I grew up learning a love of cooking and tweaking recipes. My first job off of the farm was my senior year of high school co-opt to Hardees in Calhoun, TN. It was the first half of my school days from 4:30-9:00 AM making biscuits and cinnamon rolls. Nearing graduation from high school, my guidance counselor brought up the term "culinary school". I asked him, "What is that?", for in the year 1994,
in McMinn County, that term was not in my vocabulary. I worked for a year after high school. That year I worked for Cracker Barrel in Cleveland, Tennessee and I helped open the Applebees in Athens, Tennessee. I then attended culinary school. At Memphis Culinary Academy, I had the fun of teaching my instructor to make biscuits and gravy. For his extent in culinary arts somehow skipped that true art. My first job out of culinary school was more like an internship. It was at 212 Market Restaurant, Downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee for almost five years from 1995-1999. It was there that I worked alongside some of the most amazing chefs. It was there that my "recipe tweaking" became to involve much diversity. A family friend had opened her restaurant, The Riverboat Barge and Grille. lt was docked in the Tennessee River at Coolidge Park, in Chattanooga, Tennessee underneath the Walnut Street Bridge. She had a dinner menu and had asked me if I would come and create a lunch menu and be her lunch-time chef. I did and that is where some of my most famed recipes originated. I married in the year 2000. My then husband and I had Anziano's Deli on Georgia Avenue, Downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee from 2001-2008. It was there that I had my children, for all I ever wanted in life was to be a Momma. I then opened, Debo's Kitchen on my family farm from 2008-2018. It was there I sent out a weekly menu to folks that had followed my culinary journey. I also worked alongside a consultant to further my recipe development and was able to share that love with Burgers Smokehouse in Missouri. To this day you can go to their website, Smokehouse.com and order side dishes that I created for their menu. I then opened The Victoria House Bed and Breakfast. Life happened and seasons changed. Now here in 2026 I am back to my love of cooking and recipe development.
