New Jersey's Best Restaurant CEO By Black Restaurant Week Chef Glaze On His Rise to Success

Commencing his career as a mere teenager Chef Glaze unearthed his vast zeal for cooking. The emerging food connoisseur held an immense passion towards educating himself. In addition to self-education he began acquiring as much experience in the hospitality and food industry as possible. Throughout the premature stages of his budding career he sought employment as a waiter. During his adolescence, Chef Glaze’s affinity for cooking and creating meals expanded effortlessly. He commenced his experimentations with a variety of diverse seasonings and flavor palettes. Absorbing as much knowledge as possible Chef Glaze sought mentorship in an advanced chef who recognized his immense talent and love for cooking. The mentorship presented Glaze with the opportunity to deepen his knowledge and skill set in the refinement of the hospitality industry. In which, allowed him to continually grow and elevate throughout the duration of his culinary career.

Chef Glaze is currently serving as a corporate and private chef. The celebrity chef has worked with vast creative minds and business moguls such as: NY Giants, Facebook, Jim Jones, Fetty Wap, Mack Wilds, Power 105.1, Travis McCoy, Hot 97 DJ Drewski, Dj Wallah, Dj LilMan, Darius Dk, Jack Thriller, Chef JR, “KISSTHECHEF” Chef Damitem, personal chef and co host of Party & Bullshit “Talk That Chef Talk”. Adding to the vast success of the celebrated chef, chef Glaze was voted as the best guyanese cheese by the United Nations for 2019.

Q. What inspired you to become a chef?

Growing up, sports was never my thing, neither was rapping or singing, however I’ve always found cooking to be my safe place as well as my way of showing off my talents so it was only natural that it became my passionate career of choice.

Q. What steps did you take to get your career started?

The steps taken to get my career started was a matter of working for various restaurants and under different chefs to learn the business and build my knowledge, restaurants such as ruby Tuesday, Cheesecake Factory, hometown buffet, Facebook Headquarters NY, etc once I learned how to cook I was able to step in management roles that guided me on how to run the business and lead my team.

Q. What are your specialty dishes?

My most remarkable dishes I would have to say are my lamb chops, salmon and of course Rasta pasta which are all highly recommended throughout the restaurant and private catering.

Q. You've worked with top tier clients such as rapper Jim Jones, Fetty Wap, and Mack Wilds just to name a few. How did you gain your clientele?

I’ve honestly gained my clientele through word of month as I was building my brand, all it took was for someone to sample one of my dishes and it left an embracing experience that they just had to share with others.

Q. What's your favorite dish to eat?

As a born and raised Guyanese person it’s only natural that my favorite dish is indeed curry chicken with all the herbs and spices use to make that dish.

Q. Have you encountered obstacles in your career? If so, how did you handle it?

In building this brand of course I’ve fell as many times as I’ve given up, from losing relationships, to time with my children to even being homeless 5 times before I could finally find my balance on how to enjoy the career of choice as well as enjoy some family time. Part of handling it is more so about never giving up, just holding my head high and keep pushing through no matter the blood sweat and tears, even if I couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel I still had faith.

Q. What does success mean to you?

Success is about being able to provide not just for myself but also for everyone around me, success is about being able to inspire others to keep pushing despite their situation.

Q. What advice can you give to aspiring chefs who would like to make an impact in your industry?

To make it in this industry you have to believe in yourself when all the lights are out and everyone by your side has turned their backs on you, to make it in this industry you have to believe in some higher power that no matter the odds stacked against you, you will come out on top and you will be an inspiration to someone.

Connect with Chef Glaze on Instagram @Chef_Glaze

Interview by: Leading with Lee

PR: Pilar Scratch