Hi there! I’m Anna, a chef with a passion for cooking that started at age seven back on my family’s farm in the Ozarks. Due to a sudden change of events from an injury, my pursuits as a piano performance professional in college came to a halt, and I turned back to the culinary world as my new professional and artistic outlet. Winning Chopped At Home in NYC (a spin-off of Chopped), kick-started my confidence, leading to victories in local and state competitions and even placing in the World Food Championships. I dove in hand’s first (literally), staging at 3-star Michelin restaurants around the glob and relishing in culinary experiences worldwide. I cooked private events or staged at restaurants in as many countries as possible, fully immersing myself in global food cultures. These included Ireland, Norway, Germany, South Africa, Denmark, France, and more. Foraging in particular was a key component that resonated with me, transporting me back to my Scandinavian roots among the fjords. I’d take all I’d learned back home, serving private events and incorporating all I’d “pocketed.”

I received the greatest honor being named “Chef of the Year” in my city, 2021. However, extreme schedules, high stress, and undiagnosed illness, began to take a toll and I had to stop cooking. A blessing in disguise, the setback deepened my passion for cooking with new objectives. Now, a certified Nutritional Health Consultant and a certificate from Stanford in the Science of Nutrition, I use this in tangent with my culinary expertise to help others find balance in their lives.  From bedridden chef to an enlightened, thankful one, I now create beauty with food by observing the beauty in life.