03/26/2026
Life is so fast you have to be extremely intentional about relishing in and reflecting on the moments you prayed for coming to fruition.
Last week, FoodService Director held its 2026 Big Ten Conference Chefs Immersion at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
I had the esteemed pleasure of serving as a photographer for one of the highlights of this event, the Culinary Exchange. During this time, the chefs split up into teams and prepare dishes using products from the event’s culinary sponsors, Custom Culinary, Irresistible Food Group, J.T.M. Food Group, Mountaire Farms, Simplot and 50CUT, and pantry sponsors, Rastelli’s, Hormel Foods, and Lactalis.
My main priority was to take pictures of the globally inspired Hero Plates. These are all the plated dishes that will serve as visual examples for the recipes that will be placed in an online database for universities across the country to use.
I want to give a special thanks to Carrie Anderson who recommended lil ole’ me to complete this task. Monique Monaco and her team at Informa for trusting me to do my job and my buddy Jedi Kim for all of his help and guidance during my prep for this event and the Illinois Housing staff.
In 2025, I spoke out loud that I wanted an opportunity to do food photography, I even thought about setting something up, but never actually did so. I had no idea not even a year later I would be playing such an integral part in a nationwide annual event.
Admittedly, I was anxious leading up to the day. But when my fear threatens to cripple me, I hear, “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called”, and I lock in because He has shown me that time and time again!! The formula to Favor is FAITH.
Capturing this colorful experience with ISR as the backdrop was really the cherry on top to my experience. I know I’ve said alot but I feel like none of these words really explain how BLESSED I really feel. I be walking on tippy toes with excitement on what has unfolded in my life and what’s in store.
If you made it this far, God bless you 😂 I just cannot truly put a limit on my testimonies.