With a passion for food that began as a child when she watched her grandmother feed their community from their garage on the islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Chef T has become a decorated and respected Chef within the foodservice industry. As a founder of “Chef T Culinary Concepts” she strives to provide her culinary vision and love of food to those that she cooks with as well as those that she serves. Her best-selling cookbook “PARADIGM: A Macro Manifesto to Food,” is a lifestyle cookbook that further honors her vision of food as a celebration of life.
Chef T’s witty personality and resilience under pressure landed her as the runner up on Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen Season 14,” followed up with a second “all-stars” appearance in season 18. After returning home from filming, she graced the kitchens of elusive chefs such as Kevin Rathbun and vacation meccas like Sea Island. In 2019, Chef T opened her own space, Ina + Forbes Restaurant, which was a tribute to her grandmother. After closing the restaurant in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Chef T provided virtual cooking classes that have since evolved into in-person instruction at the prestigious Gourmet Pantry in Blacksburg, VA.
Her work within the community has earned her the title of the Official Chef of Pulaski, VA, private chef of Mebane Manor, and extensive invites to national culinary events that include Las Vegas Food and Wine, euphoria (Greenville, SC), and Crave (Charlotte, NC). She has also consulted for The Black Hen and Bar Blue (Blacksburg, VA), Bull and Bones Brewhaus (Blacksburg,VA), upscale coffee house Max on Main (Pulaski, VA), and the Blended Pedaler food truck and brick and mortar (Bristol, VA). Presently, Chef T will be gracing the screen again in Food Network’s “Big Restaurant Bet,” while also developing her own line of spices (both set to debut April 2022).
PERSONAL LIFE
Chef T grew up in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a fishing community and large agricultural hub in the Caribbean. Growing up on the tiny island where most of her family were nurses, social workers or mechanics, Chef T spent her early years helping raise livestock and cooking in the kitchen with her grandmother. She became fascinated with food as she watched her grandmother feed locals who came to the family garage that was set up in the front yard of their house. During that time with her grandmother … even as young as six years old … T started to create a vision of someday becoming a Chef.
As she began her career with 10 years in FOH management, the desire to work in a professional kitchen became insatiable. T enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu, and then landed a job in fine dining at The St. Regis Atlanta. In 2012, Chef T graduated with an Associate’s Degree in Occupational Sciences of Culinary Arts, and has since shared her love of food with chefs and diners throughout the country.
When she is not consulting or traveling as a private chef, Chef T enjoys spending time with family, friends, and her two huskies, Roux and Bao. She is also an ambassador for mental health awareness, local animal humane societies and an advocate for empowering the underprivileged youth.