Growing up with a single working mother the kitchen had to have purpose and functionality. I spent holidays with my grandmothers who had more time to share with me their love of entertaining. The first time I saw a meringue made, simple egg whites and sugar turned magically into delicious white clouds of sweetness I was hooked.

After training at Leiths School of Food and Wine in 2005, I started my own private catering business and quickly understood that learning how to make someone else’s kitchen work, quickly, was very much part of the job. It was natural to answers peoples questions informally on what would make their space work better. From which plates to what equipment would I recommend.

From there, I went on to manage some wonderful restaurants — Petersham Nurseries and Sonny’s in Barnes among them — before setting up the catering for London’s Donmar Warehouse, feeding an incredible team of staff and a rotating cast of fantastic actors.  Again people would ask the same questions about menus, planning and their own kitchen issues. And importantly I loved sharing my experience.