Deciding Between Payment and Passion with Chef Palak Patel
HOW TO HACK YOUR MINDSET FOR SUCCESS
“Whenever you look for something in the present, you might find your answer in the past.”
Do you ever find yourself cooking up some worst-case scenarios? Well, that may not be such a bad thing after all!
My guest this week on the Flourish or Fold podcast is Chef Palak Patel. She's a TV personality that you may recognize from shows like Beat Bobby Flay & Chopped, a writer, a philanthropist, and so much more...including my dear friend & bridesmaid at my wedding!
As we were discussing her best advice for tackling challenge, change, & complexity through resilience, Chef Palak threw me a mindset curveball that I can't stop thinking about; if you not only let, but ENCOURAGE your brain to imagine the worst-case scenario happening, and then think through your subsequent actions (read: solutions), it's a lot easier to scale everything back into the realm of reality. 🤯
When we work with the tide of our natural instincts instead of against them, we get to exercise our resilience in a whole new way! Enjoy this episode ⇣
On the episode, we talk about:
How leaving the corporate world started Palak on the path to the woman she is today (2:10)
How she came to the decision to leave corporate (9:24)
What it was like to believe in herself at this crucial moment (12:31)
Advice in deciding between payment and passion (15:28)
How living her dream without fear of failure strengthened her (20:21)
What resilience has looked like for Palak (24:17)
About Chef Palak Patel
Palak Patel is a classically trained, renowned chef, TV personality, TEDx speaker, creator of the first Curry Cube for BOU, and chef at the Institute of Culinary Education. She’s one of the food industry’s newest and sassiest rising stars, gaining critical acclaim from victories in famed shows like Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay on Food Network. Most recently she was top four on season 14 of Food Network Star.
Born and raised in India, Palak grew up living with her extended fifteen-person family where cooking and eating together were part of her family DNA from a very young age. Palak has partnered with high profile brands like BMW, Barclays, Clif Bar, BOU Brand, Whole Foods, and Hello Fresh. She has been featured on the TODAY show, Fox, Forbes, People, Women’s Health, Thrive Global, Mashable, Marie Claire, Los Angeles Times, and India Abroad. Palak’s love of food and travel has taken her to over 50+ countries. She’s a regular food and travel contributor to Table Magazine.
Palak started her career moonlighting as a personal chef in 2006 and later completed her initial training with the acclaimed Culinary Business Academy of the United States Personal Chef Institute in San Francisco. Palak eventually enrolled and earned her culinary degree from the prestigious International Culinary Center in New York. Upon graduating, she put her knives to work in the south of France to perfect her techniques. Most recently, she has created one-of-a-kind menus for several sold-out Dinner Lab supper clubs regaling food enthusiasts in Miami, San Francisco, Washington DC, New York, and Atlanta.
Palak’s commitment to philanthropy and volunteer efforts includes being a board member of Rescuing Leftover Cuisine (RLC), partnerships with New York City Food Bank, and Indian American Council (IAC). She’s helped raise over 100K for Project Sunshine. Palak also battled it out against 24 other seasoned chefs in the Sears Chef’s Challenge, winning $20K for Los Angeles Food Bank.
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