Meet Aly Romero

We were lucky to catch up with Aly Romero recently and have shared our conversation below.

Aly, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
Being an entrepreneur means there’s no one telling you what time to wake up, how to structure your day or where to spend your time on activities that will grow your business. It’s a blessing and a curse. For me, I attribute my work ethic and drive to my mom. She was a single mom, working to support my younger brother and I and she lived the motto of “where there is a will, there is a way”. My dad was the one who got me interested in food and cooking and who I attribute my culinary career to. Between his love of food and cooking and her drive to pursue your dreams, it has lead me to my success as a private chef today.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Hi! I’m Aly Romero, a Private Chef, Brand Ambassador and soon-to-be Cookbook Author! I have 20+ years of culinary experience, with a combination of being self-taught, reading cookbooks, magazines and watching any and all programming on tv I could, culinary school and everything I learned from my dad before he passed away in 2013. As a Private Chef, I offer dining experiences in the comfort of your own home with a menu we personally design together, taking into account any dietary preferences or restrictions. I do the shopping, prepping, cooking, serving and I always clean as I go. So, all you have to do is sit back and enjoy your special occasion with your guests! I also work part-time cooking for one family in Dallas, I cook dinner for them a few nights a week and then also prepare breakfast and lunch grab and go type options for the fridge, so they are stocked up for the rest of the week. My appearances on Good Morning America, The Chew and Food Network have lead to many opportunities as I continue to grow my business, which has been very exciting and a lot of fun! I share a lot of my recipes on my website www.AlyRomero.com and on my Instagram: AlyRomero and FB page: Aly Romero, Private Chef. In addition, I have worked as a Brand Ambassador with companies such as Hestan Culinary and Traeger Grills. It’s been amazing to turn my love of cooking into something I can share with others in so many ways! Creating recipes is one of my favorite things to do and I just completed my first cookbook, which will publish in spring 2024!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Passion, drive and perseverance! Being in business for yourself means you’re the boss and ultimately you accountable for your success and downfalls. I don’t like to call them failures, because you don’t know if you don’t try and then you learn and do it better next time, possibly with different results. Without passion, drive and perseverance, it may be easy to give up because being in the food blog world can often times feel like you are one in a million, especially when you’re starting out in a very saturated space. The challenge is to settle in on your message, be true to yourself and communicate that effectively to your audience. When I shifted my food blog into my private chef business in 2016, I developed a business plan of how I could turn a hobby into a viable business and haven’t looked back since.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
As far as the day to day challenges, it is my family who always offers unwavering support and I am so grateful. They do not hold back with culinary opinions and for the most part, give me a lot of flexibility in dishes I want to try for dinner. Our kids are pretty adventurous eaters, they will try a lot of new things, although I’d be lying if I didn’t say they all have their preferences and aversions. All of the cooking for them has enabled me to hone my skills for my private chef clients. Between cooking for my family, cooking for my private chef clients and cooking for my cookbook recipe creation, I’m always cooking!

The other support comes from mentors. When you’re building your business or your brand, there are people along the way who have a career you look up to or inspires you. They don’t ‘have to’ help, they have their own busy lives and successful careers, but if they do, it’s something you never forget. I had a chance meeting with Celebrity Chef Tyler Florence in 2015 and we have been friends ever since. He was one of my dad’s favorite Food Network chefs and we would watch Tyler’s Ultimate on Food Network all the time together. Meeting him was a moment I’ll never forget and to this day, I think my dad looking down may have had a hand in it. He has offered support in many ways over the years and I consider him to be like my unofficial mentor.

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