A former restaurant kid that’s now writing about the industry.

I was born and raised in restaurants, my parents having owned them for over 40 years now. I worked my way through a number of positions through college, eventually managing two really incredible wine and beer bars (all while chasing that writer dream). I moved back to Southeast Michigan and found myself working in the beer industry for a number of years before transitioning to bar management in a high volume restaurant that also operated within a hotel, and then moved into a few GM roles with some local restaurants that I still regularly frequent.

All the while I was contributing stories to local media sites like Eater Detroit and started my first series “Badass Women in Hospitality” with J’adore Detroit, which explored the narratives of some really incredible women in the industry. Eventually, I left restaurants to go into marketing, where all of my clients were (you guessed it!) restaurants. I branched out on my own with my husband, who’s a talented designer, and we started Yeah No For Sure — a design and copywriting agency with a focus specifically on the industry.

In addition to that work I’ve recently become the hit list writer for Resy Detroit, contributing writer at Eater Detroit, and freelancer who’s working on sharing more stories with an industry perspective. More on this in the newsletter itself.

So, what are you writing about in this newsletter?

Since most of my work is geared towards specific publications, I’ve been neglecting my own personal narrative. So, this newsletter is meant to embrace more of that and to share the stories I’ve pitched that didn’t get accepted. Also, our friends are doing really cool shit around Detroit and I need a space to talk about it. Maybe throw in some family connections, and how our love language is and always has been centered around food. It’s still in the development stage so bare with me as I try to figure all of it out, while trying to work through the serious imposter syndrome I have. I did this once before and then saw so many friends’ and industry acquaintances names come through that I panicked and deleted the whole thing. So, cheers to not doing that and to embracing what I was told in every single writing class ever — write what you know.

The Romcom & Creative Writing:

Also, I’m putting it here first. I’m working on a restaurant romcom where two people fall in love in the setting of (surprise) a restaurant of sorts. There’s lots of juicy industry drama, family dynamics centered around food, chosen family that builds a community together and supports each other by going to a dozen or so events and pop-ups around the city, and stories that actually happened to actual people in the industry. I’m thinking I’ll be releasing chapters and such through the newsletter, maybe some poetry when I get really heated and opinionated on specific topics, and basically use this as a tool to keep writing. If you’re still here, you’re awesome and thanks so much for supporting!