VibeSociety

Carlos Gaytan, world-renowned chef, sits down with us on a special episode of The Face of Chicago Business to share his story.

Carlos came from humble beginnings growing up in a small town in Mexico called Huitzuco, the inspiration for his current restaurant masterpiece in Chicago’s Gold Coast, Tzuco. Growing up in such a small town, it was difficult to dream big. There weren’t many examples of success. For Carlos, he didn’t always know he wanted to cook but he started washing dishes in a hotel to break into the hospitality industry. 

“Then from thereI tried to get to another restaurant early so I could learn to prep meals and things like that. So I was the first one there and the last one to leave.”

An incredibly hard worker, Carlos learned so much from growing up his hometown and from his mother, his biggest inspiration. It’s these flavors that he strives to bring to Chicago and his cuisine. 

Like many chefs, Carlos was French trained and spent many of his early years cooking French cuisine to the point where he was running a French bistro, Bistrot Margot, that had become the best French restaurant in the icty for three years in a row.

This laid the foundation for his two-time Michelin Star winning restaurant, Mexique. Fusing French and Mexican cuisines, Mexique was incredibly popular in its heyday, making Carlos the first Mexican-born chef to be awarded a Michelin Star. “Now we have six different chefs,” Carlos tells us. 

For Carlos, being an entrepreneur has always been about family. 

“I just want to have a business so that I can help my family. That I can make sure my kids can go to college and I can help my wife and everything.”

After a decade of success with Mexique and a successful restaurant in Mexico that is still thriving, he’s moved on to start a new venture here in Chicago, Tuzco. 

And this is all merely a brief synopsis of an impressive resume. What’s even more impressive is the man himself and his story of success and blessings. Tune in to this episode of The Face of Chicago Business Podcast to hear more about Carlos Gaytan and the beautiful soul behind the award winning cuisine.

The Face of Chicago Business had the pleasure of sitting down with Alexandra Sossa. Alexandra is the Executive Director of FLAP, the Farm Worker and Landscaper Advocacy Project. FLAP is an organization committed to improving working conditions and opportunities for low-income workers and their households in the cannery, farming, greenhouse, landscaping, meat, nursery, packinghouse, poultry, restaurant, and snow plowing industries.

Originally from Medellin Colombia, she’s been in Chicago since 2000. Growing up on a coffee farm, both of Alexandra’s parents had careers in law. Her father was an attorney who was always fighting for workers’ rights and representing farm workers. Meanwhile, her mother was a prosecutor working to defend low-income workers. This inspired Alexandra to pursue a similar career and she graduated from the Medellin University School of Law. 

After law school, she worked at the Attorney General’s office during the time of Pablo Escobar’s reign in Medellin. With her whole family in the business of protecting the law, it was an incredibly dangerous time. Alexandra shares how she had witnessed Escobar’s men separate the men from the women at a bar, killing all the men on the spot. 

Having a passion to fight for workers’ rights and knowing that would get her killed in Colombia, Alexandra moved to Spain where she had the opportunity to work with the Mexican Embassy. From there, love brought her to Chicago following her new husband who was studying in the city at the time. 

“Many people moved to the United States looking for the American dream. And my American dream was to be able to do something that I enjoy. To be able to fight for human rights. I grew up under the philosophy and the statement that you can be successful in life and you can try to carry on those who are not as successful.”

She notes that Illinois is much more welcoming to the immigrant community than most other States. 

Tune into this episode to hear more about Alexandra’s incredible story, how she came to find FLAP and more about the work they’re doing on The Face of Chicago Business Podcast. 

Chef Noah Zamler, currently the chef at The Press Room in West Loop, joins us on this episode of The Face of Chicago Business Podcast. 

Noah grew up in Southeastern Michigan in a small town called Beverly Hills. The youngest of three children in a Jewish and Italian family, Noah’s exposure to cooking and food came at an early age. 

“That passion really just came from my family. On one side it's a big Jewish family and on the other side, it's a big Italian family.

So everything centered around cooking and eating. My earliest memories are being in my grandma's kitchen and helping her make cannelloni or holding out pasta to dry on my arms.”

When Noah was only 11 years-old, his father passed away. Two years leading up to his passing, his father went blind and Noah and his siblings needed to grow up quickly.  As he puts it, it was his “first stint” at making food for other people. Seeing what his family was going through, he wanted to find something he could do to ease the burden on everyone else. 

“I thought to myself, what's one thing that I can do that would take something off of everyone's plate? So I started making school lunches for my brother and sister.”

By the time he was 14, he needed a job so he showed up at a restaurant to demand one. 

“You're going to give me a job. And they said, well, you're 14. You're not going to work here. And I said, well, I'll come into work tomorrow and if I don't do a good job, then you can tell me and I'll be out of my way. And I guess I did a good enough job that they let me keep coming back.”

Since then, Noah has followed his passion for food. Growing up in the Detroit metro area, he shares how he was exposed to the farm to table movement early on. 

“What Detroit has that Chicago doesn't, is that there's so much open land in the city limits. So what started to happen is these urban farmers would come and buy up city lots and start farms. So the farm to table concept in the city became this, ‘you're not even going outside of the city, you were going down the street.’”

It resonated with him how they were building communities of different chefs and different restaurants along with the farmers. It’s become a passion of his especially as he sees so many supply chain issues in the restaurant industry, 

Listen to this episode of The Face of Chicago Business Podcast to hear more about Noah’s story and his journey in the restaurant industry.

Angela Cox joins us on this episode of The Face of Chicago Business Podcast to tell us more about her story.

Angela grew up in Peoria, IL, home of Catepillar, Inc. during a time when there was a lot of tension between Union Workers and management. Angela’s father was a UAW (United Auto Workers) working for Caterpillar and she recounts how at one point, her parents were raising four children on a $60/week strike salary. 

“It was a real indelible mark on my understanding of work, work ethic and loyalties and all kinds of things like that, growing up in that environment.”

Angela discusses her journey of understanding her own internal wiring and how she’s now helping others with her company, Three Kindnesses, better understand their own wiring. 

“Wouldn't it be great if we all knew we all had our own sort of operating manual to go: ‘actually, that's not going to work for me because of these reasons.’ We don't have that. So, I think that part of the vision that has come to me and that's driving Three Kindnesses now is, can we just help people better understand their own wiring?”

Along that journey, Angela has earned three English degrees (Bachelors, Masters, and P.h.D.) and has taught countless people in the classroom. Her goal was to become a college professor and a writer. You’ll have to tune in to find out where she ended up but as she eloquently quotes Douglass Adams:

“I may not have gotten where I wanted to go but I ended up where I needed to be.”

Listen to this episode of The Face of Chicago Business Podcast to hear more about Angela’s story, get into the discussion of empathy and how our brains are wired, and how she’s taken lessons over the years to apply those teachings to all aspects of her life.

https://www.tfocb.com/tfocb-podcast/angela-cox

On this episode of The Face of Chicago Business Podcast, Odell Mitchell sits down with us and tells his story of growing up in the Illinois suburbs of St. Louis to an Entertainment Attorney in Chicago.

Odell grew up in a family that was creatively focused. His father was a photographer for the  St. Louis Post Dispatch, his sister went to Columbia College in Chicago to study music, while his mom has always been into dancing, painting, singing, etc. For Odell, it didn’t hit him until he was a teenager. At that point, he went on to study music business in college and became an artist himself. This laid the groundwork for his success as an Entertainment Attorney protecting his clients. 

“I'm the one who has the passion to make sure these things are done right and in the service of people's values so that it's still enjoyable, but also something that people see, etc. It is very much a place of advocacy and protection, both of the arts and the people who are proponents of them.”

Odell shares his experience of being an entrepreneur and gives insight into what has helped him on his journey:

“​​One of the things that I often talk to people about in my work and just in general, is being able to move in a way that is connected to your values. That's one of the things that really helps drive an entrepreneurial experience. If you know why you're moving in a certain direction or why you're drawn to things or why you're repelled by things, then it's not reactive.”

Tune into this episode to hear more of Odell’s wisdom and about his experiences on this episode of The Face of Chicago Business Podcast.

Stephanie Welter is a Chicago girl through and through. Growing up in Jefferson Park with her siblings and neighborhood friends, everything about her upbringing, according to Stephanie, was pleasant. Her mom had a saying that always seemed to bring everything into perspective: “I know a bad day and this ain’t one.”

“She completely formed my mindset, which I call the deathbed theory. It's everyday I picture if I was on my death, I would look back on today and, I’d just want one more normal day. One more day of my toddler crying and getting syrup on my good couch, you know?”

Stephanie has taken this positive approach she’s learned from her mom and applies it to all aspects of her life. Everyone has challenges, but for Stephanie it’s about maintaining empathy but not letting emotion control her and always coming up with a plan.

She also shares the beautiful story of how her and her husband came together. From growing up together as kids in the Northwestern side of Chicago never thinking they’d ever end up dating, to getting married, having kids and creating a beautiful life together.

As a person who has dealt with anxiety and panic attacks, Stephanie shares her own personal journey of how she’s been able to constantly remind herself in those moments to take a step back and shift her mindset in that moment. She calls her process identifying her three gorillas: black, blue, and pink or as she translates it: worry, guilt, and dopamine. 

“If you give it a name, it takes away its power, but I gave it more than a name. I made them into gorillas.”

Tune in on this episode of The Face of Chicago Business podcast to hear more about Stephanie’s story from family, to her career journey, to her advice on how to manage the tough things in life. 

True unsung heroes are few and far between and Edgar Montiel is toward the top of the list. Growing up in Cicero as the oldest of five boys in a low income family, Edgar and his brothers found their after-school safe haven in the Boy’s Club of South Cicero.

Currently the last standing Boy’s (only) Club under the Boys & Girls Club umbrella, it still only charges families $10 a year for their kids to be members. As someone who benefited greatly from the club as a youth, Edgar now is the CEO helping to give countless kids the same safe haven experience he coveted when he was their age. 

A neighborhood that’s often plagued with drugs and gang violence, the Boys Club of South Cicero gives them an opportunity to get their homework done, play sports with their friends, and participate in a variety of activities under the supervision of safe adults. 

The eldest son of a Mexican family, Edgar often had a lot of responsibility and restrictions put on him growing up. But, ever the explorer, as soon as he got the chance to try something radically different, he decided to attend SIU six hours away from home. The experiences he’s had both as a student and travelling the world by himself since has uniquely equipped him to support the kids he works with and their families. 

“How can we get help in every aspect? You know, it's not just here at the Club. We're going to help you with your application, this and that. We're going to keep in touch when you're in school. We send care packages to students at different campuses. It's for them to understand that we're still there for them. It doesn't end when you turn 19 years old.”

On this episode of The Face of Chicago Business Podcast, hear more about Edgar’s stories from solo adventures to helping the youth of Chicago and learn how you can get involved and help the Boys Club of South Cicero.

https://www.tfocb.com/tfocb-podcast/edgar-montiel

From a small town in Albania to Chicago, Andis Combi shares his story as an Eastern European immigrant turned businessman. 

Moving to Chicago from (at the time) communist Albania when he was 13 was no easy transition for Andis. Culturally, he talks about how the openness of Albanians made him very receptive to learning and understanding the culture of the U.S. However, there was still so much for him to learn and at the time, business was the furthest thing from his mind. 

He went from wanting to live a life in the Criminal Justice world based on what he would see on TV to finding a true passion for technology. 

Andis was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and started taking risks and achieving success by following his passions. One of the most important things to him, though, is giving back:

“When you come from a place where you don't have anything and when you've been poor and you learn what it takes to achieve certain levels of success, it's a different satisfaction that you get when you give to people.”

For Andis is not about handouts but about giving people the opportunity to achieve whatever their dreams are. 

“We just want to provide a resource or a path for someone that doesn't necessarily have that Ivy league school experience or that fatherly figure at home.”

Learn more about Andis’ story, how he marries his love of technology and real estate, and how he’s helping mentor the future generation of entrepreneurs on this episode of The Face of Chicago Business Podcast.

Cory Warfield’s incredible story begins with witnessing the St. Helens volcano eruption from Oregon at the age of two. Knowing from an early age he wanted to "be a boss," he immediately told his family he didn't want to live there anymore. That brought the Warfield family to Chicago in 1980. 

Traumatic life events in his teens led Cory to the streets of the West Coast where he was homeless for a few years starting at the age of 18. Over the next few years, his life was riddled with living off of scraps and run-ins with the law that eventually led to his ‘wake up’ call. After getting the crap kicked out of him, enough was enough. Working his way up from dishwasher to Sommelier over the course of a few years, Cory then went onto manage a celebrity hot-spot steakhouse in downtown Chicago.

Only five years ago he waited on his last table to start his first tech company. Since then, he has helped raise over 15 million dollars and continues to not only build up his own companies but also help others build theirs. Corey’s story is one of fierce determination and humble inspiration.

After growing up in Johannesburg, South Africa, living in the UK and across the US, Rene de Coning and her family settled in Chicago. As the first one in her family to obtain a college degree, Rene is not only financially supportive but she’s the emotional, cultural, and spiritual glue that holds them all together.

From humble roots, she has dedicated her life to supporting others on their journey to live their very best life. She’s currently the President and Owner of MustardSeed Insights, Inc. putting all her years of acquired knowledge from Corporate positions to work by coaching others in life and leadership. She’s a Certified Professional Coach and works on in-depth leadership programs through a collaboration with LMI-Chicago.    

Rene offers pro bono coaching for those who can’t afford it and is constantly blown away by the successes her graduates share with her after they finish her program. After her own kids graduated from school and left home, she and her husband, excited to start the next chapter as empty-nesters, moved into a beautiful 4-story townhouse while she was busy building two businesses and taking classes to get her coaching certification. Right after moving into their home, her husband suffered a devastating fall, fracturing his C2 vertebrae and was paralyzed from the waist down. 

The emotional and physical challenges have been overwhelming but through their combined passion, drive, and optimism, her husband continues to improve his dexterity. And throughout it all, Rene continues to provide her utmost support to others on their journey of discovery and growth and build her business. 

Rene will be the first to tell you she is blessed beyond measure.