A Lil’ Bit About Me

Growing up in Middle Tennessee I learned everything I know about cooking from my family. I got my first taste of hospitality in my early teens when my mother Wendy started a catering company named Heavenly Creations! We found ourselves working together many weekends as I grew up, but it was in the Fall of 2016 where I decided to take food more seriously. My culinary journey humbly began in the southern gulf coast at The University of South Alabama, where I would weekly deliver my home-cooked meals to the student body to earn a bit of extra cash. During this time I was also a collegiate athlete, an ambassador for my school of business, and on the E-board of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. (emotional breakdowns…? Check ✅) — I loved it all, but nothing gave me more joy than seeing my peers light up every Sunday from something I made JUST for them.

During this time, my friends and the local community gifted me the moniker The Shirtless Chef HAHAHA! Probably due to my own vanity. I rocked the name for a while, performing cooking demos on the news, hosting local charity events, and publishing culinary content online. But nearing graduation, I wanted something fresh, something more refined around the edges that still encapsulated who I was. It was these steps that led to the beginning stages of Chef Dev! I suppose you could call this type of thing an alter ego, but really there’s no alter about it. I am now able to make a living by simply being a 110% version of who I am.

Now, I live in Nashville, Tennessee where I began my professional career in 2018 as a production assistant on Food Network’s Trisha’s Southern Kitchen. Over time, that job lead to me packing my bags and moving to New York City in 2019 to intern in the digital and culinary departments of the Food Network Kitchen while honing my skills as a line cook at Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster Harlem and Alex Guarnaschelli’s Butter Midtown. It was in that concrete jungle where I found myself and made multiple determinations about what I wanted my career and life to look like.

The ensuing pandemic quickly shut all of those doors and forced me to move back home to pick up the pieces again. So I began working towards my master’s degree in food science at the University of Tennessee and simultaneously started an emerging private dining service to keep some income rolling in. After about 6 months of hustle, Chef Dev had become my full-time job! Booking after booking began rolling in and before I knew it, my culinary dreams were coming true. I now have the privilege of serving some of Nashville’s most awesome people on a regular basis. From tourists to athletes to politicians and the average local, I take pride in each and every opportunity to make someone’s special occasion a notch above the rest; and if I do say so myself, we do a damn good job.

So if all this seems like a lot, I’d say you’re right. But honestly, I wouldn’t want it any other way. It’s a life worth living and I’m in love with the process. So to make this story even crazier… What if I told you that we’re just getting started 😉

 - Chef Dev

Soooo, What Do You Do?