“IT TOOK me 40 years to find my voice and to find my purpose,” Tawana Gulley says. The founder of AfroAsian restaurant Healthy Soul had a full career with the Veterans Administration before a health crisis inspired her to revamp her entire routine. Her personal transformation led her to launch her own business, partially to share her way of eating with the world and partially so she could boost other aspiring entrepreneurs to the next level.
Since she launched Healthy Soul, Gulley has worked with kids and young adults to help them understand restaurant ownership from within. “The reality is that not all of our kids are going to make it to college level,” she says. “But that doesn’t mean they can’t still do what they love and turn their passion into their business.”
She found a way to formalize that mentorship with her Culinary Art Summer Bootcamp, which she launched in 2023. In a five-week program, she takes students through all the fundamentals of her trade, from kitchen skills, to serving etiquette, to basic restaurant economics. “We’re talking about financial literacy. We’re talking about personal credit and business credit,” she says. “I put the entire bootcamp together after thinking, What would I need if I were just starting out in the industry?”
The course isn’t a trade school focused on creating drones, Gulley emphasizes. “We’re not putting kids into the Matrix. We’re planting a seed and letting them know that they can create their own lane. That might be with food; that might be with something else. But the seed is there, and now they know they have options.”
FAVORITE THINGS
(1) The Black Girls Eating podcast. “Tanorria Askew is a great mentor.”
(2) HexClad pans. “They’re very expensive but worth it.”
(3) Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. “I love TV cooking shows.”
(4) The Black Girl’s Guide to Financial Freedom. “This is my favorite book.”
(5) Fresh-squeezed passion fruit watermelon agua fresca. “One of my Culinary Bootcamp students came up with this.”
The post Foodie: Tawana Gulley Of Healthy Soul appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.