Shoneji Robison

It would be so cute if I could say I've loved to cook since I was a toddler, but the truth is, the last place I wanted to be was in the kitchen! I actually think my mother thought I would be a lost cause when it came to knowing what to do when it came to food. To be very honest, I'm not quite sure when the shift happened for me to really have a love and passion for cooking, but I'm so happy it did. What I do know is that I come from a huge family that all "puts it down" in the kitchen.

On my dads side of the family, there was my grandmother who owned a restaurant and work in food service until she passed away. We would always look forward to going over to grandma's on Saturday mornings to indulge on the big breakfast that all true southerners know about, complete with the grits and homemade biscuits. Oh, but with grandma there was one catch. She was an early riser, 3:30am to be exact so if you weren't there by 8am her kitchen was closed! Being the kid that I was I would straggle over between 11 and 11:30 only to get my face cracked to find everything put away and the kitchen spotless.

Around 10 years old grandma said she would show me exactly what to do to be able to get the biscuits that I so loved without, "bugging her nerves". LOL. And it went from there. I was pretty lucky because I as mentioned everyone in the family is a culinary genius! My dad actually taught my mother how to cook, but my mom always had the love for baking. When I left for college and got my first apartment is when I really realized that I had a gift. It actually shocked me to see that I could make a pot of greens, black eyed peas, and of course a cake for dessert, I often joke and say I must have learned by osmosis. Needless to say, my house was the place to be. And if there was ever something I wasn't too sure about, I would just pick up the phone and mom or dad would walk me through it. I actually still do that today. The biggest compliment is that now mommy calls me to walk her through it.

Since college, my friends had been telling me that I should sell my desserts and I fought it and fought it, but God has a funny way of making you see things. And bringing Catarah into my life was that way. I have embraced the gifts that I have been given and because of that, and the partnership with Catarah, He has allowed us to have a thriving business and we haven't looked back.