I decided at the ripe age of ten years old that I wanted to open a restaurant, amply naming it the Sleepy Turtle. Raised in the Sunshine State, my father and I used to travel to the beach in the springtime to watch the turtles hatch in his VW van. We were always told to never interfere with the process because those turtles had to break out of that shell on their own to gain that endurance to stay with them for the rest of their lives. Once making it through the shell, they begin the scary trek down to the water to follow the exact current their mom had taken so many months prior to find the rest of the turtles in their line, finding their true God-given potential.
I took advantage of living in the most visited state in the US by studying Hospitality Management in Orlando, Florida where I learned everything I needed to know about opening my own restaurant. I got my first job when I was 18 as a sauté cook in Yellowstone National Park where I fell in love with the fast pace of the restaurant industry and the challenging management of the back of house.
The following semester, I participated in a study abroad program out of Vienna, Austria where I fell in love with the café culture. Vienna having the most cafés per capita over in any other European country allowed me to venture to many different cafés all over the city for “research”.
When I came back to the States, I begin an internship as an Event Coordinator for Visit Orlando where I met the Regional Manager for Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Two weeks after graduation, I started managing the 32-million-dollar store on Universal Orlando’s City Walk. Over the next three years I managed over 150 employees both front and back of house at age 21.
In the Spring of 2018, my brother graduated with his Doctorate in Chiropractic. He asked me if I would trade my chef coat in for scrubs and move to Colorado to help him open his dream practice. So off to the mountains I went!
Graduating with my Hospitality Management degree, I learned all the theoretical knowledge of how to open a business. It wasn’t until working side by side with my brother as he opened his practice, I was able to learn everything I needed to know about how to RUN a successful business.
Spring 2020, I, along with many other people, finally realized I had to wake up from my slumber and begin running full speed toward my dream.
October 2020, I began my venture by purchasing a 1974 VW bus out of Folsom, California. I took that opportunity to road trip to California, bring my VW back home to begin renovations on my mobile coffee shop!
