Bridget graduated from Elgin Community College with a degree in Culinary Management & Culinary Arts. She started her professional culinary career working in the Sports and Entertainment Foodservice Industry at Soldier Field in Chicago. During her decade tenure at Soldier Field, where she rose to become the Executive Sous Chef, she enjoyed traveling to other accounts across the country. Some of her favorite support trips include Super Bowl, Final Four, World Series and opening a new stadium in Minneapolis. Bridget is now the Executive Chef with Levy Restaurants at Northwestern University for Athletics. She oversees all culinary operations at University’s sport venues and team dining facility. Beyond her day to day cooking at work, Bridget enjoys competing in local and national cooking competitions. She has won 4 Culinary Fight Club Throw downs, received a Bronze medal in a regional American Culinary Federation competition and placed 15th in the World Food Championships Bacon Category Competition in 2016.
Where did your passion for food/wellness come from?
My passion for cooking comes from how food can bring us together. Growing up, I loved being in the kitchen with my mom and my grandma. Seeing how happy food can make people and enhance their experience at a venue, pushes me to keep going every day.
What do you love about the Teaching Kitchen?
I love that we get to share an inside look at how to prepare food. Sharing a recipe helps us teach that cooking can be much simpler than some may think. Finding healthy ingredient substitutes doesn’t have to be boring!
Who is the most exciting person you ever cooked for?
The most exciting person I have ever cooked for was Justin Timberlake. He was in one of our suites at Soldier Field for a duo concert with Jay-Z. It was a definite fan girl moment to get to cook for and meet him.
Originally from Germantown, Wisconsin, Petra recently moved back to the Midwest from living in Texas for the past 6 years gaining her Bachelor’s in Dietetics (2018) and Master’s in Kinesiology (2020) degrees from Texas Christian University. Petra is ecstatic to have joined Northwestern Athletics Performance Nutrition team as Levy Restaurants Performance Dietitian working with the chefs, dietitians, and athletes to help them perform at their elite level by nourishing their bodies and minds. She also directly works with Women’s Basketball, Baseball, & Women’s & Men’s Soccer. Petra is excited to
represent Levy’s strong women and advocate for continued representation of our skills in the company. In addition, she is looking forward to a successful and enriching year full of tasty food and great sports.
What’s the best way to support other women in this industry?
Build each other up, not tear each other down by comparing and competing with each other. The only way we will grow as women of leadership in the workplace is by advocating for each other and working together.
What is a characteristic of a good leader?
Authenticity. To be a true leader, you need to know who you are yourself and be your authentic self. This will set an example for those you lead to continue growing in their own way towards their own passions and opens the ability for further creativity and collaboration.
Where did your passion for food/wellness come from?
Growing up I was a very active individual and was always playing a sport, but I never knew how to properly fuel my body to perform at my highest potential. This led me to an unhealthy relationship with food at one point and through my studies and cooking/baking it rebuilt my relationship with food stronger than ever before and opened my eyes to its most important job of nourishing our bodies for life.
Chef Barbara was born and raised in Virginia Beach, VA and after a short stint in Las Vegas at the age of 21, she has been a So. Cal native since 1998. She graduated culinary school in 2006 and her culinary career began almost immediately with overseeing a senior lunch program for the City of Irvine. She then became a personal chef and a catering chef for small private events aboard yachts in Newport Harbor. She also dabbled in making all natural, fresh food and snacks for dogs. Chef Barbara began her Compass Group career as a Chef Manager with Bank of America in 2013. With Compass Group she has been afforded the opportunity to travel and work with other divisions and chefs across the country, further developing her ability to take on challenges, expand her culinary skills and mentor other chef’s passion for food. She returned to Bank of America in 2018 as District Chef overseeing culinary excellence, food production management and unit chef development. When asked what kind of food she likes to cook, her response is always “great food that makes people happy”. When she’s not in the kitchen, she enjoys working on home improvement.
What was your inspiration for the recipe you chose?
As a personal chef to a Vegan/Vegetarian that was very familiar with eating at some of the finest restaurants in the world, I was always challenged with creating plant based recipes that were up to his level of fine dining foodie experiences. One of my “recreations” was of a wild mushroom filled mungbean crepe which was always a hit with him. It hits all the aspects of a really great plant based dish which is sneakily deceiving as a traditionally prepared recipe. This particular recipe is an iteration of that dish utilizing ingredients that are more widely available. The crepe is light and delicate with a meaty filling of wild mushroom ragout that any meat-eater would enjoy.
Where did your passion for food/wellness come from?
I grew up in the south, where my mom made the best food ever, using recipes that had been handed down and passed around. Of course most, if not all , of what she made was cream based casseroles, bacon fat and butter fried everything, bacon stuffed and wrapped pies or a combination of all of the above. As I got older, I realized that all those delicious butter and bacon fat dishes that I didn’t want to give up wouldn’t really fit into a healthy young adults life style, so I looked for ways to make those same dishes using healthier ingredients. As a chef I’ve continued to take traditionally made recipes and look for ways to recreate them with healthier ingredients without sacrificing the flavor and feeling of the original
What do you love about the Teaching Kitchen?
I agree with Leah, I love engaging with everyone coast to coast and even globally. The Teaching Kitchens have been a great way for us to connect by being the next level cooking show where people can be active participants rather than idle TV watchers.
Leah earned a Bachelor’s & Master’s degree in Nutritional Science from Texas Tech University.
Passionate about all things wellness, Leah understands the importance of incorporating a healthy lifestyle into a busy schedule. She prides herself on helping others live a healthier life through a balanced diet.
Leah worked in the clinical setting for over three years. During her time, she gained extensive knowledge in all aspects of Medical Nutrition Therapy including diabetes, heart disease and weight management. After building an educational foundation, Leah turned to prevention rather than treatment. Since transitioning to corporate dining Leah has shifted her focus to wellness by providing healthy meals for clients and guests.
Where did your passion for food/wellness come from?
My passion for food and wellness came from my mom. She is Italian and a fantastic cook. Our house always smelled like garlic and my friends coined her as the broccoli queen because her roasted broccoli was so delicious! I was always amazed at how she could bring together a healthy and flavor meal when it looked like we had nothing in the fridge.
What’s the best way to support other women in this industry?
We recently started an employee resource group within our division and it has been really great to connect with women in our industry – chefs, dietitians, marketing and operations. There are so many opportunities within Compass and the best thing we can do is network and support other women in our industry. We bring so much value to the table! We also support women in food service by making the extra effort to purchase from Women Owned business like Miffys Muffins and RTE Cusine Grains.
What do you love about the Teaching Kitchen?
I love engaging with everyone coast to coast and even globally. Food brings us all together and we have such great conversations over meals. I really missed that connection during the pandemic. Teaching Kitchens allowed us to connect and with the help of technology we have really enhanced our reach and ability to educate others on food, health and nutrition.
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