Meet Nellisha Gregory-Okunola | Private Chef

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nellisha Gregory-Okunola and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nellisha, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
My work life balance has changed drastically over the years, especially now that I am a Mom. I used to be so young and naïve. I think many Millennials were naïve and ill-prepared upon graduating from college and entering the workforce because many of our parents and older siblings grew up with the ideology that you graduate from school, work for one, maybe two, employers for the rest of your life, and then you retire. That mentality was passed down to us. We were basically groomed to be workhorses; except we were workhorses entering the workforce at the start of a recession. So after graduating from Howard University in 2007, I moved to NYC to work in advertising. I worked extremely long, grueling hours with very little time for myself. I worked so much that by the time the weekends came, all I had enough energy for was sleeping, laundry, grocery shopping and getting ready for the upcoming work week. I truly believed that if I was the first one in the office, the last to leave, and I busted my butt, my employer would appreciate, acknowledge & reward my efforts. And it would be a string of jobs and employers who took advantage of that professional ambition and strong work ethic for the next decade until I decided enough was enough. Now, I’m so much more aware of myself, who I am, and my values. Of course that comes with age but I also think creating a family of my own helped me become more serious about setting and sticking to professional boundaries and creating a healthy work life balance. Nothing is more important to me than self-care and spending time with my family, especially my daughter. She’s become so fascinated with cooking, I think I’ll have a Sous Chef soon. The fact that I get to cook and make others happy with my food, on my terms, and around my schedule is just an added bonus.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a self-taught, boutique-style chef and caterer. So that just basically means I do not have a set menu. Every client and potential client is different and I prefer to prepare meals based around my clients’ wants and dietary needs rather than make them settle for a pre-created dish based on my wants and likes. This sets me apart from many others in the catering field but I’ve always liked to go against the grain and march to the beat of my own drum. I absolutely love and get so excited during the consultation process with clients; learning about their likes, dislikes, dietary restrictions, etc. I especially love clients who challenge me with very specific dietary restrictions, (e.g. vegan, pescatarian, low-sodium). It is not only challenging, it is fun, and so rewarding.

Chef Nelli G, LLC is a brand 11 years in the making. Like myself, it has evolved, grown & changed over the last decade. When I first decided to get serious about cooking as a profession, it was out of frustration, panic and the overwhelming feeling that I needed to start living life differently. I had just gotten laid off from a company that couldn’t afford me, and that wasn’t in either the field of advertising (which is what I went to school for) or the field of cooking (my true passion). I had gotten comfortable working for companies in corporate America; taking jobs that I knew had nothing to do with what I actually wanted to do professionally. I mean, I grew up poor. When you grow up poor, you grow up making life decisions out of survival and necessity, not out of aptitude and passion. This heavily influenced my decision making when it came to accepting job offers I wasn’t the least bit interested in but that I knew would pay decent money and keep a roof over my head. After being laid off, I thought long and hard about what I really wanted to do, which was cooking, and made the decision then-and-there that no matter what happened and no matter how long it took, I would continue to push my brand and talent forward, and I would do it my way.

I am still not exactly where I want to be professionally, and it has been extremely hard just to get to this point. I am a Black woman in in a White male dominated industry. Also, everyone cannot afford to hire a private chef regularly, especially in today’s current economy but I believe with my whole heart that I will reach all of my professional goals and reap the rewards of all of my hard work when I am supposed to. In the meantime I’m enjoying the journey and sowing the seeds.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I am a chef and a homebody. Also, Atlanta drivers and the traffic have both gotten exponentially worse since I moved down here in 2012. When I do go out, it’s rarely in the actual city of Atlanta and it’s usually family friendly so my 4 year old daughter can come with me and enjoy herself also. I will say the following restaurants are always in my rotation:

– La Parilla (Powder Springs)
– The Orient (Marietta)
– Toyin (Marietta)
– Ike’s Cafe & Grill (Norcross)
– Ms Icey’s Kitchen & Bar (Atlanta)
– Yeah! Burger (Atlanta)

For friends that have never been here, I’d take them to a few Atlanta staples: The Trap Museum, Six Flags, Six Flags White Water, Truist (Suntrust) Park, The Georgia Aquarium, and Lips because who doesn’t love a great drag show?

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My whole life I have been surrounded by amazing Black women. Ms. Williams, Ms. Davis & Ms. Johnson were three incredibly amazing Black women who “poured” into me while I attended Elmwood Elementary school in Syracuse, NY. They were the true definition of “it takes a village to raise a child.” Ms. Williams was the school principal, and Ms. Davis and Ms. Johnson were support staff educators. They all kept me in line while in school. They also kept me inspired and motivated to be the best version of myself while embracing my natural leadership qualities. They all knew how easy it was to fall into the wrong crowd and become a follower, especially during a young, Black girl’s school-aged years. They each encouraged me to embrace my intelligence, aptitudes, and love of learning.

Another amazing Black woman who poured into me was my Grandmother, Ruth. She not only taught me how to cook early on in life (and how to clean the kitchen as you go), she also helped me embrace my love of cooking. She helped me realize that it was okay to watch Food Network tv shows on Saturday mornings while other kids my age, including my sister, preferred cartoons. She assured me I was not odd. I was different and special, and being different and special were more than okay and going to take me very far in life. She was right.

Website: https://chefnellig.wixsite.com/catering

Instagram: @chefnellig

Twitter: @ChefNelliG

Facebook: facebook.com/chefnellig