Chef Erika Davis: The Heart

Of all the Culinary Wonders Chef Erika Davis is what I would consider the heartbeat of the group. She is the Founder and President of Culinary Wonders USA and the glue and is the spirit of the organization. To know Erika is to be inspired and impressed because she backs up her kind heart and hard work ethic with some of the most exquisite pastry skills around and has lead a career that should serve as a muse to every female chef in the industry.

To examine Chef Erika’s 20 year career you have to start at the beginning and understand that her love of food was elemental. She grew up on a street with five houses in a row filled with immediate and extended family and where her grandmother was at the center of her life. She grew up with strawberry patches and walnut trees as her backdrop, so ice cream making was a big catalyst in drawing her to the pastry industry.

Her professional career has taken her across the country with some of the most prestigious hotel and resort brands where she’s held positions as either kitchen manager or executive pastry chef for almost the whole of her career. Humbly she cites her mentors and the properties she’s worked for as the reasons for her elegant pastry talent but, as we all know, true talent is ingrained in the individual.

Her amazing work has named her one of our country’s most talented chefs by Black Enterprise magazine, has gotten her national recognition in television and print, and has made her a frequent guest chef at various charity and culinary dinners most notably the Taste of Ebony event and a few months ago at the Charleston Food and Wine Festival. Erika is currently at the helm of the historic Ponte Verde Resort and Golf Course in Jacksonville Fl where she is responsible for multiple outlets and has a mostly female crew. Erika also took time last year away from her kitchen to compete on bravo tv's Top Chef" Just Desserts where she was one of the most bubbly and talented in the group!!

In getting to know Chef Erika over the past few years the thing I am most struck by is her passion for mentorship. Culinary Wonders USA is a not- for-profit organization and at the core of why she began the organization is young people. Erika along with her board are making sure that students are connected to the high end work black chefs are doing and that they have a link and a network of black culinary mentors. She is famous for her passionate stance that there is always a way to give back even in small ways and through Culinary Wonders she creates opportunities like supporting a dinner like " Night on the Hill.

One of the truest ways I’ve found to know if you’re dealing with an honestly good and decent person is to talk to those close to them. As I sat in the company of 85 other guest at last year's "Night on the Hill" dinner and spoke with her friends, her amazing and gracious mother, and other guests, I was overwhelmed by the number of people who said they were there because it was Erika’s event. One lesson you learn from such a great person is that in this life you get out what you put in. The event was supported by the venue, major food purveyors, community leaders, and local artists on the strength of Erika and her spirit. Her charm and kindness are undeniable, but it’s also backed up by her talent and tenacity.

Erika loves for chefs to reach out to her and I promise if you do you will not be disappointed by her warmth and generosity. For more information on Culinary Wonders and Chef Erika’s career and background check out the following links. and there is still time to support "A Night On the Hill" on January 17, 2011 at the Casa Marina hotel in Jacksonville Beach Fl.

http://www.culinarywondersusa.com

http://hstrial-culinarywonde.intuitwebsites.com/ErikaDavis.html

http://twitter.com/cwusacheferika

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Culinary-Wonders-USA/167155539623

http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef-just-desserts/bio/erika-davis