my head constantly reminding me. This is what I intend to pass onto you…if you’ll allow me.

For more on My Story…

My Credentials

Certified Holistic Nutritionist, CNP - After years of speaking with many people about their health challenges, I learned how to find my way to the core issues of their health concerns.  Asking the right questions, sometimes seemingly odd questions, to find that one little detail that will allow me to discover exactly what they need to help them.

Certified Pastry Chef - I had the privilege of working with a wonderful man and great pastry chef how showed me the techniques and skills I would need for a lifetime, both in the pastry shop and out in the world. 

Home Cook – I take the skills I’ve learned from the pros I’ve worked with, add them to the old world ways that I’ve learned from one of the best cooks I’ve ever known, my mother, to create a new world way of cooking, one that is uncomplicated, healthy, easy to follow and delicious.

Novice Gardener – Still in training under my expert mother who grew up on a sprawling farm in Southern Italy. Gardening is more than just putting a plant in the ground and adding water. My mother is teaching me all the nuances of working with Mother Earth and how to follow your intuition and your heart.

Product Development Associate - Lending tangible, real world experience to food developers when creating new food products from concept to final production and reminding them to stay as close to nature as possible.

Sales Professional – I never really felt like I was selling anything. I always felt like a facilitator, building relationships by learning to understand the needs of my customers. I was creating relationships that were mutually beneficial. It’s not about selling everything to everyone. It’s about the fit. If it works for all involved, relationships strengthen through trust and bonds are harder to break.