Chef Ces is proof that you can have your cake and eat it too. Chef Ces is a single mother, who works full-time as a store manager, and runs a successful private catering business. She is proof that you can have it all. Being a professional chef was never on her radar. She had sights on becoming a fashion designer, but cooking was in her genes and could no longer be subdued. Cesily was looking to earn some extra money. After a conversation with a cousin mentioning that his girlfriend couldn’t find any vegan desserts, she said to herself, “I could do that!” So, she began doing small bite-sized sweets, then savory treats. Then, she started to attend festivals to show off her brand.

“I coined the term ‘1Bite’; that’s my original business name. The whole thought process was love at first bite. The first bite you get, you’re just going to fall in love with the brand. It just turned into something wonderful.” She spent countless hours in the kitchen watching her dad, a classically trained chef, work. “I saw how to cook, the techniques, what it looks like, and the camaraderie in the kitchen. I had no idea I was passionate about any of that, but I remember all of it, even the love that I put into my food—I learned that by seeing how passionate my family is about the art of cooking and the taste and flavors—that came from them.”

Cesily was in survival mode when the pandemic hit. “She was crying one day (her seven-year-old daughter Charlie), and I was crying one day. None of us were used to being at home with our kids eight hours a day and knew how to be a teacher, a principal, and the lunch lady. I needed some balance in my life.” After being furloughed from her job, she called up her long-time chef friend, Christina, and told her about developing her own menu. Christina offered her space in her commercial kitchen. From March 2020 to July 2020, she put out a unique menu every Thursday through Sunday. She attributes her work ethic to her mother, a nurse. Chef Ces essentially created a ghost kitchen— that wasn’t the term for it yet. It was all online. “Customers could pull up the menu on Instagram. I had a square account where they could order their food, then choose a pickup time or delivery time.” Her growing success was evident as her followers increased. “I created this ecosystem and community that fell in love with not just the brand but everything I stood for. It was a great feeling to make people smile through food. That’s my ultimate goal, and at that moment, I knew I had a gift.”

In 2021, she was booked every weekend for brunches, weddings, and private dinners. Her specialty is a mix of Asian and Caribbean cuisine. Oxtail fried rice and jerk chicken with fried rice are the favorite items on her menu. Blending spices from her many trips to Jamaica with Asian side dishes is her main focus. Customers can request anything they like, and Chef Ces is up for the challenge. She just returned from a trip to Morocco with suitcases full of spices that she intends on making into her own blends to sell. By the end of the year, she hopes to have a cookbook published as well.

“It’s not too late to start living your purpose.” That’s one of the messages Chef Ces lives by. “Women can have it all, and we’re constantly told we have to choose. We have to be a wife or can’t have kids if you want a career or want to travel the world. People put so many different parameters over us, and I am a firm believer that you can literally do anything and everything that you want to do because how can you be an effective parent if you’re not pouring into yourself and doing what you love and showing your children that they can do the same thing.”