Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Candace Conley. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Candace, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
My favorite saying when I’m presented with a potential roadblock: “I’m a tree, I can bend.”
People usually laugh when I say that because I am strong-willed and determined but as long as I can “bend”, then I can face any challenge.
I am an optimistic and positive person. Not really sure why because I was not brought up to be that way. My mother was a “dour Scot” so having fun and seeing the lighter side was never her strong suit. She was a serious person who was challenged with a life that would have made many people give up.
My father was a businessman with a chronic illness who died when he was 44. At the time, I was nine and thought that was so old but since reaching 67, it seems extremely young. His business was deeply in debt at the time of his death. My mother having never worked outside the home had the monumental task of becoming a businesswoman overnight. In the mid-60s, women were not in business. She was presented with the challenge of taking over a failing business and a manufacturing business at that while raising me. Unheard of! But she did it. Not only did she do it but she did it brilliantly, erasing the debt, bringing it into profitability and then selling it.
She was and continues to be my role model. Her mantra was “‘can’t’ isn’t in my vocabulary.”
She taught me that I was capable of doing whatever I set my mind to do. So, that’s what I do. I set my open mind to a task and I go after it. if obstacles are presented, I frame them as challenges that are intended as part of my journey. I know referring to “your journey” is often overused but I like it and it helps me stay focused. I am not often distracted by “shiny red balls”. I know where I’m headed and the good and bad along the way informs my journey.
I have had a number of careers (radio news reporter, clinical psychologist, business owner) but none has given me as much pleasure and satisfaction as becoming a chef when I turned 50. Yes, I started over when most people are retiring from the food industry but that didn’t stop me. It really has never mattered to me what everyone else is doing. I’m doing me and so far, I have been pretty successful being a tree.
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?
I jumped in when most people are leaving the food industry. So, at the age of 50, I created The Girl Can Cook!.
I began as a personal chef more as a way to get my feet wet than anything else and I wanted the freedom to do what I wanted to do. I have never been very good at being told what to do, especially if I think there’s a better or, at least another way, of doing things.
I eventually ended up running a failing restaurant. This was truly the case of once a ball starts rolling down hill, it’s hard to stop it. But it gave me the opportunity to discover what I really love and am very good at which is teaching people how to cook.
After closing the restaurant, I further developed the concept behind The Girl Can Cook!
It became a hands-on teaching kitchen. I noticed that most “cooking classes” were actually cooking demonstrations and I believe if you want to learn how to do something, you need to DO it. There was no other choice but to create an environment where people could actually cook and then eat what they prepared during the class. The first kitchen was small and thrown together in an old house but after 5 years, we were able to move and build out a truly professional teaching and catering kitchen.
I also rediscovered my love of all things Italian. My older daughter spends several months out of the year in Italy, speaks fluent Italian and never meets a stranger. So, we traveled through the Italian countryside (and cities) and I was able to cook in Italian restaurants and experience true “farm to table” cooking as well as authentic, regional Italian fare. Unbelievable!
Throughout my career, I have been fascinated with food TV and so auditioned for many of the network cooking shows. I appeared on Food Network’s Cooks vs Cons and then more recently, on the TBS show, Rat In The Kitchen.
After 15 years of success even through the pandemic, I decided it was time for a new chapter. So, I closed the brick and mortar and moved our business online with a couple of exceptions – I still teach our most popular topic, fresh pasta making and also included our popular wine tasting experience. Both are offered monthly and in-person.
Everything else is online. My website is: thegirlcancook.com.
There is an online video recipe subscription that I am re-imagining but it currently has a video library of almost 200 recipes. My former general manager and I still record our weekly podcast, Not A Single Fork, all about food and cooking and our opinions thereof.
I am in the process of creating a digital course to help beginning home cooks (mainly, but there’s always something to learn, right?) cook more often and enjoy it. That was our mission before and it continues to be my mission. Finally, I am working on a cooking show pilot to be released in the next year or so to one of the streaming services.
I am BUSY but I LOVE it!
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?
Persistence, Optimism, Open-mindedness If you have those three things, you can do almost anything.
I often am asked, “Where did you go to school?”.
And, the answer is: “I did not have formal culinary training.”
I don’t necessarily recommend culinary school. I say “necessarily” now because during one of our podcast episodes, a great female chef took me to task about my opinion because she said without her training and certification, she doesn’t believe she would have had the success she has had.
I believe she is an exceptional person and would have excelled anyway but she certainly makes a good point. Especially in this male-dominated field.
I still think nothing beats hands-on experience in a restaurant kitchen on the line. That is where you will find out if you have what it takes to be a chef. And you don’t end up thousands of dollars in debt and realize you don’t like or don’t have what it takes to be in the food industry. It is hard and there is no shame in saying, “no, thank you.”
That actually applies to just about any trade or career. Get your hands dirty. Find out what it’s all about and then decide.
If you are early in your journey, you have a lot of time to figure it out. It’s okay to fail. We only learn when we fail. Make every effort to do what you love.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
I have made some big changes in my life in the last few months.
Sometimes, I have a wave of anxiety that flows over me. Did I make the right decision? What if the new projects don’t work out?
As trite as it sounds, here is what I remind myself: I don’t know what the future holds. I only know what I can do right now. Whatever happens, happens and I’ll use it to carry on.
Stay present. It is the best advice I can give anyone at any time. Also, enjoy the ride. Life is intended to be lived and you can only do that if you savor every single moment, the good and the bad.
Another thing I hang my hat on is: “I’m not dead so I’m not done.”
I am so not done.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thegirlcancook.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/girlcancook
- Facebook: facebook.com/girlcancook
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/candace-conley
- Youtube: youtube.com/@thegirlcancook
