Today we’d like to introduce you to Anisha Mandol
Anisha, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My story
I moved to New York City from the island of Trinidad and Tobago. I was 19 years old. I was solo and from a different country, different culture and different social norms.
I have always been an adventurer, in my imagination. This time it was for real. Moving to New York City I had no plan and no career goal. I decided I’ll figure it out as I go. The “no plan and no career goal” evolved to a career in food. No surprise, as food; the enjoyment, the making, and the discovery has always been a consistent thread in my life, since childhood. Food has also been a consistent source of comfort, safety, and joy.
I eventually made my way to Dallas, Texas, and found myself challenged with no mode of personal transportation, no college degree, and no formal training. The restaurant industry can be very forgiving and accepting of someone like me. Hence my first job was as a food server in a Texas cafeteria chain. From there, I was able to move up to management. I accredited that move to my ability to listen, lead, and build relationships; and to my other abilities like problem solving, analytical, organizational, and efficiency skills.
After 12 years in management, as most women, particularly women of color, I was hitting that glass ceiling. As much as I over performed on the company’s financial and labor retention goals, I was continually passed up for promotions. I knew I had to make a change.
At 33 years old, I enrolled in the economics and finance program at UT at Dallas. I was being practical. My true interest was behavioral psychology, but at 33, I was not ready nor financially equipped to take studies in psychology to a PhD level.
As it turns out, having my Bachelors degree broke the glass ceiling, the first one, that is. I was now able to apply for jobs that required a minimum of a bachelors degree. This was the beginning of my career with Central Market, H.E.B.
Despite my degree in economics and finance and my experience in management, I found myself in a creative space in food. And that creativity came naturally, no degree or formal training needed. Just enthusiasm, enjoyment and curiosity of food, the things I’ve always held close.
I had a successful 6 years at Central Market as Category Manager for Prepared Foods. Forecasting upcoming food trends, exploring different and less popular ingredients, my creativity and with business acumen led to the introduction of hundreds of new recipes and products to the Chef Case, pre-package to-go foods, and new concepts of mini restaurants within the stores, including profitability.
I also had the opportunity to learn from well-known chefs, nationally, and globally. And I was able to bring those learnings to the culinary teams within the stores. I learned and became very comfortable holding training conferences for 50+ persons.
After six years, I found myself ready to adventure again. I was feeling constrained in the corporate world. I have learned and experienced so much, I wanted a place to really use these learnings. I also wanted more autonomy on how I work and when I work. Work and life balance was becoming very important to me. So I left the corporate world and started my consulting services in 2014.
During my time consulting, I have helped a wide range of clients, from small owner-run restaurants, real estate developer, branding companies, CPG startups to national food manufacturers.
My core services are as wide as my client base, from business operation/efficiency strategy, to design and building concepts, vision management, creating vision to business plans, to recipe development and recipe editing.
I have been able to hone these various skills because of the core elements I believe and operate on.
Some of my core elements are creating and building healthy relationships, it’s about synergy, respect, value alignment and connection between my client and I. Having a people centric approach, putting the focus on food makers and food consumers first. Also long term sustainability and knowing learning is ongoing. And most importantly Food is Fun.
In 2020, I yet again move to my biggest adventure since leaving My Home Island. I took an indefinite sabbatical. I needed a break to recuperate and to heal. I have been working since I was 12 years old. My family was not of riches and struggled financially. I also had my own personal struggles. My father rejected me when I was around eight years old, which meant he didn’t provide many of my basic needs, and I had become invisible and not relevant in my family unit. I have been in survival mode.
My need to survive, took me through my childhood to the years of my adulthood. That survival instinct led me to success. Fear and insecurities of trauma works in weird ways. Also, the courage, strength and lessons learned from trauma survival worked to my advantage as well. It was important to me that others are seen and heard, and acknowledged for their gifts and contributions to the whole.
My time off was spent in investing in my well-being. These investments were gratitude, holistic therapy, simplification of life, cultivating of loving relationships, investing in emotional health, mindfulness, meditation, rooting in nature, dissecting myself, and remaking of myself through curiosity and kindness.
(This was dissecting and remaking of myself is one of the most challenging things I have done. This process rubbed against so many social norms and societal expectations. With the love and support of my community and of myself, I am able to move through this process with less resistance.) repeated in next question.
The remaking of myself shifted what I wanted to offer my clients. And this is where I am today.
My core services are the same. The approach is now more centered around a system that is community centered, breaking biases, sustainability awareness, advocacy, holistic practices, and cultivating healthy relationships with food. After all food and our relationship with food is one of the most important things in our lives.
I work with large groups or business entities, both in the food and non-food environment to create or redefine the groups’ culture narrative through food. I also offer work one on one to explore oneself and one’s feelings using food through the art of cooking, using meditation and mindfulness, connecting oneself to the origins and culture of food, and the people and planet that give us these provisions.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road has been made of some difficult challenges. One of my struggles included being in the United States with no family close by. My family was still in Trinidad and had little capacity to support me in many ways. I felt very alone many times as I try to build a life here, particularly being financially independent. Another struggle was finding community, as being a woman of color from a country with different cultural, norms, traditions, and nuances. And as mentioned, being discriminated for who I was anther struggle.
The dissecting and remaking of myself was one of the most challenging things I have done. This process rubbed against so many social norms and societal expectations. This has been a personal struggle, because of the limiting beliefs I developed as a child, and letting go of these beliefs.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
My business is providing consulting services to both businesses and individuals.
As a food, strategist and culinary artist, I help individuals to company teams, dissect, and cultivate the relationships between food, identity and culture. My work is as educational as it is creative. I believe in connecting solutions to support collaborative, community growth and personal growth.
What sets my brand apart is my approach. My approach is centered around community, breaking biases, sustainability awareness, holistic practices, and cultivating healthy relationships with food from which ever angle you come from after all food and I relationship with food is one of the most important things in our lives.
I am most proud of the long lasting relationships and connections I cultivated during my career. These relationships and connections have been key to not only my success, but to the success of others. My colleagues and friends would agree, that one tenement of my brand is cultivating relationships. Relationships are key to building visions, success, support and community. Also as important to personal growth.
My services for company teams, or food businesses include, business operation/efficiency strategy, to design and building concepts, vision management, creating vision to business plans, to recipe development and recipe editing.
For individuals, one on one dinner series to explore feelings and identify one’s relationship with food using the act of cooking, meditation, mindfulness and creativity.
What matters most to you?
What matters to me most is that each person can see their glorious and good contributions to the community and world that they live in. That they see that they are good and that they are seen and heard by others. This matters to me because I was once not seen or heard in my family, and I deemed myself not good enough. Therefore, I was not living to my full potential.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.anishamandol.com
- Instagram: @amcomestibles
Image Credits
Two photos are credited to Emily “EJ” McCartney (photographer and videographer). One photo is credited to Mat Miller at 1894 Studios (photographer and videographer). One photo credited to Kuluntu Bakery Community Bake. Two photos are credited to Alexander Hayes @ahppetite (multimedia artist).
