Administrative Manager

Miss Elisa wears many hats, both at Culinary Kids and in general. She’s a certified teacher, an EMT, our Administrative Manager, a mom, and she has a degree in petroleum engineering. She has seemingly done it all, and she has no plans of stopping. She loves to travel, and her favorite food is lamb vindaloo. She loves working with children because they’re unpredictable, which gives her energy, and they act like little sponges. If she could have any superpower, she’d have the ability to turn back time, but we’re happy she’s here (in the present) with us! If you ever interview for a position with us, be ready for her to ask you if you love animals!

Program Operations Manager

Miss Patricia loves working with children because she likes making a difference in the lives of those around her!

She’s the sweetest, so she didn’t even mind when, early in her time at Culinary Kids, she was turned into a literal Ice Cream Sundae by our playful campers.... and ended up picking sprinkles out of her hair for a week! As the Program Operations Manager, Miss Patricia gets makes sure EVERYTHING is ready to go for all of our events and programs. Lots of detail and planning goes into every class and she's a master at preparing and keeping staff happy! Her favorite pet is her happily spolied chocolate lab, Polo....she even has a picture of him as her mousepad at her desk!

She adores the Culinary Kids family, and we adore her right back.

Birthday Party and Weekend Manager

Miss Erin is a teacher AND a cowgirl, AND a stage director in theater! When she’s working with Culinary Kids, she wrangles up loads of organized fun! She prepares ALL of the details for our weekend events, making things run smoothly for our families. She loves working with children because she enjoys getting to know so many crazy, fun personalities!

All Abilities (Special Needs) Class Manager

Miss Ashley is a ray of sunshine, and she says that’s because her work at Culinary Kids is so rewarding: she learns as she teaches new skills, and she always leaves feeling fulfilled. As a mother, she wishes she could stop time, just so she could take that extra nap whenever she needs it. Still, it’s clear she makes the most of her time here, working programs like our special needs classes, adult programs, and outreach events. She has a history of working in the food industry and helped run The Supperdome food truck in New Orleans, and she’s brought all of those skills right here to Culinary Kids. We couldn’t be happier to have her.

 Social Media Magic Makers and Cooking Instructors

Miss Isabel is a bit ridiculous:She loves working with children because they’re silly and goofy, but they’ll catch you off-guard with adult-like comments that crack us up. Miss Isabel began as a STUDENT at Spring Camp in 2012 and now she's running cooking programs, parties and more! Here at Culinary Kids, Miss Jill is the cinematographer....always filming wacky moments while teaching and bringing joy to others. She's got great style and a gentle soul and she loves sharing her skills on Outreach Programs too! This team of folks bring life to our online presence AND our in-house programs!!!

Field Trip Manager 

Miss Kalista is a Field Trip GENIUS! She manages our field trip programs when they are in season! From setting up exact ingredients to serve 60 plus students to supporting our outreach programs to preschools and more, Miss Kalista has her hands full. We’re beyond happy to have her here because she has a heart of gold, a gentle nature, and a joyous spirit she shares with all of our visitors. She's ALWAYS smiling and is such a reliable gal to have on the team!

Lead Chef

Birthday Party and Camp Lead Instructor

Miss Kendall’s favorite book is Robin Hood, and given her adventurous side, it’s easy to see why (um...yep, she's sneaking a green cupcake in her staff photo!!!) She’s quite the creative type, and at Mandeville High, she participates in theatre and talented music. Her dream superpower would be to read minds. She loves working with children because she likes how proud they look when they create something new, and if she were something that grew in a garden, she’d be a carrot because they look one way on the surface, but if you dig deeper, you find SO MUCH MORE...there’s a lot more to Kendall than you see at first glance, so come get to know her! At Culinary Kids, she works camps, outreach events, and Parents’ Night Out pajama party nights!

Program Instructor

Program Instructor 

Ezra's favorite thing about working at Culinary Kids is making the kids laugh and creating memories that will last. You have to keep an eye on Ezra, especially at field trips because they are a little sneaky, and super funny! There's a bit of comic relief whenever things end up spilled or tipped or sprinkled where they're not supposed to be and it's often all because of Ezra! Parents' Night Out, Birthday Parties, Outreach Programs, Adult Classes....wherever you find Ez, you're gonna find fun....and INCREDIBLE art! Anime' doodles leave a path that always tell us "Ezra was here".....and they brought a smile to our faces!

Special Needs Instructor, Resource Para

For Miss Whitney, Culinary Kids really is a family....and she gets to bring hers along! She has two fantastic daughters....one lovely young lady is ready to work here someday soon, but the other sweet pea still needs to crawl out of diapers before she can peel the carrots! Miss Whitney's experience as mom AND a resource para at Mandeville High School makes her more than qualified in our All Abilities program, where she works with individuals with special needs and varied abilities to teach cooking alongside transferable skills such as teamwork and etiquette. She loves working with children and young adults because they make her laugh, and she says they don’t overthink things as much as adults do. Miss Whitney is clever and kind, and we’re so happy to have her as a part of the Culinary Kids family.

Cooking Class Instructor

Miss Jill is quite the creative type: when she’s not at Culinary Kids, she volunteers at 30 by Ninety Theater, where she helps build sets for upcoming shows. She comes from a theatrical, creative family and certainly brings that hands-on energy to work as a Cooking Class Instructor and Outreach Program Assistant. She plans to study Culinary Arts in college and her favorite thing about working here is the relationships that she creates with coworkers and students alike. Miss Jill is more than happy to create memories that will stay with her students for life. At school, she also participates in the Fontainebleau High School choir, and when she’s here with us, we’re so happy we could sing!

Program Instructor / Camp Lead Instructor / COOKIE DECORATING DIVA!

Miss Amber’s dream superpower is flight, which checks out— she always soars above and beyond expectations. As a student at Lakeshore High School, she spends her time in after-school clubs focused on theatre, animals, and agriculture. She also loves to bake, and when she's in a play or performance, she's known to make cupcake treats for fellow cast members! She’s taken these skills straight to Culinary Kids, where she works birthday parties and Parents' Night Out pajama party nights and all other programs. She’s excited to spend time with the kids, and they love spending time with her too.

Summer Camp Teacher

Miss Raymie, who by degree is a speech therapist, is also a passionate and creative mom who has always loved working with children. In fact, she used to own an educational facility geared toward providing hands-on engineering experiences for children! She enjoys how versatile and different kids can be, always up for a mini-adventure. Her willingness to go above and beyond and match the kids' energy makes her the ideal summer camp and field trip teacher. Miss Raymie is just like her favorite Louisiana treat, a chocolate snowball, because they're both sweet as can be.

Field Trip Instructor

Cooking Class Instructor

Miss Emma is a little bit of a superstar. After taking our Culinary Kids Advanced Cooking Classes, Miss Emma was featured on an episode of Top Chef Junior and won the Southern Girls Cook-off sponsored by NOLA.com. Now, she’s one of our Advanced Cooking Class instructors, helping other students to follow in her footsteps! When she’s not cooking up something amazing, she’s a student at Hannan High School and participates on the volleyball team. She considers herself a bit of a nerd because her favorite two movies are Marvel’s Ironman and Spider-Man. Her favorite Culinary Kids memory is making a calzone that was nearly two feet long!

Program Instructor, Resource Para

Miss Telly (Chantell) is a bit of a mad scientist! Her favorite thing about working at Culinary Kids is how we combine cooking and science (which makes a lot of sense, because a lot of cooking is science). When she’s not busy with Culinary Kids, she’s a substitute teacher and personal caregiver for young adults with varied abilities. She loves working with children because they’re just as inquisitive as she is, and they’re always eager to learn. For Miss Telly, being able to cook and teach all at the same time is a win-win, and together, you're sure to whip up something delicious.

Program Instructor

Miss Rachel’s craziest Culinary Kids memory is watching Miss Maddy fall into the washing machine (HA HA!), but that’s only happened once (or maybe twice). What really keeps Miss Rachel coming back to Culinary Kids is the energy from the children, which she says makes work feel more like play. Of course, Miss Rachel puts in the work, and she does a great job leading our camps, Parents’ Night Out events, and parties! Outside of Culinary Kids, she’s a student at Mississippi State, where she participates in the band. That’s not surprising, since anytime we find out Miss Rachel’s on the schedule, it’s music to our ears!

Parents' Night Out Instructor

Miss Ashley M loves a good “aha!” moment, which is part of why she has so much fun working at Culinary Kids. She works everything from camp to birthdays to Parents’ Night Out and she’s one of the most supportive, silly people we’ve ever met. When she’s not cheering on her students, she trades in her apron for pom-poms at LA Tech. She plans on working with children for the rest of her life, and she’s studying to be an early childhood or elementary teacher. She makes an impact on all of the kids here at Culinary Kids, and we’re so excited to see all the lives she’s sure to change in the classroom. 

Program Assistant

Miss Isabel says that if she were something that grows in a garden, she would be a cucumber because they have little vines that can reach out to one another, and that makes sense, because she always fosters a sense of community. She’s a student at Hannan High and has always enjoyed working with children. Before Culinary Kids, she was a babysitter and a volunteer camp counselor! She plans on continuing to work with children because she hopes to be a teacher. You’ll find her at our birthday parties, evening events, and scouts programs!

Program Assistant

Miss Kendall’s favorite book is Robin Hood, and given her adventurous side, it’s easy to see why (um...yep, she's sneaking a green cupcake in her staff photo!!!) She’s quite the creative type, and at Mandeville High, she participates in theatre and talented music. Her dream superpower would be to read minds. She loves working with children because she likes how proud they look when they create something new, and if she were something that grew in a garden, she’d be a carrot because they look one way on the surface, but if you dig deeper, you find SO MUCH MORE...there’s a lot more to Kendall than you see at first glance, so come get to know her! At Culinary Kids, she works camps, outreach events, and Parents’ Night Out pajama party nights!

Program Assistant

For Miss Hope, Disney World really is the happiest place on earth (except for Culinary Kids, of course)! She brings the magic from her favorite vacation spot with her to our door, where she assists during birthday parties and camp programs. As a student at Fontainebleau High, Miss Hope is on the cheer team and powerlifts, so she keeps herself fit, healthy and very busy. Just like the kids she teaches, she’s very curious...so if she could have one super power, she’d want to time travel, especially to the future. Personally, we’re grateful she’s here in the present with us!

Outreach Assistant 

Mister Daniel is often found on our Outreach Programs to schools and local libraries. His first day at Culinary Kids was a bit of a whirlwind: he was keeping busy washing dishes when Miss Sherrí pulled him into the middle of a flour fight! ( HA HA!!!) According to him, everybody lost and looked like dough, but he looks back on the memory with fondness. He loves watching the children’s imaginations at work, and he hopes to be in education for the long haul. Of course, he also wants to open up a restaurant, and he’s ProStart certified, so he’s already begun his journey. Whether he goes into cooking or teaching or both, we know Mister Daniel will shine like he always does!

Program Assistant

If Miss Maddie could be anything that grows in a garden, she would be basil because it grows well in nearly any environment. Plus, it’s Italian, like her! She’s a marketing major at The University of Mississippi, but she’s quite the drama queen— in her free time, you can find her on stage. Miss Maddie loves to crack jokes, and she’s always teasing her coworkers. She loves children because they’re unpredictable, and you never know what they’re going to say. Miss Maddie never fails to bring a smile to the faces of everyone around her, and we’re so excited to have her here.