I love cooking! I love seeing my family and friends comforted by my cooking. The biggest compliment is when they ask for seconds. I’ve been cooking as long as I can remember. By age 9, I was cooking entire meals…from fried chicken with smothered potatoes and collard greens to homemade pancakes, waffles, and biscuits.

Growing up I spent a lot of time with my grandparents and remember watching my grandmother, Big Mama prepare meals for our entire family. Basically, she taught me everything I know, and it's her recipes that I will be using at Molly’s Soulful Café.

When she passed away in 2002, I took the lead in preparing family dinners, and seeing how much my family enjoyed the meals I realized just how well I could cook. They constantly told me my cooking reminded them of Big Mama’s and that I should open up my own restaurant so they could have the food all year long. I loved the idea…I just knew I wasn’t moving back to Chicago, so I put the idea on the back burner. However, my passion for cooking has not waned. This is why I’ve decided to pursue my dream of opening up Molly’s Soulful Café.