Resilience with Jill Santa Lucia

Join us as we welcome Jill Santa Lucia, founder and owner of Raleigh, NC based Catering Works, to the podcast. Since launching Catering Works in 1989, Jill has been through both good times and hard ones. But losing millions of dollars all but overnight when the pandemic hit was by far the most difficult professional situation she’d ever navigated. Through incredibly hard work and steely determination, Jill pivoted her company to provide at home meals, feeding her customers and her employees.  During this same time period, she also lost her father and a good friend; any one of these things would have been reason to lose a little faith. But throughout it all, Jill has lived by the belief that you cannot control what is happening to you; all you can control  is your response to those things.  While she has let herself be sad, she has not given up hope.  Throughout all of this tragedy, she launched a new business called Ella’s Popcorn, which we can both attest is amazing.  Please listen in as we hear how Jill built her resilience muscle from a young age and the many ways it has served her well throughout her life.

Bio:
Jill is the CEO and owner of Catering Works, Inc. Her passion for cooking started in her grandmother's kitchen where Grandma made everything from scratch. Jill was fascinated with Grandma’s Leg of Lamb and her homemade chocolate iced cookies.

She graduated from Johnson & Wales University in 1987 with her Culinary Arts degree, and pursued further studies at The Culinary Institute of America in Food Styling and Healthy Cooking. Jill's recipes have won local and national awards including the $10,000 for the grand prize in the Bacardi Recipe Challenge, for her Tropico Napoleon and first place in the Kikkoman-USA contest in December 2002, for her delicious Pork Chop with Cranberry Apple Compote recipe, She was also a finalist in Rich's Food Winning is Sweet competition for a decadent White Chocolate Banana Creme Tart. Jill has also appeared on the Food Networks' "Food Fight" as a locally recognized chef and judge.

Not only is Jill passionate about cooking, she also has a passion for helping the local community through donations of food and service, including Interfaith Food Shuttle and many other charitable organizations.

Jill's commitment to quality has made Catering Works one of the top special event businesses in North Carolina. She was recognized in the YWCA Academy of Women, for the Business Entrepreneur category in 2003. Jill and her sister Lorin Laxton formed an LLC in 2005 and FIGS Market became the highly sought-after retail outlet of Catering Works and purveyor of gourmet gadgetry and supplies. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her family.

Links:

Catering Works: www.cateringworks.com

Fig Market Heat and Eat Meals: https://www.figsmarket.com/ 

Ella’s Popcorn: www.ellaspopcorn.com

Grandma’s chocolate pie recipe: https://tinyurl.com/Jills-Grandma-Pie-Recipe