The Podgress Report

04 | Recipe for Reinvention: Chef Lisa Brooks' Journey from Burnout to Thriving

• Jen Phillips • Season 1 • Episode 4

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In this Success Report edition of The Podgress Report, host Jen Phillips welcomes the inspiring  Chef Lisa Brooks, CEO of Heart and Soul Personal Chef Service and the Personal Chef Academy. 

From battling intense anxiety and workplace burnout and leaving her high-stress job in IT to becoming a successful entrepreneur and CEO, Chef Lisa shares her journey of discovering her true calling in culinary arts. 

Learn how she recovered from chronic anxiety and went on to build a thriving business helping clients celebrate life's moments through food, and is now coaching others like her to do the same…using her proven playbook.

This episode is packed with insights on finding joy, taking courageous steps, and harnessing your professional superpowers. Despite some sound quality issues, this conversation is too motivating to miss. Tune in for an uplifting and empowering story!

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 [00:00:00] 

Welcome | A Success Report Edition 

Jen Phillips: Earlier this year, I left my job due to burnout. The very next week I did a very unlike me thing and booked a stay at an Ayurvedic wellness retreat. It was a jumpstart to begin my recovery. One of the magical features of this retreat were the guests, each of them interesting in their own right, but it's today's guest on the podcast report who immediately spoke to my soul and sparked creativity, hope and excitement. And as I've gotten to know her, I realized that's just her normal effect on people. She joins us today to share her journey moving from intense anxiety in a nine to five, that was anything but to becoming an energetic, successful entrepreneur

A NOTE: we do experience a bit of sound quality trouble in this issue, but it's too good of a conversation to hold back.

I'll keep working to improve our tech. And until then, don't let it stop you from progressing. 

This is the Podgress Report, and I'm Jen Phillips.. 

Chef Lisa Brooks

Jen Phillips: [00:01:00] if you are experiencing burnout or you don't know the rightest next step in your career, you are not alone. If you've listened to any of my recent content, you know that between 60 and 80 percent of us workers complain of burnout. And today we have someone with us, an incredible guest who not only has been in your shoes where you are right now, but also can give us an inspiration and share with us a little bit of a light on how to go from that to this. To owning your own successful business welcome Chef Lisa Brooks.

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yay.

Jen Phillips: Hi, Chef. I want to tell you that Chef Lisa Brooks, if you don't know her, first of all, she's a bit of a phenom. She has been featured in many media outlets and across many platforms from Forbes [00:02:00] and Ebony and the Women's Business Journal to being an author.

The CEO of her own company kind of a master of Tik TOK. She's the 2022 Charlottean of the year. And 2022 is a big year for you as well, because you were a finalist on a historic black history month edition of Chopped 

Chef Lisa Brooks: yeah.

Jen Phillips: done so much more, but wow, thank you for being here.

Chef Lisa Brooks: Thank you for having me. This is exciting.

How I Met Lisa, My Divine Intervention

Jen Phillips: I also want to say, and I've told you this but I want to just say it for the record. I met Chef Lisa Brooks the week after I had left my own job, and I was in a moment of what the flip did I just do and you'll hear Chef Lisa talk about her own divine intervention, but I want to tell you, Chef Lisa Brooks, [00:03:00] you, I believe are my divine intervention.

I was really in a moment where I wasn't quite sure that I'd done the right thing. And then you walked in and told me the story of you that you're about to tell and I realized, Oh no. There's a million different ways to have a successful, happy life. And you're absolutely proof of that.

So thank you.

Chef Lisa Brooks: Well, thank you for, for just that out because, you know, we as women particularly, I mean, we, just, suffer so much from that second guessing and self doubt and imposter syndrome, and so even at every stage of, with all the things that you just mentioned, all the things I've accomplished, right.

You still always have that kind of, at least I do with my personality, that sense of, am I, you know, impactful? Am I living in my purpose? And so for you to say such kind things and say that I had that impact you, just to know that it just continues to confirm for me that I am [00:04:00] absolutely doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing.

I'm walking exactly in the path I'm supposed to walk into and the part of that purpose is the fact that other women will see me, hear my story here directly from me or hear it, secondhand and be inspired to live the walk boldly into the next chapter of their lives. And so I don't take that for granted at all.

Jen Phillips: Well you got it exactly right. That's exactly the feeling I had when I met you. I'm emotional hearing you say that because yes, women need to see that example and you are setting that example. 

Chef Lisa's Origin Story (It Starts With Burnout) 

Jen Phillips: But before we get into the example you set today. Let's go back to where this whole journey for you really started.

Let's go back. What is it? 

Chef Lisa Brooks: 14 years, 14 years.

Jen Phillips: years.

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yep. 14 years since I walked away from the rat race, if you will. I was in an IT [00:05:00] and in a IT company healthcare software systems. And I managed technical support call centers

and I worked there for 18 years and had worked my way up in the company. In fact, I was a single mom. And. Although I'd gone to undergrad and at UNC and I had, you know, three years under my belt, then I got married and had my son. And, you know, with the full intention though, mom, I'm going to finish school.

 But I did it. So I didn't have the degree and so the work while you're up in this company and to have. At that time, this is 2010 to have, over six figures salary at that point for an African American woman of color, single mom, it just something you don't take lightly to walk away from that, you know, and people were scared for me and no less than a dozen people tried to talk me out of leaving. Before the leaving, I want to just talk about what I was experiencing[00:06:00] 

Jen Phillips: Yes.

Chef Lisa Brooks: body was telling me my body was telling me and I mean, the stress was literally killing me. So I was having migraines. experiencing, probably for four years leading up to this, but like for four years, I'd have insomnia and I was taking Ambien, to go to sleep and then drinking energy drinksand coffee to like wake up every day.

I had to take something to wake up, take something to go to sleep. And then I started, then I had a panic attack. This is January 28th, 2007.

Jen Phillips: Wow.

Chef Lisa Brooks: attack and I never knew what a panic attack was before that day. And I thought I was going to die. I thought I was having a heart attack.

 Seriously. Like it changed everything because like it. That was the scariest thing I'd ever experienced. I literally thought I was going to die. And I kept thinking that, I mean, it wasn't just the one time. The one time was the, the worst time, but I couldn't believe there was nothing wrong with me.

They told me I had a panic attack and I was like, no, there's no way. You got to check everything. You know, I had to have a heart [00:07:00] attack or it was a stroke or it was something. I just couldn't believe it was just stress induced,

Jen Phillips: Right.

Chef Lisa Brooks: But after about three to four months of like fighting and thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills from calling 9 1 1 almost every day, I ended up having to take disability for six months, because I couldn't leave the house. I couldn't drive my car. I couldn't even go to the post office. I was becoming a recluse out of the fear of another panic attack. and so that was a, that's, that started a long journey with the panic and anxiety, 

but it's also the start of the wake up call of, yeah, I can't keep doing this, the stress of the job, 

and the fact that I could never turn off. was not allowed to turn off, always on call, always a phone call away. When we first started out, we had pagers, that's how old I am. 

But always on call, always able to be reached by my employees, always accessible to my superiors, to the [00:08:00] directors, to the VP, always. Never on vacation. It's expected that you answer your email. It's expected that you, you know, chime into an important conference call even if you're on vacation. And so never being able to turn that off and just realize that I'm given all of myself to this company. And even though it was the lie that we were told is that that was security.

Jen Phillips: Right.

Chef Lisa Brooks: But in all honesty, there was nothing secure about it. you know, layoffs happened like every quarter in that world. It was just a false sense of security. 

I Thought it Would Kill Me & I Kept Thinking That

Jen Phillips: Well, you said something, you said I thought it would kill me and I kept thinking that. 

So while you're walking around thinking daily, Hey, I think this is killing me. You also had on the other side of your mind and there is no security here. So the false sense of [00:09:00] security that we try and hold is really, not, Not reality based thinking so okay, so let me ask you this. Why didn't you leave earlier? It sounds like you suffered for a long time. What stopped you from leaving? Okay.

The Process Of Leaving

Chef Lisa Brooks: so it was a process. There was an entire process that had to happen from the inside out. It was like a

Jen Phillips: Okay.

Chef Lisa Brooks: in a sense around my heart, around my false beliefs, my limiting beliefs, those things had to be kind of cut away. 

And. Let me say I'm a preacher's kid. I grew up in church. And when I was 18 years old, I said I was never going to go to church ever again in my life. So, I had a relationship with God. I knew God from the time I was a little girl, but the whole organized church thing, I was like, yeah, I don't know about this. Right. but this of time in my life. I was so, it kind of brought me back into a place where, okay, I need to, like, I really need your [00:10:00] help, God, with this whole thing and help me understand what is it I'm supposed to do.

Like I'm at my wit's end. I've reached the end of myself and my ability to reason this out, to problem solve it, you know, I don't know what to do. Everything that was before me, it seemed as if it would be crazy to walk away. And any person would have told me that it was crazy.

I thought it was, know, I just didn't even know what I could do. 

So in the time between 2007 and 2010, when I actually left it, there was just a process of coming to grips with all of these things. I was in therapy. From after the panic attack and all went into therapy. So just talking through this feeling, like, why do I, why am I having these feelings that I need to be this performer for everyone? I need to be super woman. I like my employees are depending on me. Like. they don't, fine. They're going to be fine, but I had to go through a process and, and [00:11:00] therapy.

It took me a while. And then in, in church actually went back into a church, of course, a way more modern, church than I've grown up in and then really access some power there and some was able to attack it from a spiritual standpoint, from a you know, just from a, like therapy standpoint and emotional wellbeing standpoint had to really come to grips with the fact that I had just allowed myself to, to, to get into this place of perfection based, performance based like living.

And, and as a single mom, I mean, I really thought that that was the example for my son.

The thing for him to be proud of. But if I'm honest that all of that time, look back in retrospect that I spent so many hours away from him, dropping him off to be babysat by someone or someone else had to pick him up from daycare because I'm working over I miss [00:12:00] so many things. I let the job take a lot of things from me. And now, I realized that the thing he is most proud of, he's 33 years old at this point, is this second chapter.

The fact that the boldness, the courage, the, All of the things that he's witnessed since 2010, when I walked away, that was the thing. That was the thing to really be proud of. Yeah.

Jen Phillips: I wanna, I wanna really home in on, it's a process. You're walking around feeling deeply, deeply unwell,

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yes.

Jen Phillips: reaching out for help, both on the physical front and on the emotional and spiritual front,

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yes.

Jen Phillips: and yet going to people who loved you and saying, I think this might be killing me.

And still there was a reaction from them not to leave. Not to not to give up.

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yeah.

Jen Phillips: so there was something though, that happened that helped you get [00:13:00] from the chapter you were in to start the book. It's a different book. I feel honestly, but to start the new chapter or the new book,

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yeah.

Jen Phillips: that you're in now.

What, what was the moment?

Clarity From Black-Eyed Peas & Collard Greens

Chef Lisa Brooks: The actual moment january, 2010, this is funny. I've been at that point, probably the last couple of months I kept hearing, you know, cook, you need to cook, you need to cook for a living.

I'm like, wait, what? How is that going to happen? I've been cooking my whole life, cooking since I was a little girl. I never even it never even considered the possibility of doing that for a living. I knew I didn't want to work in a restaurant. I loved like cooking for people, feeding people. That's like the Southern mama in me, I guess, but I just didn't, I couldn't see the actual vision and sometimes that's how God, lots of times that's how God works is faith requires that you believe in something you can't see. So, you know, I couldn't see all the steps. I couldn't see exactly how it was going to pan out. Of course, if I could have [00:14:00] seen all the things that have happened since I would have jumped into it, right. That wouldn't have required any faith. So I kept hearing the cook. I didn't know how that was going to look, but then I kept getting these affirmations. From just random people it was just coming at me and I believe, I truly believe that's how God speaks to us. It's like the same message keeps coming at you from all these different ways in the universe. 

So I, I went to a lady's New Year's day, brunch thing, and I took this colored green quiche. And a black-eyed pea salad. You know, cause collard greens and black-eyed peas, it's like traditionally New Year's

Jen Phillips: Right.

Chef Lisa Brooks: New Year's. But this was a brunch and I just wanted to do something different with collard greens and black eyed peas. And these women acted like it was the most thing they'd ever tasted. And Oh my God. The way I presented it and just all the things they were like, why are you not doing this for a living? I don't understand. 

Like you missed your calling. Like people kept saying that. Okay. Okay. I get it. I get it. 

So that was literally the moment that brunch on [00:15:00] January 1st, 2010, where it kind of just solidified. Everything, all the things that I've been struggling with over the last few years. I was like, okay, well 

Just Turn and Walk in That Direction

Chef Lisa Brooks: I'm gonna, I'm gonna go, you know, I heard God say, just turn and walk in that direction.

And then my psychiatrist who I don't know if she's spiritual or not. I'm kind of sort of guess not, I don't know. But you know, she's totally science based and, and very stoic she was, but she literally said the same phrase to me. She said, why don't you just turn and walk in that direction? And it was just a

Jen Phillips: Wow.

Chef Lisa Brooks: said the same thing I'd heard from God, the same exact verbatim, need to just turn and walk in that direction. And so then I focused on how do I, how do I then do this? What are the steps I need to take? I knew I was going at that point. 

Jen Phillips: So mentally, that was the switch. It's, I don't know exactly what this means that I will cook. I have not [00:16:00] been to culinary school. I don't have any of the credentials that would, I think, be needed, but I know I'm going in that direction.

Silver-lining Freedom

 

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yeah. Yeah. And as scary as that was there were some things that happened I had real estate in 2009 when the real estate market crashed I had a. A couple of properties and you know, at the long story short, I had to bankruptcy, and I was devastated because I had my amazing credit score and, you know, done all this stuff by myself. And so here I am like back at zero, and I'm like, Oh my God, I thought I was so embarrassed. Just it just felt like a failure in that. Cause I really thought the real estate might make me enough money, you know, to, to get out but it didn't work but the silver lining in that is had I not filed that bankruptcy. If I still had all that debt, cause you know, it's not just the houses.

When you file bankruptcy, everything goes, all your debt, all your credit cards, goes in the pot, gets kind of wiped away. So [00:17:00] granted I have a bankruptcy, but I also have zero debt at this point.

I don't think I could have done the whole exit and go to culinary school thing. Right. So it ended up being a blessing in disguise. Of course, this is all retrospect, 

but I want to be clear with the fact that that spiritual process of me Really seeking answers, being still and listening for those answers desperately. It was a desperate cry. It really was. And, and that's when I started to hear very clearly what it was I was supposed to do.

A Moment to Breathe

Jen Phillips: I think that is such an important point. When you're in that moment, I think, and you describe it as well. I think that the norm is to try and push through muscle past it.

Keep going. [00:18:00] Set a good example for your kids by being strong. And really what you're doing is. And that takes so much effort, you're not able to slow down,

Chef Lisa Brooks: Mm hmm.

Jen Phillips: quiet down, listen up,

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yes.

Jen Phillips: be creative to the other opportunities that are abundant.

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yes. Yeah.

Jen Phillips: and I think for you, it came very, very loud and clear through your spiritual relationships, but also was backed by.

By kind of every other direction as well. And if you hadn't been in that stillness and willingness to listen, to hear,

Chef Lisa Brooks: Mm

Jen Phillips: then I think you would miss it. So I think the lesson here. Really is for those of you that are out there struggling with the, how do I get the [00:19:00] energy up today to push past this?

Chef Lisa Brooks: Mm

Jen Phillips: I challenge you to think in terms of how do I carve out 10 minutes of stillness today? How do I be more open and ready to hear,

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yes.

Jen Phillips: to be creative and listen for opportunities that are currently all around me? And, and cynics. And there are cynics. There are so many cynics, by the way, cynicism is part of burnout.

So if you feel cynical about this, I am not surprised, but cynics might say, well, that's just too woo woo and out there. And I'm not spiritual. And I tell you, it is not woo woo. It is not out there. There is. It's another path. There are myriads of other paths than the path you are on right now, but not all of them will be right.

Not all of them will fit as well as what happened with you, Lisa. And I think that the reason that your path has fit, not that you haven't had struggles but I think that what is so important, especially in the beginning is [00:20:00] allowing that convening of voices to kind of say.

It's this thing. And you heard it in stereo all around from every different source.

Chef Lisa Brooks: Surround sound. 

Jen Phillips: Surround sound. Exactly.

Chef Lisa Brooks: I did. And that was just that confirmation. I feel like that's what, what will happen when you're walking in the bright direction or when, when, you know, whatever it is, you believe the universe is trying to tell you something. So, cause I believe these are universal laws. 

I mean, I think it's universal that

Jen Phillips: I agree.

Chef Lisa Brooks: When you seek something, you'll find it when you look for it, when you call that thing, a law of attraction, whatever you want to say, but when you kind of put it out there and you're open, open, that you will then receive what it is that you're looking for, the direction that you want, the clarity that you want. That that whole powering through being the strong woman and, and you know, it's, it's just, it's just a lie,

Jen Phillips: I believe that being strong is important, [00:21:00] but I think that strength Strength has many different forms and that quietude being able to sit quietly and open to just kind of the beauty of life

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yeah.

Jen Phillips: I'm telling you 10 minutes a day, 20 minutes a day.

That is a super powerful move.

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yes.

Jen Phillips: that reflection, like I've taken myself, I've taken to journaling every single day and meditation and walks in nature every day. And it changes me down to my DNA. That is where I have my creative thinking. That is where I have my epiphanies. My good ideas or something you, maybe something you'll say during this episode or something that I've heard in passing will come back to me and it's clear in that moment, Oh, that's very important.

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yes. Yes.

It's such a, that is power. And that is strength to be able to do that.

Jen Phillips: okay. This is why I love you so much. And [00:22:00] now You have made the decision now in your heart and soul. Ultimately what did that mean for you?

What was the first major step that you took to get on the path you're on now?

Were you ready?

Chef Lisa Brooks: food jobs, because I literally was like, what am I going to do with food? What do you mean cook? What am I going to do? So I researched, I literally searched online food jobs that do not require working in a restaurant. And I was researching and I found like a food stylist. I was like, that's interesting.

Sight Unseen, Food Untasted

Chef Lisa Brooks: And I saw a personal chef and I was like, Ooh, what is this? And I thought of like a bed and breakfast, something where I could cook kind of like once. it'd be this, like a, like a thing, like an experience or something. That's what I really wanted. Not like the hubbub of a restaurant. Once I decided on a personal chef, then it was like, okay, well, I decided I'm going to go to culinary school because as you mentioned, I don't have any credentials. I don't have any education behind that. And so [00:23:00] I thought, you know what, my son's graduating high school.

He's going to college. I am going to go to culinary school. So I researched where the schools were. In Charlotte. Pretty much there's three culinary schools here, three major ones. Then I looked for an apartment here in Charlotte. And here goes another confirming thing that happened. The guy who was showing me the apartment, this was in, late March, 2010. You know, we're just chit chatting, small talking. And he's like, what brings you to Charlotte? So while I'm from here, I'm coming back to go to culinary school. I'm going to be a personal chef. Right. 

And he's like, Oh, that's really cool. My wife and I are looking for a personal chef. 

And I was like, yeah, okay, dude. Like, right. I'm going to rent the apartment. Like I like the apartment. You don't have to, you know, you don't have to do that. 

But no, he said, no, we have my wife calling you. 

And I was like, yeah, okay. And sure enough, two weeks later, this woman calls me unseen food, untasted. Are you kidding me? She's like, yeah, my husband told me he met you and that you're going to be a personal chef and we want to hire you as a personal cheF. 

Jen Phillips: Were you ready? Did you have any part of that [00:24:00] worked out?

Chef Lisa Brooks: No, like not at all. But I mean, I was like, wait, what is happening? And so now I had been working behind the scenes because from, from January when I made that decision until this is now March. So, you know, I don't let grass grow to my feet pretty much. So I've been like, Once I figured out the personal chef thing, I was like, like researching, well, how does this work?

What do personal chefs do? So I had an idea of like how it would work, but I was still kind of early in the process. So that took me a back to say, yeah, we want to hire you. 

 Like I have no, I have no website. I have nothing. And so, she said, yeah, just, I said, you realize I'm not moving until like almost two months away. 

She said, yeah, we'll wait. 

What? Like, who does that happen to? That's unbelievable. and sure enough, I moved May 20th. 

And to that apartment that he showed me and then may 22nd, that Monday I cooked for he, for he and his wife there as a meal prep is their personal chef. And I worked, cooked for them for probably a year and a half or so. [00:25:00] they referred me word of mouth and just saying my praises and I got other business from them. So I had a client before I stepped foot in Charlotte, before I entered culinary school. I had a client already. That's what I mean.

When I say the continual confirmation of the fact that you absolutely are going the right direction, that this is your purpose, it should be easy. It should feel like, okay, I'm getting some wind behind me. Doors are opening a little easier than, than, when you feel like you're swimming upstream, right? That's like, okay, it's just, everything was confirming. This is exactly what I was supposed to do. And so that was kind of the first big sign. I literally was doing exactly what I was told, which was just put one foot in front of the other and walk in the direction of the thing.

Jen Phillips: That's right.

Intention and Openness Created This

Chef Lisa Brooks: it all figured out. I didn't have to have it planned from A to Z. In fact, it was not going to happen that way. I couldn't have planned it. I couldn't have planned any, I couldn't have planned this. I was, I just want to make enough money to like pay my rent. I was thinking, you know, I'm going to live this like meager existence. I don't need much, that's kind of how I was [00:26:00] thinking. I had no idea that I was going to be catapulted into just, know, to be this light on a hill. And really, I mean, it's just been unbelievable, the journey, but it started with putting the one foot in front of the other and walking in that direction.

That's it. 

Jen Phillips: It wasn't only that you put the 1 step in front of the other, but I think the openness. You put it out there to this, you don't know who you're talking to. And you had the intention of becoming the future tense, becoming

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yep.

Jen Phillips: a personal chef. And you mentioned it. 

So I, I think you also take some ownership of that because. You were walking in the direction, but you also were walking in the direction with intention and openness. And I think that is one of the reasons that you were presented with this great opportunity, which was your first, that was your first paying client.

Chef Lisa Brooks: Client. Absolutely. know, I [00:27:00] never

I've never, I've told this story many times. I've never thought about that. I've never thought about what you just mentioned. It was the fact that I actually, the fact that I said it, I wasn't hiding it. I wasn't, afraid to tell someone this is what I'm doing. 

You just for the first time brought that to my attention that, know, had I not said anything that day, If I had not mentioned, Oh, it's going to be a personal chef. I'm so, you know, if I hadn't said anything, that whole set of, that whole chain of events, wouldn't have happened.

So thank you for bringing that kind of, first time I mean, we're kind of thinking that and realizing that,

Jen Phillips: well, it is incredibly important. And the reason I bring it up to you is because one it's true. And then two, because I had that moment with you, Chef Lisa. Where I saw you walk into this wellness retreat and I, I was already magnetized to you.

You're like catnip to me. You're so fascinated. I just want to be near you. And [00:28:00] when you started talking, it was clear to me, Oh, I, I think this is somebody who I. would have liked to have heard from six months ago when I started really getting into my moment of despair. I don't know what I need to do, but I need to do something because I am in physical, emotional, and spiritual duress, right?

And so I mentioned to you, this is what I'm thinking about, which at the time was a kind of a very different concept than where I am right now. And you volunteered, you volunteered to be here right now. And that's now months ago, but if I wouldn't have mentioned it, maybe I would have missed out on this amazing moment that I'm sharing with you now.

So thank you.

Chef Lisa Brooks: is so amazing. Yeah. 

Jen Phillips: You bravely stepped forward, but you did it with openness and you were [00:29:00] rewarded with somebody that was looking for exactly what you had to offer. Then a bunch of stuff happened. 

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yeah, so I enrolled in culinary school, I'm moving May. I start working for this client. So August is going to be start of culinary school, I'm still working for the company though, just working remote. Right. And I'm like, okay, I'm going to give my two weeks notice on July 15th, I'm going to give my notice that I'm out of here because I'm enrolled. On July 9th, I got laid off from that job with full benefits my full salary for, I think it was, I think it was one month for every year I've been with the company, if I'm not mistaken. And so, was just like, and I'd heard in prayer, I'd heard from God. He'd said the company is still going to pay you. 

I just, I just heard that. I thought, this is my [00:30:00] thinking, my limited thinking, my earthly thinking, my mortal human thinking was that, okay, that means that. You know, because they always do catering and stuff so I'm going to end up catering for the company at some point and I'll be getting paid from them that way.

That's what I thought it meant. But clearly when I got that the, the severance, which I was told I could not be laid off. I was a black woman over 40. Like they're not going to touch you. You're untouchable. So that was amazing. I was walking away with nothing. I was six days away from turning in just my resignation

Jen Phillips: Wow.

Chef Lisa Brooks: So that took me almost through all the culinary school so I was free, I was literally free, I was free, know, and I think, It was just a gift or for like a reward for the faith step. It's already taken the faith step. I mean, it was happening. was moving. And that's really what happened. Like I was gonna go, I was gonna go with nothing, and then the layoff happened and it was like, oh my God. Again, another incredible, unbelievable step. At that [00:31:00] point. That was literally the close of the, the close of the, of that chapter.

Jen Phillips: That chapter is gone. And now the new Lisa who is now chef Lisa I imagine you with your chef jacket on and your knives. You go to culinary school and you're really just in it and focusing and learning the business.

Chef Lisa Brooks: I wasn't even, my time wasn't split. Like, it was just like, I was fully present. Like when you go back as an adult secondary education, it's like you pay attention.

 You're, you're fully invested in the learning and soaking things up. And that's how it was. It was just like, I mean, I was in this world of cooking my whole life and, and now I'm getting this like formal training, this classic French Coney, learning the techniques, learning the verbiage, things that I tried to know thaT. the name for things, you know, whereas my grandmother taught me how to make a pan gravy, you know, fat in the pan and add a little sprinkle, a little flour, make a little pan gravy. And you add [00:32:00] your backyard stock, your milk. I didn't know that was a roux. Then that was called a velouté and all these things.

I didn't know that the names for them. And I got to be fully present for that. Just fully present as a student. I was just at peace. I didn't know. I did not know that like life could feel that way.

Jen Phillips: Wow.

Happiness Comes From Freedom, and Freedom Comes From Courage

Chef Lisa Brooks: of like true freedom, true, true freedom. And I really feel like I've been saying this a lot to my clients that a coach in the personal chef space that, you know, happiness is what we're all seeking.

And I really strongly believe that happiness comes from being free from freedom, right? 

And freedom comes from. Courage,

like you have to have courage. I don't think anyone's ever got truly free without overcoming a fear, without having the courage to step into a new realm.

And so that's kind of the formula, right. and [00:33:00] you know, you can't, you have to get on the other side of the fear. You just have to cast it down and say, you know what, the worst thing that can happen if I move, move forward? That's what I did. Like, well, what's the worst case scenario. 

Jen Phillips: What was your worst case scenario? 

Chef Lisa Brooks: If this completely bombs and fails. Two things I thought, which I feel like are important to say, two things. One is that, I mean, I have family, I have sisters, I have people, you know, like what I might have to move in with a family member or something like moving with one of my sisters. Like I really felt, okay, that's the worst case scenario. I mean, that's not that bad of a scenario, right? 

And the second is of my character and the way that I've behaved and performed my whole life with any job I've ever had, I could go back to any place that I've ever worked. And they'd take me back because of. How I left and how I never burned bridges, you know, just lived a life kind of of integrity. And, and so that's really important that I had [00:34:00] relationships that could become a cushion for me if I needed them to be, you know, never had to, but that was my, that's what got me into the, you know, over that worst case scenario. Once I really thought about it, I was like, well, I mean, there's nothing to fear here.

Jen Phillips: Your worst case, you were willing to accept,

Chef Lisa Brooks: Right. Exactly.

Jen Phillips: the worst case, if you stayed, I think is really dire because you were afraid of dying.

Chef Lisa Brooks: Absolutely. I know I would have, I would've had a heart attack or stroke. I mean, my doctor, my medical doctor told me as much.

Jen Phillips: And so you made the change. You start moving in the direction. You are getting clients. You go into this blissful period where you're allowed, as a, as a As a grown up lady to focus on a passion of yours, you know, being educated on this passion of yours, this cooking, which I think it's really beautiful kind of [00:35:00] how you came to cooking and the way you talk about your, mission here the why behind the cooking.

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yeah, my, my family matriarchs, my mother, Mabel, my grandmother, Maddie, and my great grandmother, Tossie, they were, those are my southern credentials right there. If I say those names, you know, I can cook, right? 

Jen Phillips: Hmm.

The Importance of Knowing Your Why 

Chef Lisa Brooks: they Obviously, I mean, they, they taught me how to cook and I won't say obviously maybe because I don't know everyone's shared experience, but having Sunday dinners with family and in our, in our family, Sunday dinners at my grandma's house was, Like everything.

It was like, you look forward to that every single week. And we all went to different like churches or, you know, whether we went to church or not, like some of my peers, some people didn't go to church. but we all came together at my grandmother's house at like 1 PM on Sunday, all of my mom's siblings and their kids, all of my cousins in this little tiny two bedroom house. It'd be like 60 people, of my family every week. And it was a place of [00:36:00] fun. And just of course, food abundance. I felt love. I felt laughter. So it was just the, it was the best place. I felt surrounded by love, completely accepted. 

And that feeling, that feeling, which I say is, was pure joy. That's the feeling I wanted to capture and bottle up and share with other people.

Jen Phillips: Wow.

Chef Lisa Brooks: Like, Hey, remember this feeling or discover it for the first time or rediscover it. this feeling of this joy of the fact that we used to break bread together and we used to like laugh and like share a meal and be present with each other. My also being a preacher's wife, she would throw these amazing dinner parties. And she was a host hostess with the most, it's pretty much right. And she was a classy, classy lady. All of them were But she did these amazing dinner parties. And so I got to see this other side of these like extravagant [00:37:00] kind of spreads. 

And of course I'd help her all day long with the food and making everything. 

And then I was banished to the kid's room when it was time for the guests to arrive. Right. But I would like peek out and see the guests arriving and getting their coats taken.

And it's just like this really elegant thing. And this is in the seventies, seventies black family in the South, in the seventies to have that type of. Those type of soirees was kind of, I mean, it was a, it was a thing. It was not a normal thing. The sense of elegance and that I'd never seen before. mom, you know, she, she ushered that into my life. So, so I have this love of. Family time, dinner time, that type of thing. But also this love of the elegance of the dinner party. 

And that's, those are the things that have shaped my business. up. the heart of my business. They're the, they, they inform the mission for, for my business. 

Both my local personal chef business that I first started with, that's now 14 years old. the [00:38:00] fact that now I coach other women to do this exact same thing and to be able to share with them and pull out of them their why their experience. So it kinda informs all of that. for me

Jen Phillips: First of all, that is beautiful. For you to describe both experiences, the family experiences of coming together every Sunday and you say that was sheer joy. And then you have your mother's experiences that she was putting on these more elegant experiences.

Chef Lisa Brooks: We moved into this house when I was, this house that was perfect for entertaining when I was in the, in the third grade for eight years old, and that's when my mom started throwing these dinner parties it was, 

it's actually the house that we moved in at that point was it was in a white neighborhood. And again, this is all very. How do I say it was just very uncommon, right? I was the only black girl in that neighborhood, only, only black family in that neighborhood, [00:39:00] only, I didn't even know any black people in that side of town, in fact. And so I was kind of walking between these two worlds I don't want to go too far down this side. down this road, but it is, this is an important thing just to note all, like all of these things prepared me for today. And the fact that I could be kind of a bridge between two cultures like I, I learned to, like I was in Girl Scouts. People that didn't look like me. I played softball. People that didn't look like me. I was, you know, I was in the neighborhood with people that didn't look like me. I was going to my friend's house for sleepovers. People didn't look like me So it's like, I got to see all these worlds. And so I get to be a kind of a bridge now, because even now it's 2024. And even now know, it's, it's kind of like the, the people that I'm bringing into my company and like young, younger, black girls they've never walked into these houses and walked into these rooms.

And it's part of my purpose, I believe in, it's not just feeding people as being a chef, but part of my purpose is ushering other [00:40:00] women into their destiny. So what I'm going into. These homes, these same neighborhoods, of course, figuratively speaking, where my grandmother was a maid, right?

Jen Phillips: Right.

Chef Lisa Brooks: Going back with the expertise that basically came from her, right. Originally it was my original culinary instructor. Right. 

And going into these homes and commanding thousands of dollars for what I do now and telling her story in these homes. Telling her story when I served this dish or what have you. It's just so full circle. 

Another Moment To BreatheCuriosity is a Superpower

Jen Phillips: I'm so excited because what you are describing is. Something that is really important and actually a leadership superpower, which is curiosity. 

You are curious and that you are open to the differences in life. And you, because I know from talking to you, you're the same way about travel. You're the same way about different types of foods.

The reason I think you're able to put on [00:41:00] uncommon experiences is because of that curiosity and openness.

And I do believe that is one of the things that is a marker for success in any of these type of let's say Unplanned journeys, right? I think you've got to be very open and curious to, to sense the path.

I would you agree, would you agree that these are two things that are incredibly important?

Chef Lisa Brooks: agree. And I have a great analogy for that. It just came to me. Bear with me. I love analogies. I've been this way since I was a little girl that goes off the beaten path. where someone may follow a GPS. Exactly to the, to the letter, right?

Turn right, turn left. But I'm just like, well, what is this street? Where does this go? If I go down this street, I'll find a different way to get to where, so I always learn all the different ways to get somewhere. Right. I find new ways and different ways to get there because I'm curious.

Jen Phillips: Yes,

Chef Lisa Brooks: Same thing in life, find different ways, new ways to get where you [00:42:00] want to go because you're curious, because you're open, that curiosity, it is a superpower. I'm so glad you said that. I've never heard that put that way, but it

Jen Phillips: it is. And I think it's a requirement for success in the entrepreneur or solopreneur space. Now you are not a solopreneur and I am very cognizant of the time I've kept you. So I want to. Talk at least a little bit about we, we started with you, a person of one being a personal chef to one family.

 But as you grew, so we have heart and soul personal chef services. You're the CEO, but what are you doing now 

Chef Lisa Brooks: yeah. So heart and soul is still alive and kicking. 14 years in business. The best personal chef service in Charlotte really have really just redefined what a personal chef service looks like. Historically personal chefs worked alone. They were one woman shows or one man shows. And then so I come along and I'm doing meal prep, like every other personal chef, [00:43:00] but I had this. Yearning to do dinner parties because of the influence from my mother. 

And so that's when like the fact that you can do dinner parties as a whole business, really, without ever doing meal prep as a personal chef, it's kind of a new, it was a new layer at the time for this industry, if you will. And so heart and salt kind of. Took, I mean, it's very quickly took this into where we really are specializing in dinner parties and helping people celebrate life's moments. 

I started pulling other people in other students in culinary school. Hey, you want to help me an event this weekend? 

You want to come serve with me for this event? Start pulling in. People that I could mentor because in culinary school, we don't learn about how to be a personal chef or cater anything outside of restaurant, hotel, country club type life. And so I would bring in my classmates. That's where I got my first kind of staff from, right. And then I realized, you know what? I can serve triple the families if I have triple the people.

So I started bringing on other chefs and [00:44:00] other women as chefs, particularly. I mean, I've had both over the years, but it just kind of happened that we ended up being this powerhouse kick ass team of women chefs. And it's kind of a constant training ground for younger chefs coming out of school and learning our industry through working as an intern with heart and soul, and then either being hired by heart and soul, me helping them launch their own business. And that's how heart and soul has I mean, we've just been able to just really expand and, and grow into like, you know, half a million dollar a year business, just from just here locally in the Charlotte area. 

It's just largely passive income for me now, because the business. I won't say it runs itself, but I mean, I've got people in place and for me, it's largely passive

Jen Phillips: Now you've talked about coaching. You've figured this playbook out and what you do now is usher other women, into this

Chef Lisa Brooks: a couple of reasons in our industry, Year after year, more people are being diagnosed with things they can't eat. They're [00:45:00] finding out their food intolerances. They're having these tests done and realizing that what's causing inflammation at my body, getting really individual with with the things that they need to feed themselves.

And so if you don't cook. But then you have all these dietary preferences eating out. It's not going to be much of an option. And so that's where personal chefs can come in and, and really tailor something to the needs of the client. And that that need is just going to grow and grow and grow. 

And with the celebratory aspect of things. Just being able to go in and have that fulfilling, from the chef's viewpoint to go in and be a part of people's life celebrations because the spirit of hospitality is not to be underestimated, right? 

We, it's in the atmospheres and environments that we create that that important ideas are able to be exchanged, that people are able to come together and spend time and be present and look at the foundational blocks of just like community, right? 

Take place in the environments that we create. And so the spirit of hospitality is hugely important. And that's what when, when women have that, they have it just [00:46:00] naturally in them. And that's the thing that they love to do. And they have that thing that I had, like, I just love to feed people. That's where I found. my peace and my joy was in the kitchen and in cooking. And so there's other women that feel that way, but they also in the same place I was, they didn't know how that was going to work.

So I want to show them this life. If you can cook and you love to do it and you love to entertain, but you don't see how this can be something you can monetize. Well, guess what? I can show you exactly how to that passion.

And so that is what I do now is like usher so many women into this industry. And I feel

 If I'm going to be honest, like setting the standards for the industry. Yeah, it's pretty cool.

Jen Phillips: It is really cool. If you can find other people who are curious and open and had no idea that this existed and shortcut the process. So now you're the, you're removing that friction of, I know it's not this, but I can't really picture all of the [00:47:00] steps in the journey.

And now you say, okay, no, but I've done it. And here's. The, here's my GPS. Now they may deviate some from it, but at least they've got some of it mapped out.

Chef Lisa Brooks: Right. They don't have to, they can pivot. From whatever it is now they can pivot and still kind of come in at a level. They don't have to go all the way back to the beginning, you know,

Jen Phillips: Right.

Chef Lisa Brooks: pivot and come right, right into a place because, you know, especially, I mean, a lot of people who I do work with are more like mature women.

Other women who this is their second chapter as well. And so to be able to have that shortcut, cause I mean, I don't want to go back to, I don't want to go back to zero. You know, I've already earned my way up in this place and this, you know, I've worked really hard where I am. So I can show you how to pivot, kind of at your level of living you're already at, but do the thing you love.

Jen Phillips: Right.

Chef Lisa Brooks: Then, I mean, that's a win win, so yeah, that's really a huge part of my purpose in this moment.

And actually, I mean, God told me that early on when I [00:48:00] was having the troubles and the difficulties in culinary school and I would feel tired.

 You know, I'm just like kind of grinding. 

And there's times, of course you get down times you question things and it's just hard. But God said, this is not about you. So get over yourself. None of this is about you.

Jen Phillips: There's a whole bunch of other women that you'll never even meet. You'll never even see that are, that are looking to you as a guide. won't even know that. And so you have to keep going. You have to persevere. You have to push through this feeling you're having in this moment, because this ain't about you.

Chef Lisa Brooks: It's just played out over and over again. Even just meeting you. Not saying I played a part in your shift. You'd already decided to make the shift. My story is now part of your story. your journey, right? And so you're one of the women God was talking about. And there's thousands, I don't even know. There might be tens of thousands. I have no idea how

Jen Phillips: Well, this is also important. We're in a moment where technology is is a democratizer of your reach. Right. And you have almost a quarter of a million followers across your [00:49:00] different platforms, like you said, you're not going to meet all these women, but you know, you're still impressing on them. So how important has it been to not only your growth, your company's growth, but also to your mission?

Chef Lisa Brooks: I think the mission has been hugely important because I'm able to reach people all over the world, even I mean, I've had people in Europe that I've coached. I've had people in, in the islands and South America that I've coached. It's kind of crazy. And, and those, those women have found me on online.

Through social media, a hundred percent of that, 

My local personal chef business. You know, social media is not the way that I get business from my local business, but the way that I'm able to reach women all over the place that that want to learn from me, that see my example, it's definitely been social media.

 And if I'm being honest, it's been an intentional part. I've been very intent about using social media, not to make money off of social media itself, even though that has [00:50:00] happened, but that was never my intent. The intent wasto just have a larger audience so that I could the people that need to hear the story. That's really was the intent of it.

Jen Phillips: Right. Also in meeting you,You are incredibly genuine, so authentic when you meet you in person, it's as exciting as then how authentic you are on social, which is why I think you've had the, the success you've had in reaching people. Kind of far flung across these platforms, but you are a genuine person. You have taken an intentional path, but you've, you've put your curiosity against that path.

So you've allowed the path to kind of unfold itself to you rather than plotting out every turn. So I like that [00:51:00] GPS

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yes.

Jen Phillips: Visualization. And I think one of the most important things I'm hearing from you is. You took action and you didn't stop doing

Chef Lisa Brooks: Correct.

Jen Phillips: so when you had an idea you acted on it.

You didn't wait or overthink it. You didn't have to have everything plotted out. You acted.

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yes. still just putting one foot in front of the other. Still. 14 years later, I'm still just walking in the direction of my purpose, my dream. I've never stopped walking in the direction,

Jen Phillips: So people that are listening here may be in a moment of extreme duress. Where they are not right now clear on even what the like end goal vision is. What does this chef, Lisa, that's sitting here with me right now, what do you say to that person that's like, I don't know what it is, but I know it's not this.

Chef Lisa Brooks: right? 

When you know it's not that you have to just get still and get quiet and [00:52:00] get curious and figure out what It is 

 I would just challenge people to, to think of the thing that brings them joy and don't think of, well, how do I monetize that? Don't worry about that part. something brings you joy. know, whatever that thing is, if you have a gift, a natural talent in something, something that people always tell you you're good at or whatever the case may be, then that is likely the thing the universe needs out of you. And if the universe needs out of you and people are waiting for you to walk into your gift, your market is waiting for you to walk into your gift.

 All of that stuff is going to unfold when you walk into your gift, you just have to move in that direction and don't worry about how it's going to monetize, don't worry about how I'm going to make a living doing that.

 So, if you know, you're where you are is not, you know, that's not it. You know, you're miserable. You know, you're, it's not just this temporary burnout.

I know we're talking about burnout. But it's more than just a temporary, Oh, you need a vacation type burnout. 

You're dreading. You spend the last half of your vacation dreading coming back to the office. You [00:53:00] spend the first couple of days decompressing, probably still checking some emails. You maybe have one good day of rest and then you spend the next three days dreading the fact that your vacation is going to be over. 

If that's really like where you are, then you've reached the end point of that thing, right?

Don't build a house in a season of your life where you were meant to just pitch a tent for a while, right? Move on. Break down camp. And let's find the place you're supposed to 

Jen Phillips: you said, think of the thing that brings you joy. that other people tell you, you should be doing this. Think of the thing that feels essentially natural to you. to add on to that, also realize that if you are the one that said, this thing is killing me that I'm doing right now.

Also listen to that. Because it's not lying. So no matter what action is needed, even if that action is to find a better fit. or to really work [00:54:00] with your leadership to say this is no longer working. Respect the beauty of your life. I want to leave you with one final check in. What is next for you, Chef Lisa?

Chef Lisa Brooks: Wow. Well, to stay true to everything I said, honestly, I don't a hundred percent. No. Right. Only see like the next couple of steps clearly, but the thing that I'm doing now, I'm being obedient to the season of. Teaching other women chefs, I do see an end to this season.

Even I see, I see me traveling. I see me going, really digging down into other cultures and food and language. And, and you know, that same spirit, the same spirit of, of. hospitality, the same feeling of joy, that same, just the, the submission that's kind of woven itself throughout my whole life, my whole being, you know, to go in and just see how are other people and other places, like how can I [00:55:00] connect to them through this thing?

I love so much, which is food. 

And you know, who knows, maybe that's going to be recorded. I don't know. I don't know, honestly, at this point. 

I'm going to do what I'm told about what I hear. But I really think my next season might be just one of rest. I think I might be ready to sit down. We'll see. I know it's exciting.

I may be just

Jen Phillips: I mean, but I think, I think you sitting down is different because when you're sitting down, I've seen you sitting down. You're evaluating the food. You're really diving into the culture. You are you are a student of life.

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yes.

Jen Phillips: But everybody benefits from that because then people feel the spotlight of interest shown upon them and that is a good feeling. So you are just a person that brings good feeling and uncovers good feeling in others even when you want to quiet down. I will guarantee you it's still gonna happen.

I'll guarantee you. Oh, okay. She's amazing. If you didn't get that you're chef, Lisa [00:56:00] Brooks, everywhere on every platform. We will link everything in the episode notes. I thank you for dropping all of the wisdom. You are an inspiration to me. You are an inspiration to me. You are.

Chef Lisa Brooks: You.

Jen Phillips: divine intervention and I, I couldn't be more appreciative for you being gracious with your time and being gracious with your story and giving, I hope people that are listening a little bit of a light that they don't need to know every single turn on the journey, but they need to take action.

Chef Lisa Brooks: Yes. Thank you, Jen.

Jen Phillips: Thank you, Lisa. 

Today's "So What" 

Jen Phillips: What We've just heard is really a masterclass in leveraging professional superpowers, specifically, in Lisa's case, the superpowers of curiosity and authenticity.

And chef Lisa Brooks didn't know every single step of her journey, but she knew her life depended on making a change. She was [00:57:00] clear on what gave her energy, Creating meaningful experiences and celebrations through the convening power of good food.

Something she was also very, very good at. And that, that is literally the definition of a professional superpower. Once she realized that through self reflection, through support from professionals, and through her own spiritual practice, she started taking action in that direction.

And she didn't stop. And now she's helping others find their own path. I am so thrilled that Chef Lisa was candid with us on her journey from extreme anxiety to successful, energized, mission driven CEO. And I am absolutely positive. We will all see even more exciting growth from Lisa in the future.

 

Up Next On The Podgress Report

Jen Phillips: Stay in touch with the inspiring chef, Lisa Brooks. I've added all of her social handles and a link to a personal chef playbook in the episode notes. [00:58:00] And if you want to know more about finding your own professional superpowers, I've linked an episode on that as well.

 Don't miss the next podcast report. We're joined by yet another incredible guest, and we're talking about how setting and respecting boundaries at work can be a workplace wellness game changer.

Jen Phillips: If you liked what you're hearing on the Podcast Report, subscribe. wherever you listen to podcasts. So you don't miss any of our upcoming reports. Your reviews help as well. So if you're loving the content, consider giving the show your review. 

Thank you so much for being here together.

We really can help each other and help to make the workplace a better place as we grow until next time. Here's to your progress. 

The Fine Print

Jen Phillips: Hi, it's Jen with some very important, fine print. This podcast and its associated properties does not provide medical or mental health advice, the information [00:59:00] including, but not limited to recorded in live episodes, text graphics, images, and any other material contained on the property or the podcast are for your informational purposes only. Nothing on The Podgress Report is intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified provider with questions you may have. Regarding a medical condition or mental health or wellness concern, and please, if you're under duress or considering suicide, please reach out right this very minute to the suicide and cRisis lifeline by dialing 9, 8, 8 in the U S. Or searching for the helplines available to you in your country.