EP84: Part II Chef Ashley Brown: Chopped to Leading at Four by Brother Luck

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Welcome back to part two of Chef Ashley Brown's incredible culinary journey.

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In this episode, we dive even deeper into her passion, resilience, and leadership in the kitchen.

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Let's continue on Ashley's journey.

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The competition started the container of bacon fat went missing.

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where did this thing go?

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I ended up losing, now I think I lost because, the guy that I was competing against, his parents were there, The thing was missing.

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The container of bacon fat went missing.

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I was like, where did this thing go?

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I ended up losing, now I think I lost because, the guy that I was competing against, his parents were there he gave his parents like a couple little bites.

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So people were like, oh, that's so sweet.

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And I had no one.

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Okay.

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Husband.

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Now,

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Yeah, but remember, you're competing against yourself.

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I learned this from you, right.

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So, yeah.

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Yeah.

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You compete against a chef or someone else.

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My husband was there, but we weren't even dating at the time.

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So he was the only person that I had to kind of support me.

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I compete against this guy.

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his name's Thomas Hensley,

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Mm-hmm.

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Tommy Boy.

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later on, him and I ended up starting to work together at the zoo,

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Oh, wow.

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Hensley and I, yes, he, and he's a great friend right now.

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Him and his girl about to get married.

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she used to be part of front of house,

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Mm-hmm.

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with the most, and of course the, the cook together.

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But, yeah, no, I competed against him and I lost.

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but it was a great, it was a great experience and to have a relationship come outta that too.

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And from then on, I. I loved what Brother did, I loved what he did for the community and all the local people.

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all the local cooks and chefs that are in town and what he would do to help, get them exposure and help them see where they can go.

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So from then on, my husband and I, once we started to date, our first date was, Warner Brothers, themed dinners.

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And it

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Oh my gosh.

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That's awesome.

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it was a painting, it was like a Bob Ross kind of thing.

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he hired a live painter.

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His name is Shaggy.

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And so the live painter would paint these photos while brother would explain the dishes that he was gonna serve us, and it would look just like the plate.

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It was amazing.

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So that was my, my husband's first date with brother.

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And we would always go to his themed dinners.

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That was always like our date night.

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And so I tried to show brother, I was like, he's not gonna know who I am, but I love what his, his ideas and how he creates these things.

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I wanna get on this level.

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So, what's the best way to get on that level then to experience it.

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I'm still definitely not on that level yet, but I know how he works and I'm, I'm trying to get

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Mm-hmm.

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So finally, like I said, when Covid hit just a few weeks, we, my, Bo Green and I went to his restaurant and collaborated with Tonya Holland and him for the Top Chef dinner.

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And so after that, I've started to realize like how his kitchens work and everything.

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I really wanted establish, I want him to know who I was and that I was very passionate for him, passionate for what I wanted to do.

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Yeah.

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I get

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It wasn't even in his kitchens, but somewhere, I wanted another chef to know who I was in town, even if that wasn't, brother, it could have been anybody else.

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But you know, I've only ever known the zoo.

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So like, why not create these other relationships with chefs in town?

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So that's kind of how, I guess I started to figure out who brother was and how to, how to get in that circle, And then finally, I don't, he trusted me enough to, to run in one of his most prized possessions to this day.

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So, yeah.

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So then after that, after doing that Top Chef dinner with Bo and Brother and Tanya Holland, and like I said, when I told my chef I was bored, and him and brother were already talking.

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So now fast forward to that moment.

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I applied for it after Bo said, you should apply for it.

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So I remember coming

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blessing.

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Yeah.

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and I, I go back on it conveniently, it was still there, and I said, apply.

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And I was like, what did I just do?

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Oh my God, I'm giving up everything that I just, I all the years to this one company who gave their years to me.

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And I was like, did that just happen?

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So, so finally we get to, an interview with the, the co the chef de cuisine.

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His name was, Michael Noll.

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so he was the chef de cuisine over there at the time.

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And to the interview, he gave me a mystery basket,

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Oh my gosh.

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Wow.

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Very cool.

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And you'd already been doing the knife thing,

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Yeah.

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oh my gosh.

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That's awesome.

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basket, it was, you're gonna, you're gonna show us what you can do.

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This is the interview.

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You're gonna show us what you can do.

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Anyone can put anything on a resume.

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So it's very smart for them to do that.

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And let's see where your skillset is.

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Let's see what your time management is.

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Let's see your, where your creativity is.

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I was applying to be sous chef.

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All those things are needing to be applied.

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So that was a beautiful way to see where someone actually is in their career.

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So in that basket, it was sea bass, not Chilian, but it was sea bass, buttermilk, peaches, and black barley.

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Oh, and a whole New York strip to butcher.

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Surf and turf right there.

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So I ended up doing a three course, a three course meal for them.

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It was for brother, chef Mike.

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our gm, Matt and their, catering director, Amanda.

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And so for the first course, I ended up doing ceviche with the sea bass, and I did a buttermilk panna for dessert with the grilled peaches, the grilled peaches, and the New York strip.

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I just, I butchered, and when I say butchered, it's not even in a good way, like I butchered it.

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I didn't know how, I didn't know how to break down a whole New York strip at the time.

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we, we always got in everything, at the zoo.

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We couldn't really get in whole animals, that's a, there's a ton of people to be going, imagine all the timing to put into that.

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So I didn't really learn butchery

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yeah.

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You don't have, but yeah, that makes sense.

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You don't have butchery there.

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Yeah.

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like of course I can

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That's a hotel hotel's butchery.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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bone chickens and things like that.

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Not whole half animals.

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So I ended up doing a grilled steak and black barley.

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The black barley was so undercooked.

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I never worked with black barley before, and it was so undercooked and this meal was just awful.

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Oh.

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And including with that, our spa of four was there too.

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And to this day, whenever we do dinners, I'm like, reme, remember how bad I sucked when I started?

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And then now here we are, it's so fun to see how one grows.

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The progression.

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Yeah.

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yeah.

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So, so I ended up doing, doing all that, presented it to them.

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And I'm just so shaky.

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And brother, whenever you present him something, or if you're feeding him, like you're giving him an experience, he knows how to just.

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Mute his face.

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He's not gonna give you enthusiasm.

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He's not gonna give you anything negative.

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He's gonna be straight faced, very monotone.

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So you can't read him, like you, you're not gonna say

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Oh, that's hard.

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Or you're not gonna be like, oh my God,

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want the feedback one way or the other, right?

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I mean, you definitely want something.

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very intimidating.

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Yeah, I believe it.

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he even like anything?

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what's going through with this man's mind?

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And I have, I, to this day, I have no idea what he even thought of, of that meal.

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I have no idea.

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I should probably ask him sometimes.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I have no idea what, what he thought of.

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but I asked them, I'm like, okay, what's the, what's the next steps?

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And they're like, we have a few candidates, to, to interview.

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And I'll never forget Chef Mike, he asked me, what's the most, what, what is the most, Oh, I can't remember like the exact words, but what's the craziest thing that, that you've done in this industry?

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and I said this right here, and by that I meant apply for another job.

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I've given all of my dedication, loyalty to SSA, I didn't know.

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I've never gone anywhere.

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SSA was all that I knew and I've never applied anywhere else.

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I never wanted to go anywhere else.

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And so by me interviewing to be a sous chef at four was the first jump off of a cliff I've ever done.

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And I, I cried and I was like, this is, this is the first thing that I've done and I'm, I

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I totally get

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no, I totally understand that.

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I was like, I feel like Mike, why am I crying?

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This is an interview.

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Right.

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But, so we go on and then a couple days passes by and Chef Mike calls me, he goes, Hey, I wanna.

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Schedule a time for you to come in, let's chit chat.

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And so I tell my husband, I was like, that's them rejecting me.

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I, I don't, I don't got the job.

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And my husband was like, they're calling you to come in.

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I don't think that's means to, they, they would probably tell you on the phone that you don't have the job.

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They wouldn't have you come in just to tell you don't have the job.

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I was like, I don't know.

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I'm just not, I don't wanna get my hopes up.

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So I come in and Chef Mike, all he does was hand me a blue binder with the keys to the building in it.

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Oh my gosh,

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And I was all like, no freaking way out of all these other people that you have interviewed.

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And I don't know who they interviewed, but I was like the one person, this is my second job.

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This is now officially my second job.

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I don't know, I have nothing else under my belt.

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I don't,

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But they saw, see, they saw something in you.

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That's what it is.

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I can tell right away because I saw it in you, like when we connected.

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Honestly, there's something very unique and it probably goes back.

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That's why I always ask people about their childhood.

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At seven years old, you wanted to be a chef.

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I mean, how could that not be obvious?

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Right, and and it's like for me, okay, I'll just tell you really quick.

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When I got into technology, they saw something in me.

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Because I brought hospitality into technology, right.

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They didn't care that I didn't have all the technical skills.

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They knew how driven I was, so somebody took a chance on me, right?

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You don't have to have all the skills, you have to prove yourself, but that's what separates you.

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yeah,

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And I can tell right away, I'm pretty good at reading people, coming from hospitality,

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yeah.

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You

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kind of have that skill, right?

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But, that's what I see immediately.

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And I'm sure listeners are picking up on it right now when, when they're listening, because it, it's part partly charisma.

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It's partly drive.

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there are a lot of chefs that have attitude, right?

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And, oh, you're not trainable.

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I'll bet you they ran into that.

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There's a sous chef potential.

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Oh, he's not trainable, he's gonna be a problem.

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Or she's gonna be a problem.

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No, no.

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You're passionate.

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You, you're a team player.

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It's really obvious that you want to be here.

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That's probably why.

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That's what I'm observing.

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So I don't know.

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But

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But obviously it worked out.

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'cause now you're running it and that's fricking amazing.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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So he had another location at the time, it was called Lucky Dumpling.

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So I was with four as a sous chef for six months,

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Yeah.

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and then he promoted me to become CDC at Lucky Dumpling.

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Wow.

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And so I started to run that for nine months, no soup.

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I was at, I was a sous chef for six months and then I, I ran Lucky Dumpling for nine months and then we had an unfortunate passing.

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Chef Mike passed away.

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Oh, geez.

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Yeah.

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So it was very, very, very sudden and I'm still just kind of doing my thing over at Lucky, trying to figure out how to become A-A-C-D-C, how to run, a restaurant efficiently.

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So that's where I started to get those skills just

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And I really missed the culture at four and I really missed the, the cuisine.

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I felt like I fit in at four because it is, it is southwestern, it is the Four Corners region.

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I Lucky Dumpling was, Asian and Creole infused two cuisines that I couldn't.

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Relate with.

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Right.

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So it was kind of hard to, to really dive into Lucky Dumpling myself, because I knew I fit in more at four.

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And I, and I told brother, I was like, I wanna come back.

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And, and I knew I had ab, I had big, big, big shoes to fill after Chef Mike passed away, but he, he gave me a chance and then I moved back over to four As CDC, and I am now the, the longest running chef that he's had at four.

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so I've been running four as c, d, C for the last four years.

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That's amazing.

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That's really, really amazing.

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So the other thing I want to talk about is chopped.

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Mm-hmm.

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tell us a little bit what you can remember.

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So basically, first of all, how did you end up un chopped?

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I dreamed of working or going un chopped at like many, many people.

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Now I'm out of practice.

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My wife will tell you.

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All I do is talk about it because I'm on the podcast all the time.

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So I don't cook that much.

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But what was that like and how did you end up there?

00:13:43.837 --> 00:13:49.538
so I post a lot on social media, mainly Instagram.

00:13:49.648 --> 00:13:59.128
so someone from their production team reached out via Instagram, no email or anything.

00:13:59.128 --> 00:14:03.388
It was just the, my, my dms of Instagram.

00:14:03.388 --> 00:14:05.807
And they're like, Hey, we love, all your content.

00:14:05.807 --> 00:14:08.687
We love what you do, we see who you work for.

00:14:09.168 --> 00:14:12.268
And we, we'd love to set up time to talk.

00:14:12.748 --> 00:14:14.008
this is for the show Chopped.

00:14:14.427 --> 00:14:17.788
And so I was like, oh, no, no freaking way.

00:14:17.847 --> 00:14:18.238
No, no,

00:14:18.268 --> 00:14:19.077
It's a scam.

00:14:19.138 --> 00:14:19.798
It's a scam.

00:14:19.798 --> 00:14:20.097
Right?

00:14:20.817 --> 00:14:21.268
I know.

00:14:21.268 --> 00:14:24.148
I've had those and then they're not scams, and I'm like, what?

00:14:24.327 --> 00:14:24.628
Oh,

00:14:24.658 --> 00:14:33.498
ended up going with it and then having the call, and talked to a couple of people from their production team and they're like, okay, well we just wanna get like a baseline.

00:14:33.498 --> 00:14:34.457
what do you do?

00:14:34.998 --> 00:14:37.548
what's, oh, tell me, tell us a little bit about yourself.

00:14:37.548 --> 00:14:44.758
And then, it was a quick, probably about 20, 30 minute phone call and, just tell'em everything that I've told you, but very briefly.

00:14:45.567 --> 00:14:49.488
And they're like, okay, so let's go on with another, let's go on with a Zoom.

00:14:49.548 --> 00:14:53.807
We wanna see your face, we wanna see what kind of character you are.

00:14:54.107 --> 00:15:01.067
So we went on with a Zoom call and just kind of like, and I'm not one, I wasn't, I'm not into tv.

00:15:01.067 --> 00:15:02.298
I was very shy

00:15:02.493 --> 00:15:03.033
Oh, wow.

00:15:03.467 --> 00:15:10.212
very timid, just kind of like, oh, hi, my name's Ashley and and so I didn't know how to, I.

00:15:11.097 --> 00:15:12.177
Be a character.

00:15:12.177 --> 00:15:17.457
I didn't know what if I envisioned myself being a character, what would that look like?

00:15:17.457 --> 00:15:21.357
I never asked myself that question, but they really kind of pull it outta you.

00:15:21.748 --> 00:15:24.597
They're like, okay, you're competing against this kind of person.

00:15:24.597 --> 00:15:25.857
What are you gonna tell them?

00:15:26.187 --> 00:15:27.118
Oh, wow.

00:15:27.388 --> 00:15:30.148
like they're, they're, they're prying and they're poking at you.

00:15:30.148 --> 00:15:31.197
What are you gonna tell him?

00:15:31.197 --> 00:15:32.668
Why do you think you're gonna win?

00:15:33.087 --> 00:15:36.557
You know what, you're from Colorado.

00:15:36.557 --> 00:15:40.128
What does Colorado have that's that no one else can get?

00:15:40.138 --> 00:15:41.368
questions like that.

00:15:41.368 --> 00:15:57.477
So I really try my absolute hardest to kind of like speak a little louder and out forward and things like that, and just kind of see, how brother does it, he'll do these things like posting a lot of his social medias and things like that.

00:15:57.477 --> 00:16:00.477
He's already got that tv, personality out.

00:16:00.732 --> 00:16:01.153
yeah.

00:16:01.393 --> 00:16:01.903
Charisma.

00:16:01.903 --> 00:16:02.202
Yep.

00:16:02.207 --> 00:16:02.427
Yep.

00:16:02.548 --> 00:16:08.067
Hold some things from him, which I'm thankful for that he's exposed me to it.

00:16:08.067 --> 00:16:10.307
So, that kind of helped out a lot.

00:16:10.577 --> 00:16:15.018
So then finally, just a couple more interviews passes by, just the same things.

00:16:15.018 --> 00:16:27.697
And then okay, we wanna do, we wanna bring out some, some of our film crew come to you and, interview, show you where you're at, show the location, things like that.

00:16:27.697 --> 00:16:28.687
Take some photos.

00:16:29.168 --> 00:16:30.278
And I was like, okay.

00:16:30.337 --> 00:16:38.768
And then finally I get an email that said, okay, so here's everything that you need to know about being un chopped.

00:16:39.607 --> 00:16:41.528
It wasn't all that clear.

00:16:41.528 --> 00:16:45.427
I was like, hold on, I need to know, is this real?

00:16:45.437 --> 00:16:47.357
it says okay, you're, you're un chopped.

00:16:47.357 --> 00:16:48.592
And I was like, no, no, no, no, no.

00:16:49.038 --> 00:16:52.067
So I asked brother, I was like, I wanna make sure that this is not a scam.

00:16:52.832 --> 00:16:53.582
I really wanna make

00:16:53.643 --> 00:16:54.513
yeah, I get it.

00:16:54.572 --> 00:16:55.383
I totally get it.

00:16:55.682 --> 00:16:56.702
different emails.

00:16:56.702 --> 00:16:59.613
And so I was forwarding him some of his stuff.

00:16:59.613 --> 00:17:03.273
And so of course he still has some of his emails from when he was on there.

00:17:03.273 --> 00:17:06.692
He goes, okay, this is the email that I have, JS casting, anything like that.

00:17:06.692 --> 00:17:07.863
I was like, this isn't the people.

00:17:08.432 --> 00:17:12.782
And so I was like, we're just going back and forth, back and forth, talking through it.

00:17:12.782 --> 00:17:15.423
this is what's going on, this is what they're saying, what should I do?

00:17:15.873 --> 00:17:19.133
And so I was like, okay, I'm gonna email them.

00:17:19.252 --> 00:17:25.883
He, he sends me some of the people that he worked with for Chopped, and I was like, okay, my name's Ashley Brown.

00:17:26.468 --> 00:17:31.508
This is what's going on, but I wanna make sure that this is in fact actually happening.

00:17:31.897 --> 00:17:39.077
And so the head person was like, yep, you, I can confirm you are, on you, you will be going on Chopped.

00:17:39.468 --> 00:17:40.337
Congratulations.

00:17:40.337 --> 00:17:41.448
And I was like, oh my God.

00:17:41.448 --> 00:17:41.478
I

00:17:42.333 --> 00:17:42.843
Right.

00:17:42.843 --> 00:17:43.413
Sure.

00:17:43.458 --> 00:17:48.438
I told my husband, and of course it's, it's completely confidential, you can't tell anybody.

00:17:49.038 --> 00:17:50.268
but of course, it's, it's your

00:17:50.432 --> 00:17:51.722
You're bursting inside.

00:17:51.798 --> 00:17:54.377
those kinds of things are kind of, it's a pass, you

00:17:54.603 --> 00:17:55.353
Right, right.

00:17:56.028 --> 00:17:57.647
so now this is, now hit it.

00:17:58.188 --> 00:18:00.018
No one can know about this.

00:18:00.077 --> 00:18:07.577
And I'm like, it was, I'm one of those people that if I bought a gift for you or if I made a gift for you, I wanna give it to you right then and there.

00:18:07.728 --> 00:18:08.018
Yeah.

00:18:08.022 --> 00:18:08.583
Yeah.

00:18:09.018 --> 00:18:10.817
like someone tells me, oh, I got a gift for you.

00:18:10.823 --> 00:18:11.448
I'm like, Ooh, what is it?

00:18:11.448 --> 00:18:11.778
What is it?

00:18:12.617 --> 00:18:21.347
So holding for months and months and months that I am on this TV show, I'm about to film this TV show was just.

00:18:22.563 --> 00:18:25.923
Just, ah, stabbing into me every single day.

00:18:26.313 --> 00:18:28.323
And so finally it came all the way up.

00:18:28.323 --> 00:18:34.403
they, some of the film crew came down, oh, Ashley Brown, floor by Brother Luck here in Colorado Springs.

00:18:34.403 --> 00:18:37.633
Give us a little, eh, some, some kind of something to work with.

00:18:37.633 --> 00:18:38.653
you got really cool hair.

00:18:38.653 --> 00:18:39.673
We, your fingers through it,

00:18:39.673 --> 00:18:40.633
Oh geez.

00:18:40.887 --> 00:18:43.557
funny things and stuff that I would never do either.

00:18:43.557 --> 00:18:45.673
ugh, ugh, I don't know.

00:18:45.673 --> 00:18:48.432
It's just, it's not it, it's not me.

00:18:48.432 --> 00:18:50.113
It wasn't me at the time.

00:18:50.712 --> 00:18:57.192
And so it really helped pry Chef Ashley to come out.

00:18:57.222 --> 00:18:59.053
And that's why I did this, was

00:18:59.397 --> 00:19:00.238
I love this.

00:19:00.238 --> 00:19:00.508
This

00:19:00.553 --> 00:19:05.623
I wanted, I went along with it, not to compete against the other chefs.

00:19:05.623 --> 00:19:08.803
I wanted to see what I could do in the nick of time.

00:19:08.803 --> 00:19:16.752
I wanted to see what, how much pressure I could go under and see how well I can maintain my composure.

00:19:17.518 --> 00:19:19.978
So that's, that's the main reason why I did it.

00:19:20.548 --> 00:19:27.837
And coming in there, they're like, okay, this is gonna be filmed in New York and here's all the details.

00:19:27.897 --> 00:19:30.417
And I was like, okay, this is happening.

00:19:31.077 --> 00:19:31.617
All right.

00:19:31.617 --> 00:19:37.907
So, and it was happening in, and it, during winter, I filmed it in, January.

00:19:37.998 --> 00:19:39.827
My mom's birthday is in December.

00:19:39.857 --> 00:19:41.897
So she's got a friend who lives in New York.

00:19:41.897 --> 00:19:43.188
I've never been to New York.

00:19:43.548 --> 00:19:48.768
So as a birthday gift, we bought her a ticket to come with me.

00:19:48.798 --> 00:19:50.208
'cause I didn't wanna go alone.

00:19:50.688 --> 00:19:55.458
And what better person to come with me than my mom who's been there since day one.

00:19:56.178 --> 00:19:57.827
So I brought my mom with me.

00:19:57.827 --> 00:19:59.657
Of course she couldn't, no one can come on set.

00:19:59.778 --> 00:20:01.307
No one, no one is allowed on set.

00:20:01.778 --> 00:20:02.617
so mom

00:20:02.678 --> 00:20:04.117
And it's long too, right?

00:20:04.117 --> 00:20:05.948
Is it like 12 or 14 hours or

00:20:05.948 --> 00:20:08.347
yeah, it, it was, it was an all day thing.

00:20:08.347 --> 00:20:16.528
It, it was just like a, like a full shift, So it was early in the morning and the studio was about five minutes away from my hotel room.

00:20:16.528 --> 00:20:16.738
So I

00:20:16.948 --> 00:20:17.218
Hmm.

00:20:17.968 --> 00:20:22.807
and you can't tell anyone and no one can tell you you don't know who you're competing against.

00:20:23.137 --> 00:20:35.107
So at six o'clock in the morning, it's still kind of dark out and you see all these other people kind of walking towards the, the studio and then you're just kinda like looking at each other are you a random person or are you here for chop?

00:20:35.123 --> 00:20:36.722
We're like, chop, chop.

00:20:38.407 --> 00:20:39.188
Wow.

00:20:39.278 --> 00:20:46.917
finally, we're gathering up and then we get, we get into the studio and we're just hanging out, having breakfast, kind of hyping ourself up.

00:20:46.948 --> 00:20:47.248
Okay.

00:20:47.367 --> 00:20:47.877
Yeah.

00:20:48.117 --> 00:20:50.728
In the studio they gave us like our own personal hype.

00:20:50.728 --> 00:20:52.347
Man, this guy was freaking awesome.

00:20:53.278 --> 00:20:58.167
but yeah, it was, it was just a crazy thing like, oh my God, I am in New York.

00:20:58.678 --> 00:21:05.877
I'm about to film a show that everybody knows about, even if it's just one, but it, it's crazy just to think of.

00:21:06.192 --> 00:21:07.692
All the places that you can go

00:21:08.847 --> 00:21:09.357
Wow.

00:21:09.553 --> 00:21:09.883
chopped,

00:21:09.932 --> 00:21:10.923
What was your basket?

00:21:11.897 --> 00:21:13.367
Oh, it was, it was a couple baskets.

00:21:13.367 --> 00:21:15.167
I wasn't chopped first, that's all I asked.

00:21:15.167 --> 00:21:17.208
I, I prayed to the universe.

00:21:17.208 --> 00:21:20.928
I was just kind of like, whatever this comes out, I really want to win.

00:21:20.928 --> 00:21:22.278
Of course, everybody wants to win,

00:21:22.502 --> 00:21:23.373
Right, right,

00:21:23.478 --> 00:21:28.097
but I asked even if I don't win, do not let me get chopped first.

00:21:28.397 --> 00:21:29.478
I did not come all this way.

00:21:29.478 --> 00:21:29.958
I did not

00:21:29.972 --> 00:21:31.053
See, that's awesome.

00:21:31.143 --> 00:21:32.403
Well, that's totally awesome.

00:21:32.718 --> 00:21:33.917
I'm doing this for my family.

00:21:33.917 --> 00:21:35.778
I'm doing this for me and doing this for my family.

00:21:35.778 --> 00:21:37.038
I wanna see what I can do.

00:21:37.038 --> 00:21:39.917
And the, the winning money, it was $25,000.

00:21:40.428 --> 00:21:41.567
This would go to my family.

00:21:42.077 --> 00:21:50.167
So getting in there, so the first basket was, quail, three sisters casserole.

00:21:50.167 --> 00:21:54.708
And at the time I had no idea what it was, even though it's in the region that I'm in, is.

00:21:58.073 --> 00:22:01.573
So Quail, three sisters Casserole, oh my God.

00:22:02.202 --> 00:22:04.333
There was something, I made a sauce out of it.

00:22:04.393 --> 00:22:05.472
Oh, I don't even remember.

00:22:05.472 --> 00:22:05.833
Wow.

00:22:06.163 --> 00:22:07.637
it was about a year and a half ago, so I

00:22:07.782 --> 00:22:07.992
Okay.

00:22:08.022 --> 00:22:08.982
Yeah, no, I get it.

00:22:08.982 --> 00:22:09.073
I

00:22:09.298 --> 00:22:10.553
but, work with quail.

00:22:10.553 --> 00:22:15.353
And so this, this episode was around this region.

00:22:15.383 --> 00:22:18.413
This is around, most of the chefs come from New Mexico, Texas.

00:22:18.502 --> 00:22:19.133
Colorado,

00:22:19.192 --> 00:22:19.913
Southwest.

00:22:19.942 --> 00:22:20.603
Southwest.

00:22:20.873 --> 00:22:21.323
Got it.

00:22:21.383 --> 00:22:21.893
Yeah.

00:22:22.238 --> 00:22:22.528
Cool.

00:22:22.853 --> 00:22:27.133
So a lot of these things, of course, like we play with, but so I remember searing off this quail.

00:22:27.133 --> 00:22:32.553
I did the spiced quail and the judges were really impressed with how I did that.

00:22:32.853 --> 00:22:34.292
And the three sisters casserole.

00:22:34.292 --> 00:22:37.803
It was, it essentially was like something that my mom made when I was a kid called,

00:22:38.103 --> 00:22:38.252
Oh,

00:22:38.942 --> 00:22:41.553
which is squash and tomatoes.

00:22:42.147 --> 00:22:43.198
dark spices like that.

00:22:43.198 --> 00:22:45.268
So I just took it and just ran with it.

00:22:45.268 --> 00:22:49.708
I just reheated it up and seasoned it a bit more than what it actually was.

00:22:50.307 --> 00:22:55.688
And three sisters casserole has like this biscuit thing, so I just exited that, get that outta here.

00:22:56.167 --> 00:23:00.728
And so that's, that was kind of the, the first course and passed.

00:23:00.847 --> 00:23:01.837
So I passed through it.

00:23:01.897 --> 00:23:02.528
Oh my God.

00:23:02.528 --> 00:23:03.307
It was insane.

00:23:03.307 --> 00:23:05.137
I'm like, each, each one.

00:23:05.137 --> 00:23:07.478
I was like, for the first one I was very confident in.

00:23:07.478 --> 00:23:09.637
I was like, no, I think I got this.

00:23:10.087 --> 00:23:12.877
But I was like, but then again, still don't get your hopes up.

00:23:13.432 --> 00:23:13.643
Yeah.

00:23:13.643 --> 00:23:14.423
Right, right.

00:23:14.557 --> 00:23:16.028
But I was like, it was a great dish.

00:23:16.057 --> 00:23:17.317
I was very happy with it.

00:23:17.377 --> 00:23:18.907
Even if the judges weren't, I was.

00:23:19.327 --> 00:23:23.587
so then finally the wild passes by, we're still sitting in the room.

00:23:23.587 --> 00:23:28.988
We have lunch and waiting on for the next part to, to come in.

00:23:28.988 --> 00:23:32.827
So the next part, the second basket was, elk tenderloin.

00:23:33.877 --> 00:23:36.097
Biggest elk tenderloin I've ever seen in my entire life.

00:23:36.097 --> 00:23:36.367
Oh my

00:23:36.593 --> 00:23:36.863
Elk.

00:23:36.923 --> 00:23:37.492
You said elk?

00:23:37.492 --> 00:23:37.853
Correct.

00:23:38.633 --> 00:23:39.143
Oh, wow.

00:23:40.103 --> 00:23:40.823
Very gamey.

00:23:41.048 --> 00:23:41.948
yes, it

00:23:41.962 --> 00:23:42.053
Mm-hmm.

00:23:42.097 --> 00:23:42.817
huge.

00:23:42.847 --> 00:23:49.178
It was like a beef tenderloin and the elk tenderloin that I actually had, I had on my menu at four and it was little,

00:23:49.268 --> 00:23:50.288
Oh, awesome.

00:23:50.617 --> 00:23:52.087
little teeny, tiny medallions.

00:23:52.117 --> 00:23:52.958
It was delicious.

00:23:52.958 --> 00:23:53.798
I was like, okay, cool.

00:23:54.127 --> 00:23:59.738
It had chilies, some dried chilies and pre-made cheese tamales.

00:23:59.738 --> 00:24:01.657
The most driest, saddest things I've ever

00:24:01.718 --> 00:24:02.978
That's what they do, right?

00:24:03.038 --> 00:24:03.698
Exactly.

00:24:03.877 --> 00:24:05.167
crazy thing in there.

00:24:05.317 --> 00:24:08.587
And prickly pear also was in there too.

00:24:09.248 --> 00:24:09.698
okay.

00:24:09.698 --> 00:24:17.557
of course I remember this dish because it's the one I lost to, but this is where I got cocky.

00:24:18.488 --> 00:24:22.778
I get cocky and because I had elk tenderloin, I got chiles, I

00:24:22.782 --> 00:24:23.528
You got this.

00:24:23.528 --> 00:24:24.008
Yeah,

00:24:24.057 --> 00:24:27.048
these are all the things that I've worked with, No, this is no brainer.

00:24:27.048 --> 00:24:29.597
So I was all like, oh, is this even a challenge?

00:24:30.238 --> 00:24:33.028
And then I was like, Ashley, calm the fuck down.

00:24:34.077 --> 00:24:34.407
Yeah.

00:24:34.407 --> 00:24:34.798
Right.

00:24:34.798 --> 00:24:35.367
Sure.

00:24:36.327 --> 00:24:37.198
we go through it.

00:24:37.198 --> 00:24:47.998
And so of course we got dried chilies between, at now it's three chefs, me and two others, dried chilies that we are toasting in the studio.

00:24:48.057 --> 00:24:50.367
We ended up smoking out the studio.

00:24:50.397 --> 00:24:50.817
love

00:24:50.907 --> 00:24:51.748
All the judges

00:24:51.807 --> 00:24:52.438
awesome.

00:24:53.397 --> 00:24:54.268
that's so great.

00:24:56.518 --> 00:24:57.867
This is priceless.

00:24:57.867 --> 00:24:59.968
Ashley, this is priceless.

00:24:59.968 --> 00:25:02.667
You have given me a gift for the podcast.

00:25:02.667 --> 00:25:04.528
This is really awesome.

00:25:04.738 --> 00:25:05.847
Oh my God,

00:25:05.938 --> 00:25:10.768
I felt more bad for the cameramen because they have to be in your junk.

00:25:11.548 --> 00:25:18.327
And so these poor cameramen, they're crying, they're coughing, they're trying to hold their cameras straight and it.

00:25:19.048 --> 00:25:21.327
So it's kitchen disaster on chopped,

00:25:21.567 --> 00:25:28.827
they're like, they're at this point, they're probably like, never ever give dried chilies as an ingredient ever again.

00:25:28.857 --> 00:25:29.788
Wow.

00:25:31.107 --> 00:25:31.528
Oh my

00:25:31.542 --> 00:25:33.432
Oh man, that's, that's amazing.

00:25:33.913 --> 00:25:35.413
I, I haven't seen it.

00:25:35.413 --> 00:25:39.553
I confess 'cause we just kind of connected recently, but I've gotta watch00:25:39.718 --> 00:25:40.557


You gotta watch00:25:40.603 --> 00:25:41.593


I can't wait.00:25:41.968 --> 00:25:45.357


So this episode, while we're talking about it, this00:25:45.432 --> 00:25:46.123


What's the number?00:25:46.123 --> 00:25:47.742


So that other people, we can get 'em00:25:47.968 --> 00:25:52.198


59, episode nine called Southwestern Strength.00:25:52.603 --> 00:25:52.992


Okay.00:25:53.083 --> 00:25:55.752


And I'll put it in the show notes when, when we publish too00:25:55.798 --> 00:25:57.087


Yes, please go ahead.00:25:57.087 --> 00:26:01.978


But yeah, finally the studio gets kind of cleared out a little bit.00:26:02.682 --> 00:26:04.363


Did it hit any of the executives?00:26:04.363 --> 00:26:05.383


That's what I wanted to know.00:26:05.698 --> 00:26:06.688


Oh yeah, definitely.00:26:06.688 --> 00:26:09.208


They're like, what the, what is going on?00:26:10.137 --> 00:26:10.357


Wow.00:26:10.557 --> 00:26:10.827


God.00:26:10.827 --> 00:26:13.587


Because we're all three chefs toasting, chilies all at once,00:26:13.873 --> 00:26:14.353


Yeah.00:26:14.383 --> 00:26:14.772


Okay.00:26:15.958 --> 00:26:17.847


so we're just continuing with it.00:26:17.917 --> 00:26:18.788


so I'm butchering.00:26:18.788 --> 00:26:25.238


I go to butcher down the elk tenderloin first, while the other two are gathering their ingredients from the pantry.00:26:25.958 --> 00:26:29.077


'cause this thing's huge and I should have reversed tiered it.00:26:29.137 --> 00:26:31.057


I should have, I should have known better.00:26:31.657 --> 00:26:32.347


What's a reverse S00:26:32.377 --> 00:26:32.678


at least.00:26:33.367 --> 00:26:33.877


What's a reverse?00:26:33.877 --> 00:26:34.627


S seer so00:26:34.657 --> 00:26:42.097


reverse searing is getting it started in the oven, getting all your spices and everything on it, getting, just getting the temperature on it00:26:42.772 --> 00:26:43.063


Okay.00:26:43.357 --> 00:26:47.798


to bring it up to temperature and then you sear it at the end just to give it that color.00:26:48.323 --> 00:26:48.613


Okay.00:26:48.698 --> 00:26:54.218


So kind of opposite of what you would normally do versus sear it and then get it going the rest of the way in the oven.00:26:54.307 --> 00:26:54.847


Got it.00:26:54.938 --> 00:26:56.647


Yeah, I've heard a lot of that.00:26:56.647 --> 00:26:58.567


I've never done it, but I understand it.00:26:58.807 --> 00:27:01.448


I mean, you wanna get that really good sear and, and00:27:01.627 --> 00:27:02.137


It is great.00:27:02.137 --> 00:27:04.087


I think it kind of locks the moisture a lot00:27:04.387 --> 00:27:04.958


Yeah.00:27:04.958 --> 00:27:05.617


And flavor.00:27:05.647 --> 00:27:06.157


Sure.00:27:06.698 --> 00:27:16.508


So I should have at least just started to get the temperature on it, but I didn't, it was like the last thing that I put on, I was like, no, it's gonna be a mid rare, it'll be perfect, but00:27:16.867 --> 00:27:18.127


Your kids are so cute, by the00:27:18.218 --> 00:27:18.877


Oh, thank you.00:27:18.877 --> 00:27:20.288


I know they're s sneaking00:27:20.468 --> 00:27:23.948


They're adding a lot of, a lot of ambiance to the podcast is00:27:24.188 --> 00:27:24.607


I love it.00:27:25.028 --> 00:27:28.928


So I get that going and then I try making a gel.00:27:29.298 --> 00:27:29.567


hi.00:27:29.567 --> 00:27:29.627


Hi.00:27:30.587 --> 00:27:31.008


Oh00:27:31.067 --> 00:27:31.548


I love you.00:27:32.208 --> 00:27:32.508


You ready?00:27:32.532 --> 00:27:33.167


Are you going to bed?00:27:33.708 --> 00:27:34.127


not yet.00:27:34.127 --> 00:27:34.877


It's nine o'clock.00:27:36.048 --> 00:27:36.438


Oh, I love you.00:27:36.462 --> 00:27:37.097


Love you too.00:27:37.097 --> 00:27:37.367


Okay.00:27:37.367 --> 00:27:37.907


I'm gonna finish this.00:27:37.907 --> 00:27:38.057


Okay.00:27:38.383 --> 00:27:38.673


Okay.00:27:38.688 --> 00:27:38.958


yeah.00:27:38.958 --> 00:27:40.728


We're gonna wrap up scene, so don't worry.00:27:40.817 --> 00:27:49.242


But, so I. I, I do a, a prickly paired gel, and I try getting it in the blast cooler.00:27:49.423 --> 00:27:52.423


That is not a blast cooler, that's just any other refrigerator.00:27:52.782 --> 00:27:53.863


And it didn't set.00:27:54.042 --> 00:27:56.292


It's just this thin thing.00:27:56.383 --> 00:28:02.472


And so I ended up making a fritter out of the, the tamale, the cheese tamale.00:28:02.472 --> 00:28:03.702


I took the cheese out of it.00:28:04.032 --> 00:28:09.843


I re moistened up the, the, the masa itself, and I just take it to a pan, like a little pancake.00:28:10.452 --> 00:28:10.673


Wow.00:28:11.192 --> 00:28:20.282


And I did a demi gloss from the scraps that I cut off from the elk, and I put the chilies in there.00:28:20.282 --> 00:28:24.212


And then there was a, a quat container of beef stock in the pantry.00:28:24.288 --> 00:28:25.728


can you make a demi glass?00:28:26.252 --> 00:28:28.563


I made a demi gloss in 30 minutes.00:28:28.563 --> 00:28:30.363


I was so impressed with myself.00:28:30.363 --> 00:28:31.292


They were impressed.00:28:31.292 --> 00:28:31.742


They like, this00:28:31.788 --> 00:28:31.877


Yeah.00:28:31.877 --> 00:28:32.478


That's really00:28:32.553 --> 00:28:35.403


you would be, you, you, you had cooking for hours.00:28:35.688 --> 00:28:36.407


Yeah, I know.00:28:36.438 --> 00:28:37.458


That's why I was asking00:28:37.803 --> 00:28:41.643


When it's on your menu and someone 80 sixes it, you learn how to make something quick.00:28:42.167 --> 00:28:42.557


wow.00:28:42.557 --> 00:28:42.647


I00:28:42.692 --> 00:28:48.173


So I ended up making that in, in 30 minutes, and just reducing it, reducing it the way that you would, any other demi gloss.00:28:48.173 --> 00:28:49.432


So just keep it, keep it going.00:28:49.853 --> 00:28:57.952


And, so finally I put it up and, I plated it and it was just absolutely hideous.00:28:59.603 --> 00:29:00.893


So when00:29:00.938 --> 00:29:02.018


all this work and you00:29:02.107 --> 00:29:02.508


I know00:29:02.528 --> 00:29:06.218


really creative idea and then, and then you turn it to the judges.00:29:06.218 --> 00:29:07.657


That must be like,00:29:07.798 --> 00:29:07.917


I,00:29:07.928 --> 00:29:08.438


so00:29:08.758 --> 00:29:15.173


this was something that you would see on like a, like a banquet, I poured the DeLoss over it and then my00:29:15.353 --> 00:29:17.093


they're all, but they're all smoked out.00:29:17.153 --> 00:29:19.492


They're all smoked out anyway, so they're not gonna notice.00:29:19.538 --> 00:29:20.752


set up we're done.00:29:20.752 --> 00:29:26.742


And so, so I, I put it up and I, I had like nothing to garnish it with.00:29:26.742 --> 00:29:28.452


I didn't think that far ahead.00:29:28.813 --> 00:29:33.103


And, I just chopped up some freaking cilantro and just threw it on there.00:29:33.103 --> 00:29:33.163


I'm00:29:33.313 --> 00:29:33.732


Mm-hmm.00:29:33.853 --> 00:29:38.553


your is, so, they have this thing of it's, it's all to a pause.00:29:38.553 --> 00:29:41.182


So you put up your, hands up, you're done.00:29:41.182 --> 00:29:41.873


Time's up.00:29:42.442 --> 00:29:55.073


And so they have this thing of chef looking at plate plate looking at chef, where for 30 full seconds, your plate is up, you're standing there and you're staring at your plates while the cameras do a full 360.00:29:55.073 --> 00:29:58.123


you watch the show and it's just, tension.00:29:58.452 --> 00:30:00.103


So they do that for a whole 30 seconds.00:30:00.103 --> 00:30:03.153


And I'm just, this thing is just looking at me, just kind Ugh, help me.00:30:03.163 --> 00:30:04.182


oh my God.00:30:04.512 --> 00:30:05.383


So I'm like, you.00:30:05.502 --> 00:30:07.032


I was like, Nope, I don't got this.00:30:07.182 --> 00:30:07.932


Nope, I'm done.00:30:07.938 --> 00:30:08.682


I'm, I'm chopped.00:30:09.073 --> 00:30:09.363


yeah,00:30:09.613 --> 00:30:16.512


And so finally they get you set back and finally they, they come up and they're like, okay, who's on the chopping block?00:30:17.083 --> 00:30:19.032


Soon as they lifted, I was like, yep, it's me.00:30:19.032 --> 00:30:20.083


I accepted my fate.00:30:20.353 --> 00:30:21.192


They lifted it up.00:30:21.192 --> 00:30:24.012


I was like, yep, chef Ashley, you've been chopped.00:30:24.478 --> 00:30:25.617


yeah, yeah.00:30:25.738 --> 00:30:30.442


And, even though I, I prayed to the universe, saying I just00:30:30.448 --> 00:30:31.107


One more round.00:30:31.107 --> 00:30:31.768


One more round.00:30:32.153 --> 00:30:32.442


Yeah.00:30:32.843 --> 00:30:41.278


I wished man, but I, I told them like, as long as you weren't chopped first and I wasn't, but as soon as they go back, they do an exit interview.00:30:41.327 --> 00:30:42.048


what do you think?00:30:42.048 --> 00:30:42.798


how did it go?00:30:42.798 --> 00:30:43.758


How are you feeling?00:30:44.298 --> 00:30:48.198


And I, I bawled, I bawled my eyes out.00:30:48.198 --> 00:30:52.938


I didn't say this to anyone in the interview, during the, of course you're like, you're still holding onto your pride at that00:30:52.998 --> 00:30:53.238


Right,00:30:53.837 --> 00:30:56.897


So I cried and I was like, I wanted this to be for my family.00:30:56.897 --> 00:31:01.067


I wanted to get, just a new house and just this and that, and.00:31:01.113 --> 00:31:03.103


And then, so finally I calmed down.00:31:03.103 --> 00:31:04.542


I was like, the camera's on me.00:31:04.542 --> 00:31:10.663


Like they, they, they have me crying, but of course I told 'em, I was like, don't put this on, don't put this on, it's, it's humiliating.00:31:11.042 --> 00:31:18.692


so, they didn't put me on crying, but I was like, maybe they, once they release this, they'll see like my, my red eyes and things like that, crying.00:31:19.113 --> 00:31:29.002


But finally I calmed down, do the interview, and then, shake hands and, I didn't actually meet, I didn't get to shake hands with the, the judges or anything like that.00:31:29.002 --> 00:31:30.383


once you're done, you're done.00:31:30.712 --> 00:31:32.752


Like you, you go, you get your stuff,00:31:32.813 --> 00:31:33.202


Really?00:31:33.202 --> 00:31:33.893


That's kind of weird.00:31:34.133 --> 00:31:37.272


the chef coat and that's it, So then00:31:37.333 --> 00:31:38.053


Exit Door00:31:38.623 --> 00:31:43.603


I, my mom, she's just eagerly waiting at the hotel, they, you have to turn in your phones.00:31:43.692 --> 00:31:44.742


she couldn't watch.00:31:44.863 --> 00:31:45.883


She couldn't watch,00:31:45.913 --> 00:31:46.633


That's right.00:31:46.843 --> 00:31:47.383


call her.00:31:47.383 --> 00:31:48.042


I couldn't text her.00:31:48.042 --> 00:31:48.192


They00:31:48.222 --> 00:31:49.002


Oh my gosh.00:31:49.542 --> 00:31:51.012


'cause of course you can't tell anyone.00:31:51.012 --> 00:31:54.073


So she has no idea what's going on.00:31:54.732 --> 00:32:01.962


And so I go, I get, I open the door to, to the hotel room and she's just standing there and I'm like, I was chopped.00:32:04.452 --> 00:32:05.863


But she was like, it's okay.00:32:05.863 --> 00:32:06.792


You did it.00:32:06.792 --> 00:32:07.452


You did it.00:32:07.452 --> 00:32:09.222


And I felt really good still.00:32:09.222 --> 00:32:16.923


There was so many emotions just running through and, and then later on, her friend, he, he lives in New York, like I said earlier.00:32:16.923 --> 00:32:21.573


So after that went to a very nice dinner and just celebrated, you did it.00:32:21.633 --> 00:32:26.762


You know how many people get this opportunity, especially little town that you, that I live in.00:32:26.762 --> 00:32:28.563


So it's still a win.00:32:29.103 --> 00:32:30.212


yeah, for sure.00:32:30.377 --> 00:32:30.667


Yeah.00:32:30.847 --> 00:32:31.067


So00:32:31.292 --> 00:32:32.732


I'm, I'm really impressed.00:32:32.732 --> 00:32:33.843


I mean, I was like, wow.00:32:33.843 --> 00:32:36.992


And the people that I talked to, it's the same thing.00:32:36.992 --> 00:32:39.853


It's like one of them won, chef Ed Harris, he actually00:32:39.897 --> 00:32:40.188


yeah.00:32:40.663 --> 00:32:42.192


and oh my gosh.00:32:42.222 --> 00:32:44.563


The way he described it though, he said, it's brutal.00:32:44.563 --> 00:32:45.673


It's really tough.00:32:45.972 --> 00:32:49.663


It's, people don't realize it's a lot of work and00:32:49.708 --> 00:32:50.968


it's, I mean, it's a challenge.00:32:51.018 --> 00:32:52.428


but it's the challenge that you00:32:52.502 --> 00:32:54.903


not rough, what's the point of putting it out?00:32:54.903 --> 00:32:55.952


for people to watch.00:32:56.012 --> 00:32:57.242


People love that drama.00:32:57.782 --> 00:32:59.403


They love the hectic, you00:32:59.643 --> 00:33:01.307


Well, the smokiness thing, I,00:33:01.383 --> 00:33:02.643


man, if you watch it.00:33:02.673 --> 00:33:06.663


I I will never, I will never forget that, that that is incredible.00:33:06.887 --> 00:33:08.462


was probably my favorite part.00:33:08.883 --> 00:33:09.813


yeah, yeah.00:33:10.173 --> 00:33:10.893


studio.00:33:11.192 --> 00:33:14.012


Poor cameraman, all the judges dying.00:33:15.002 --> 00:33:19.742


Now I forget, but I wanna make sure, did everybody smoke 'em out or was it just you that00:33:19.952 --> 00:33:20.403


Everyone.00:33:20.403 --> 00:33:20.732


All00:33:20.972 --> 00:33:21.452


Yeah.00:33:21.542 --> 00:33:21.843


Yeah.00:33:21.843 --> 00:33:22.532


That's what I thought.00:33:22.532 --> 00:33:24.123


Because of what you had to do.00:33:24.212 --> 00:33:24.603


Right.00:33:24.752 --> 00:33:25.353


Right, right.00:33:25.923 --> 00:33:30.032


So any lessons that you took away from Chopped about yourself and00:33:30.147 --> 00:33:30.647


My lessons.00:33:30.692 --> 00:33:31.472


anything like that?00:33:31.478 --> 00:33:37.018


Yeah, I know the lesson that I took away was, just set your pride off to the side.00:33:37.018 --> 00:33:38.847


Like even though you say.00:33:40.303 --> 00:33:47.173


You hope you're, you're not chopped first, but even if you lose, still hold on to what you did.00:33:47.923 --> 00:33:57.913


Still hold on to what you presented and value that cherish that moment because you might not even get it again.00:33:58.163 --> 00:34:02.502


who knows if you get invited back or, that could have been my one time thing.00:34:02.502 --> 00:34:13.273


And so now I, I will definitely cherish the moments a, a bit more than that, what I do currently, even in the hardships is still cherish, even though it's really hard.00:34:13.422 --> 00:34:14.802


Still cherish those moments.00:34:15.148 --> 00:34:15.447


Okay.00:34:15.717 --> 00:34:18.987


And to prepare for Chopped, would you say you have to have knife fights?00:34:19.257 --> 00:34:19.347


Is00:34:19.378 --> 00:34:19.668


Yeah,00:34:19.947 --> 00:34:21.057


of what my takeaway is?00:34:21.163 --> 00:34:22.333


Even to get ready for it.00:34:22.603 --> 00:34:29.523


My husband, I would ask him, I was like, okay, just randomly shout out like a few ingredients, random times throughout the day, just completely unannounced.00:34:29.583 --> 00:34:32.432


He'd be like, this, this, and this, and I'd be like.00:34:32.987 --> 00:34:33.617


Oh, do that.00:34:33.617 --> 00:34:37.757


And I would do that, and I would do that, and so it was just kind of become a random thing.00:34:38.358 --> 00:34:40.068


Okay, well, we're gonna wrap up.00:34:40.068 --> 00:34:42.077


I just got a couple really quick questions for you.00:34:42.438 --> 00:34:49.728


This was amazing, and I'm so honored to spend time with you and to get to know you, and it's really incredible.00:34:49.757 --> 00:34:57.677


This, this is gonna be the launch of season four and I mean, this is my fourth year and I just saw it and I said, this is gotta be it.00:34:57.737 --> 00:34:58.637


This is, this is00:34:58.668 --> 00:35:05.628


you for doing these, like just getting these stories out there and for people to, to kind of get their experiences and00:35:05.958 --> 00:35:10.777


It's so important, to inspire people in this industry because it's such a tough industry.00:35:10.777 --> 00:35:19.568


But if, if you wanna be a chef, it's hard, but it's also rewarding and, and you're proving that you're, you're showing that, so for me, we met.00:35:19.943 --> 00:35:27.742


At this organization called Map and Map honors women in hospitality with advocacy, mentorship, scholarship.00:35:28.583 --> 00:35:30.583


And Joanna James is the CEO.00:35:30.913 --> 00:35:37.032


And I went to Las Vegas a couple weeks ago and met her and it was unbelievable.00:35:37.032 --> 00:35:41.233


We had a private dinner with my friend, chef Mimi, who's very close to Joanna.00:35:41.893 --> 00:35:47.623


The night before the conference started, the Women in Hospitality Conference, and I said, Joanna, I want to help you.00:35:47.922 --> 00:35:49.302


I wanna get the word out.00:35:49.302 --> 00:35:54.972


I wanna bring MAP members on the podcast to share their stories and to inspire each other.00:35:55.422 --> 00:35:57.643


And this is, this is the first one.00:35:57.733 --> 00:35:59.472


Ashley, you are the start of00:35:59.697 --> 00:36:00.057


really?00:36:00.702 --> 00:36:02.413


You are a start of a movement00:36:02.487 --> 00:36:03.327


Oh, I love it.00:36:03.402 --> 00:36:06.913


set my soul on fire to keep podcasting.00:36:07.003 --> 00:36:07.512


And that's the00:36:07.827 --> 00:36:08.728


Oh, that's an honor.00:36:09.117 --> 00:36:09.958


Oh, I love that.00:36:10.077 --> 00:36:11.668


can envision this.00:36:11.847 --> 00:36:17.668


And what I wanna know is we met at a, what's called a map mentorship circle.00:36:17.847 --> 00:36:24.907


And there was a woman named Missy, who is a, sustainable farmer, and she was giving a talk about it.00:36:24.967 --> 00:36:25.657


And you were there.00:36:25.657 --> 00:36:34.418


And the funniest thing, and you don't know this is when I saw you, I saw, I was looking at different people and checking out IG to understand who they are.00:36:35.108 --> 00:36:36.728


And I was like, wow, okay.00:36:36.728 --> 00:36:37.927


She's really cool.00:36:37.927 --> 00:36:39.217


She's from Colorado.00:36:39.217 --> 00:36:40.088


I'm thinking Jensen.00:36:40.088 --> 00:36:40.987


I'm like, brother luck.00:36:41.047 --> 00:36:41.708


Oh my gosh.00:36:41.708 --> 00:36:42.967


All these things connected.00:36:42.967 --> 00:36:43.568


And then chopped.00:36:43.568 --> 00:36:45.998


I'm like, I wanna reach out to her.00:36:46.057 --> 00:36:49.507


And it was so funny because after Absolutely.00:36:49.507 --> 00:36:51.757


But after we got off that call.00:36:52.913 --> 00:36:54.713


We reached out to each other about the same time.00:36:54.893 --> 00:37:01.103


It was like almost the same thought was going through our head, we should connect and we should do an interview.00:37:01.103 --> 00:37:07.592


And I mean, it was just really cool, And, and that was a week ago, a week and a half ago.00:37:08.373 --> 00:37:10.052


So anyway, that's how all this happened.00:37:10.052 --> 00:37:16.262


But can you tell me how you ended up with In MAP and a little bit about your experience, just briefly.00:37:16.952 --> 00:37:20.643


so I got involved with MAP from Brother.00:37:21.452 --> 00:37:22.322


Oh, wow.00:37:22.467 --> 00:37:22.757


Okay.00:37:23.132 --> 00:37:32.163


So, he, it was for, it was for a MAP conference and he was supposed to attend it.00:37:32.282 --> 00:37:33.092


He couldn't,00:37:34.112 --> 00:37:34.143


Okay.00:37:34.143 --> 00:37:46.092


now, it's kind of funny because Chef's role was doing competition, they do these competitions to where, you can win a ticket to go to Matt to go to chef conferences and things like that.00:37:46.302 --> 00:37:49.722


And I, I tried to do the competition, actually.00:37:49.722 --> 00:37:51.882


I did do the competition, but I lost,00:37:52.418 --> 00:37:52.708


Okay.00:37:53.023 --> 00:37:54.672


I don't even remember what the competition was.00:37:54.672 --> 00:38:00.242


It was something like along the lines of create a dish that's original and send it in.00:38:00.432 --> 00:38:02.472


there's so many chefs that would.00:38:03.193 --> 00:38:04.722


Put in, a lot of these things.00:38:04.722 --> 00:38:10.302


And of course, some will outshine others, which is absolutely beautiful that they provide these opportunities.00:38:10.663 --> 00:38:12.492


And so I didn't win.00:38:12.762 --> 00:38:17.293


But it's funny because for that same exact conference, brother couldn't attend.00:38:17.443 --> 00:38:19.063


So he put me in his place.00:38:19.663 --> 00:38:20.563


Oh my gosh.00:38:20.802 --> 00:38:24.072


even though I didn't win that competition, I still got to go because of00:38:24.072 --> 00:38:24.972


that's fantastic.00:38:25.302 --> 00:38:29.293


So Map was there and chef's role and everything.00:38:29.293 --> 00:38:30.882


So it was this beautiful conference.00:38:31.242 --> 00:38:36.643


And so I started to, I went to some of the seminars that they were talking through.00:38:37.012 --> 00:38:40.012


some of the chefs that were there, Wolfgang Puck was one of 'em.00:38:40.523 --> 00:38:54.523


And Joanna, and I never actually met her yet, I still haven't met her outside of the conference that we had at least, like not in person, So once I started to realize what they stood for and, and everything, I was like, oh, I gotta get on this.00:38:54.643 --> 00:38:55.693


I gotta get on this.00:38:56.052 --> 00:38:57.253


And I'm a woman.00:38:57.313 --> 00:38:58.302


I'm in leadership.00:38:58.663 --> 00:39:01.182


I love empowerment, I love the industry.00:39:01.242 --> 00:39:03.043


It, it just, it all fell together.00:39:03.043 --> 00:39:11.563


So from then on, I, I've been wanting to become a, a legit member, which I just finally became a legit member just a couple months ago.00:39:11.983 --> 00:39:14.143


'cause I like, I wanna, I wanna be part of this.00:39:14.143 --> 00:39:24.182


I, and it's just to show you can be anything, I'm gonna give you the tools and help you help others do anything.00:39:24.663 --> 00:39:25.112


Mm-hmm.00:39:25.143 --> 00:39:26.672


And that's what I really loved about it.00:39:27.932 --> 00:39:29.702


Oh, see, that's how I feel too.00:39:29.762 --> 00:39:32.463


And being a male, she calls me an ally.00:39:33.347 --> 00:39:34.907


And me.00:39:34.907 --> 00:39:36.077


It's all Mimi's fault.00:39:36.228 --> 00:39:38.807


Chef Mimi, shout out to you in Florida.00:39:38.867 --> 00:39:44.568


She's my dear friend that I met four years ago, and she interviewed Joanna and I put it on my podcast.00:39:44.568 --> 00:39:46.878


That's the most recent episode out there right now.00:39:47.777 --> 00:39:54.378


And it was an interview that Mimi did with Joanna, and I went, wow, I've gotta interview Joanna in the future.00:39:54.378 --> 00:39:55.277


I've gotta meet her.00:39:55.728 --> 00:40:04.668


And then Mimi called me up four weeks ago, five weeks ago, and, or actually probably about three months ago, and said, we're having a conference in Las Vegas and you gotta go.00:40:05.418 --> 00:40:12.047


And it was the greatest experience of my life to meet Joanna and everyone in map, and all the women in hospitality, all the chefs.00:40:12.918 --> 00:40:16.277


It was just, I can't even describe the way I felt about it.00:40:16.878 --> 00:40:21.257


Like they were opening up to the challenges that they have and the struggles that they have.00:40:21.257 --> 00:40:22.757


And I said, I wanna do something.00:40:23.117 --> 00:40:24.827


I wanna do something with my podcast.00:40:24.827 --> 00:40:27.418


That means something, that really means something.00:40:27.418 --> 00:40:31.467


And so that's my movement now, and this is the start of it.00:40:31.467 --> 00:40:34.768


So anyway, that's how we connected.00:40:34.768 --> 00:40:41.157


And, and so everyone understands and wanna wrap up, but I just really want to thank you for your time.00:40:41.157 --> 00:40:41.697


It's late.00:40:41.967 --> 00:40:48.838


You got your kids going to bed and, and we had a couple technology failures, which happens all the time.00:40:48.838 --> 00:40:51.648


It's part of technology, but, but we did it.00:40:51.737 --> 00:40:54.728


And, yeah, thanks for being a voice for chefs.00:40:54.938 --> 00:40:57.547


it's a really wonderful thing.00:40:57.547 --> 00:41:00.518


You're really an advocate and I hope you continue to do00:41:00.757 --> 00:41:03.367


Yeah, thank, thank you for, for putting these out, like00:41:03.608 --> 00:41:04.208


Mm-hmm.00:41:04.987 --> 00:41:06.998


you're helping more people than you think.00:41:07.987 --> 00:41:10.268


Yeah, it's, it's a lonely thing too.00:41:10.327 --> 00:41:12.038


People don't give you a lot of feedback.00:41:12.038 --> 00:41:12.998


That's as a podcaster.00:41:13.047 --> 00:41:13.887


It's a lonely world.00:41:13.887 --> 00:41:16.577


a lot of people feel like , they're alone, especially in this industry.