Chayil Hyland Transcript
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Hi, everyone. You're listening to The Future Of Food Is You, a production of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. I'm your host, Abena Anim-Somuah. And each week, I talk to emerging talents in the food world and they share what they're up to, as well as their dreams and predictions for what's ahead. I love this new generation of chefs, bakers, and creatives making their way in the world of food, drink, media, and tech.
Today's guest is Chayil Hyland. Chayil is a junior at Cornell School of Hotel Administration, majoring in food and beverage operations with a minor in inequality studies. She's also an alumna of the Food and Finance High School here in New York City. Chayil and I chat about her time studying at the Food and Finance High School, and benefiting from programs initiated by the Food Education Fund, what it's like learning about hospitality in the academic setting, and how she thinks about representation. Stay tuned for our chat.
Thank you to Kerrygold for supporting The Future of Food Is You. Kerrygold is the iconic Irish brand famous for its beautiful cheese, made with milk from Irish grass-fed cows. It's winter here in New York and lots of other places, as you know, and I love to brighten the season with my favorite Kerrygold cheeses. Kerrygold's Cashel Blue farmhouse cheese has become a staple in my salads. The creamy, delicious texture has that distinct blue cheese bite and is the star of my kale and walnut salads. Soup season is also in full swing. Kerrygold has some great recipes on their site, and one I have in frequent rotation is roasted broccoli soup, with Kerrygold Dubliner with Irish stout cheese. The sweet and nutty flavor and caramel notes take it to the next level. And then the sandwich of the season, of course, is grilled cheese. Upgrade yours with a Kerrygold Reserve Cheddar, which is sharp, strong, rich, and smooth. For us snackers out there, a personal cheese plate always hits the spot. Kerrygold Skellig, a rich and tangy sweet cheese pairs perfectly with tart apple slices, your favorite crackers, or a pickle or two. Look for Kerrygold cheese at your favorite supermarket, specialty grocery store, or cheese shop. Visit kerrygoldusa.com for recipes, product information, and a store locator.
I'm so excited to be in Miami for a Future Of Food Is You event happening tomorrow, March 8th, at Valerie Chang's restaurant, Maty's. We'll have great talks and panels, snacks and drinks, plus networking. Tickets are sold out, but we'll be announcing more tour stops later this year, so stay tuned. Thank you to our friends at Kerrygold, Walmart, and OpenTable for making this tour stop possible. If you snagged a ticket, I can't wait to see you tomorrow.
Now, let's check in with today's guest. Chayil, thank you so much for joining us on The Future of Food Is You podcast.
Chayil Hyland:
Thank you so much, Abena. I am so honored and happy to be here.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Can you tell us where you grew up? And how did food show up in your life?
Chayil Hyland:
Yeah. So I grew up in Queens Village, New York. That area of Queens has a lot of Caribbean heritage. My mom is from Guyana and my dad is from Trinidad, and they immigrated here when they were around 18 or 19 years old. And we grew up, and I've been living in Queens for a really long time. I remember I would commute to go to school. I went to middle school a couple blocks away, but when I would walk back home, I would smell the significant scent of curry chicken on the stove, maybe like two blocks away. And I knew at that moment, yeah, I'm going to get a good meal when I go home. It's been a stressful day. I know that my mom and my grandma was really cooking on that stove, and I'm really excited to have a really good meal when I get home.
So I would open up the back door, put my bag down, wouldn't look at my homework or anything like that, and just eat a really good plate of chicken curry and roti. And that was just a really great time. It was really great place to learn about food and really be passionate about it. I learned how to cook from watching my grandma and my mom cook dishes in the kitchen. I was really small, so when they were making roti, or when they were making Guyanese coconut buns or curry or something like that, I would just have my small hands in a small bowl trying to help knead the dough or trying to help give them tools and spatulas. And I couldn't even see the countertop at that time, but it was really a lot of fun. I also tell people that I've been inspired to cook by “Ratatouille” as well. It's a really inspirational movie. I watch it at least once or twice a year to help really get the vibes going.
But when Remy was throwing vegetables and spices into the pot, my brother and I, we're twins, we were like, "Let's try it out." So we did, thankfully with parental supervision. We took the spices out of the cabinet, literally everything that we can find. I don't even think we could read at that time. Put it in a pot of boiling water, stirred it up, just like Remy did, and made a questionable soup. But it was a lot of fun. And I think from then on, I really enjoyed cooking in the kitchen, and I've tried to incorporate that into my life ever since. Even when I got a little bit older to 11 or 12 years old, charging my parents $10 a pop for me to make them dinner.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
In your own house?
Chayil Hyland:
In my own house, yes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Wow. That's a hustle right there.
Chayil Hyland:
Even though I wasn't paying any bills or anything, it's still saved in my account today. I would have little theme nights and make recipes I found online that were super simple. They would get me the ingredients, and I would make a whole hospitality experience with appetizers, entres, desserts.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Wow.
Chayil Hyland:
And I don't know if it tasted that good, but they really enjoyed it, and they really supported my dream from a really young age. I'm happy that I was able to grow up in Queens with a lot of support and a lot of tasty food, and I was able to grow up with really supportive parents who are willing to try all of my creations.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. Let you make crazy soup on the stove.
Chayil Hyland:
Yeah. Exactly.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. That's awesome. I have to ask. I feel like a lot of people who come on the show are huge Food Network kids. Obviously, you're very Gen Z. Were there any shows that you watched that helped continue to spark that interest?
Chayil Hyland:
Yeah. I watched “Chopped” a lot. It was really interesting because I would look at the ingredients, and I would be like, oh, they're giving them pig ears and jam, and I don't know how they're creating something like this. I always thought to just make a rice because in Guyanese culture, we have this thing called cookup rice, and you just put everything in there. And it's the same in Trinidadian culture as well, with pilau, or just in a lot of Caribbean cultures like really big rice dishes that you put a lot of ingredients into and end up being super hearty. So I knew I would win if I did-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I love that.
Chayil Hyland:
... something like that. I also used to watch “Beat Bobby Flay.” Bobby Flay, I was a really huge fan of his. But it was just really fun to watch. But I never thought that I would want to be on those competitions because it seemed super stressful. I always enjoyed cooking in the comfort of my own home with my parents who-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Charging them $10.
Chayil Hyland:
Yes, exactly.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Very comfortable.
Chayil Hyland:
Right. Exactly.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
So you went to the Food and Finance High School, which is just a couple blocks away from where we're recording. Can you tell us a little bit about how you discovered the school and why you thought it was really important to go to a school like that?
Chayil Hyland:
I always knew I wanted to cook. I didn't feel as though I was that good at anything else when I was growing up. Food and cooking was always something that my parents and my family supported me with. It's a really crazy story because my mom actually introduced me to the school because she was traveling on the train and saw someone with the uniform on.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Very cool. So New York.
Chayil Hyland:
Right. Exactly. So it was a really bright blue shirt with a crest on either the left or right-hand side that had a chef hat, and it said Food and Finance High School. And my mom was like, "How about Food and Finance High school seems like a really cool place." And I told her, "Yeah, that's where I'm going to be." I started applying. And with Food and Finance High School, and just the New York public high school system applying to get in, there's a lot of different requirements depending on the school that you want to go to. So some schools require tests, some schools require-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
SAT?
Chayil Hyland:
Yeah. Exactly.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Specialized high school tests.
Chayil Hyland:
Right. That was something else oh, boy. But Food and Finance was a lottery system. But if you went to an open house, you would be pushed up to the top of the lottery because you showed interest in the school. So I was so interested. I went to two open houses. I went to one in seventh grade, and then one in eighth grade. And I was really thankful to get in. And I think that applying to Food and Finance High School is probably the best decision I could have ever made in my life. I've gotten so many opportunities there from freshman year up to my senior year. Even throughout COVID as well, they've really supported me in everything that I've wanted to do. And I've gotten a lot of education and a lot of experience and grown my network so much from Food and Finance High School, and also their association with the Food Education Fund as well.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. Which we'll definitely talk about more. But I want to talk a little bit about your experience. I've gotten to go to the campus, which is beautiful. And as I was walking there, I remember chuckling to myself what you have to be like, "Oh, sorry, I can't. I have sauce class," or you like...
Chayil Hyland:
Spaghetti. Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I got spaghetti due. So what classes are you taking from freshman to senior year?
Chayil Hyland:
So when I tell people that I went to a culinary high school, they're like, "Well, did you read? Did you do math?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Did you?
Chayil Hyland:
Well, it's school. Yeah, we did. I don't know if it's legal to not read, but we did. We read, we did math, we did all the basic high school things. Every day we had a double period of either baking or culinary arts.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I wish I went to your school.
Chayil Hyland:
It was so fun. We'll take you.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. Can I go back to high school?
Chayil Hyland:
Yeah. You can do it. So our freshman year, it was like an intro to culinary, so like a broad overview of everything. So we learned food safety. We also learned knife cuts. And I was introduced to one of my favorite chefs and inspirations. His name is Chef Bergos. He wore the tallest toque that I've ever seen in my life.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's chef's hat for our listeners.
Chayil Hyland:
I was like, "I want to be him. He looks so cool." But he had his practicing knife cuts on flour before we could move on to vegetables. So we were practicing our measurements, practicing what does an inch look like? What does a batonnet look like? What does a small dice look like?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Julienne.
Chayil Hyland:
Right. Exactly. So things like that. And we were 14, 15 years old, practicing those knife cuts. So that was really fun. Sophomore year, the classes that we did one semester of baking and then one semester of culinary. So kind of the same thing, but a little bit more in depth projects. By this time, my friends and I were able to collaborate on our own cake. So we made a two tier chocolate cake with strawberries, and it was so delectable and it was such-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You must have never been hungry at school.
Chayil Hyland:
No. Never.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Wow.
Chayil Hyland:
And the class was right after lunch period, so it's like you're just going to be eating all day. And it was really fun. Junior year, that's also when COVID hit. So we had our culinary class in the fall semester and they were just starting to opening up their dining lab. So that was my first time cooking for other people in a service way and serving them in that way, and also being a server, taking down-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Notes.
Chayil Hyland:
Yeah. Taking notes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Memorizing specials.
Chayil Hyland:
Yes. Exactly.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Wow.
Chayil Hyland:
Not dropping beverages. So I was able to balance all of the drinks and all of the food, and that was a really great experience. We mastered the art of brunch cookery and eggs. Now I can make a sunny side up egg in almost 30 seconds, and if really wanted to.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. How's your poached egg?
Chayil Hyland:
We didn't get there yet.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It's like back class I gone now.
Chayil Hyland:
Right. Exactly. But it's okay. So unfortunately, COVID hit in the middle of spring semester, which would've been the baking semester. But every junior year we have a junior showcase. I think it was really a divine encounter that we were able to participate in our junior showcase in such a broad way through food and finance and Food Education Fund, because usually juniors will have a theme for the year. A few years prior, it was on the travel ban of countries that people came from that weren't allowed to come to the US for a point of time.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, the predominantly Muslim countries.
Chayil Hyland:
Yeah. Exactly. I wasn't a junior at this time, but the showcase at that time was making foods from all of those countries and showcasing them.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Very cool.
Chayil Hyland:
So it's a really great way to showcase the talents of the juniors and everything that they have learned. But this year, because we weren't in person, our chef at the time was like, "How about we make a food magazine?" And we were like, "Okay." None of us have ever made one before. We've read magazines, we've heard of magazines, but we've never participated in one before. So we were like, "Chef," his name is Chef Jeff. "Why are we going to do this? What's going to happen?" We ended up making it work, and I think that's one of the ways that Food Education Fund has really supported all of the students in their passions and their ordeals.
They've supported me throughout my entire high school experience from freshman year to senior year, and even now, so many experiences that it's so much to talk about, but I think this magazine was really one of the more life-changing ones. So it was called Pass the Spatula Magazine. I was the co-creative director, which was super cool. I had my first title. So I was one of the co-creative directors who helped commission artwork, look over some pieces. I was really happy to be paired with an amazing mentor, Nancy Pappas, who taught me everything that I know about Adobe Creative Suite, InDesign, Photoshop. And I think that's really impressive for someone who's a junior in high school and you can take into any career that you have after graduation. So I was really thankful for that. And I was grateful enough to be able to design the cover as well.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It's a gorgeous cover. Yeah.
Chayil Hyland:
Thank you.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I remember getting a coffee because I know Kerry and Trayon were so involved in it, and it was such a wonderful experience to see.
Chayil Hyland:
Yeah. Absolutely. And this was also how I was introduced to Cherry Bombe and Kerry as well, and it was really great working with the entire Cherry Bombe team to help develop this magazine. And when it was developed, it was something that all of us were really proud of, something that can come from our own imagination and our own hearts and our own desires was put into print. When something is put into print, it's there forever and you have a piece of history to keep with you for the rest of your life. So it was really great. And I thought that the magazine was also really impactful because we wanted to highlight chefs of color, and it was at the height of so much social unrest like right after the George Floyd murder there was so many protests going on, and we had decided to do this before there was so much social unrest in this country. So it just so happened that we were right on time to be able to produce such a powerful magazine that impacted a lot of people.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Let's take a quick break and we'll be right back. Thank you to SIMPLi for supporting the Future of Food as You. SIMPLi is a leading regenerative food brand co-founded by bomb squad members, Sarella Herrada that has a mission to connect people around the world through joy of food. SIMPLi sources grains, beans, legumes, oils, spices, and superfoods directly from farms throughout South America and Europe. These elevated pantry essentials are single origin, flavorful and nutrient dense. Plus, they benefit producers, people, and the planet. I love a mission driven food company and admire SIMPLi's commitment to restoring flawed food systems and preserving Mother Earth for future generations. These products are well-loved by home cooks and chefs and are sold in some of your favorite grocery stores across the country like whole foods. Plus, their ingredients are used in restaurants, meal kits, meal delivery services and more. Try some of their regenerative organic certified products like their Gigante beans sourced from Kastoria, Greece in your next winter soup or veggie stew. Their Peruvian chia seeds in the chia seed pudding or their Andean Valley chickpeas blended into a delicious hummus. SIMPLi products are a sustainable way to experience flavors from around the world on your plate. Visit eatsimpli.com to read more about their mission, learn where their farms are located, see their full product catalog, and find them in a retail store near you. That's Eat S-I-M-P-L-I.com.
Kerry Diamond:
Hi, everybody. Kerry Diamond here. I'm the founder of Cherry Bombe. We are excited to announce that OpenTable is partnering with Cherry Bombe on our Sit With US community dinner series, which highlights amazing female chefs and restaurateurs in the Cherry Bombe network. Tickets for our next three dinners are on sale right now. We'll be at Chef Eileen Andrada's restaurant, Amelia's 1931 in Miami on March 7th and Ellen Yin's Fork in Philadelphia on March 13th. Stay tuned for details about our dinner at Estuary in Washington DC with Chef Rio Montez. How does it work? You can come solo and sit at a Cherry Bombe community table, or bring a friend or two and we will seat you together. Tickets are available exclusively on OpenTable. Just search for the restaurant on the OpenTable app or opentable.com and go to the experiences tab to purchase a ticket, which includes a welcome drink and a three course or family style meal. A portion of the proceeds from each dinner will benefit a local charity. Learn more about the open table and Cherry Bombe Sit With Us series at cherrybombe.com.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
So you are now a junior at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University. Go Big Red. And you're majoring in hospitality and minoring in inequality studies. Can you tell me a little bit about the process of applying to college and how you thought going to Food and Finance High School really helped prepare you?
Chayil Hyland:
I applied to Cornell not thinking that I would get in. I also wasn't thinking about Cornell at all until my senior year of high school. I always really wanted to go to culinary school because that was mostly the trajectory that most people at Food and Finance take a trajectory that I was okay with and that I really wanted to accomplish.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Were most people going to CIA? Were they going to Ice? What schools were common places to go?
Chayil Hyland:
Lots of different ones. Of course, the top one was CIA.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
In Hyde Park?
Chayil Hyland:
Yes, exactly. Johnson and Wales, Paul Smith, Ice. And there were also a lot of culinary competitions to help you get scholarships to go to these places. So I participated in all of them. I did C-CAP. I did-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What's C-CAP?
Chayil Hyland:
Careers through Culinary Arts Program. So they provide probably one of the biggest culinary competitions to help get people into culinary colleges. So I participated in that. We had to make the perfect French omelet with no breaks in it, no brown spots, smooth as a baby.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And get that little full.
Chayil Hyland:
Yeah, exactly. And you had to cut into it and it had to be the perfect amount of just gloriousness. We also practiced that during COVID, which was really interesting, and we also had to practice tourne potatoes too. My parents were sick of it. We had tourne potatoes for dinner for two, three months straight. Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What is a tourne potato?
Chayil Hyland:
So a tourne potato is about two inches in length and it has seven equal sides, like a football shape, and the top and bottom are flat. So you have to find a way to manipulate the potato to create this perfect tourne shape. It was really tough. It was tough, but I did it and at this point in my life, I had applied to CIA, I had gotten in, and then I applied to Cornell about two days before the deadline. Like, "I'll just apply. I don't know if I'll get in."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You close your eyes as you submit, hit submit.
Chayil Hyland:
Exactly. I'm like, "What a cool thing to do." So I applied and march April comes around and I realized that C-CAP called me up, said, "Hey, you got the scholarship. You got a full ride to CIA." And I said, "Lovely. Amazing." The next day I got my acceptance to Cornell and I was like, "Wait, this wasn't in the plan." I didn't think that I would get in, so I wasn't really thinking about what would happen if this situation came to be. I chose Cornell. It was a really tough decision to make that I had to make in a week's time. It was like, "Do I follow what I thought I would do for my entire life or do I try something new and try to expand my horizons a little bit?"
So it was a really tough decision to make, but thankfully I had a lot of support, especially from Food Education Fund, all my teachers at Food and Finance High School, so I chose Cornell. I think I made the right decision. It was really tough starting out because I really thought about where I would be able to incorporate food into my life knowing that I'm not at a food university, but I knew that being at Cornell School of Hotel Administration, I would have so much support and so much ability to go anywhere and branch out to any place where I wanted to be.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. But you had a solid foundation. It seems like you were learning about service. You know how restaurants work back of house, which I think is really important to for front of house, to have to have that empathy if anything. But yeah, before we get into your college experience, let's talk a little bit about the Food and Education Fund. So obviously it's a really incredible organization and I've been so happy to get to experience a little bit of it with Kerry and Cherry Bombe. So I'm just going to read the mission. So it's through experiential learning in culinary arts, hospitality and entrepreneurship. The Food Education Fund prepares and empowers students to continue their education and cultivate sustainable careers. How did you get to feel that mission at your time in high school?
Chayil Hyland:
I think from the very first moment I walked through the doors, I felt the mission coming to fruition. It was just embedded into me and just flowing through my veins, and I think they did a really good job of that. I was really thankful to have my first job and first internship through Food Education Fund, and it was actually working at the Cornell Hydroponics and Aquaponics labs that they have at the school. So they have a hydroponics lab on the roof, and then in the basement where they raise tilapia and raise different types of greens like kale or butter, lettuce and things like that.
At 14 or 15 years old, I was working in this science lab helping Professor Warner propagate plants and harvest things and take the pH levels of the water and the fish and whatnot. And I think that internship really taught me that there's also a lot more to the food industry than just restaurants, and I think that was a really important realization to have at a young age in my freshman year. The second year, I was able to have an internship through the Food Education Fund at Marta Manhattan, which was part of Union Square Hospitality Group. That was my first restaurant job.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Wow. What were you doing there?
Chayil Hyland:
I was in the pastry kitchen. I was making maritozzo, which is this yeast bun with whipped cream inside. I was making cookies, breads. I learned how to make a sourdough bread, and I tried to make a sourdough starter at home and it didn't quite work.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
All that teaching at school and you still struggle. There's hope for the rest of us.
Chayil Hyland:
There is. It's okay. No, they have the most amazing sourdough bread. I made so many really cool friends there as well, and I learned a lot. I learned how to crack an egg with one hand, which was-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Without getting the shell in there.
Chayil Hyland:
I got the shell there a couple of times. Just a couple of times. Just adds a little more texture. No, no, no. But I learned, and it was a really, really fun experience in framing what I thought I would want to do afterwards. I never thought that I was really that into baking. I was always bad at it. And then after this I was like, "I'm okay at it. I can do a little something. I can shape some pizza dough and roll some things out." So that was a really fun experience. After that COVID hit, and that was the summer I worked on Pastor Spatula, which was also through Food Education Fund.
And then after that, I was able to have an internship my senior year with Cherry Bombe, which was really, really, really fun. I did a lot of design work with Pass The Spatula the year before, so I was doing some design work with Cherry Bombe in my senior internship. I think throughout my entire food and finance career and Food Education Fund career, it's been about learning about the ways that food intersects with all aspects of life outside of the restaurant industry because I think for myself and a lot of younger people that were within the school with me, we all thought about the only thing that we can do after this is open a restaurant or work in a kitchen. There were no other opportunities, but Food Education Fund really helped instill in us that there are so many opportunities outside of the restaurant that we could be passionate about, and I was really passionate about it.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Let's talk about college. So I'm really curious to hear, it sounds like you're in the hospitality school, so you're still in food, but not exactly in the kitchen. What have been some of the courses that you're taking and what are some of the things that you've learned during your time there?
Chayil Hyland:
I think the hotel school is a really unique place. There are many food courses, but I think with the hotel school, you get a really great, well-rounded view of what hospitality means to somebody. Everyone is exposed to food and beverage, everyone is exposed to real estate, finance, accounting. Everything that you need to be business ready to do, whatever that you want to do within your time. When I first got there, I thought about concentrating and food and beverage because that's what I, of course really loved to do and what I really was passionate about. But then there was a jump scare where I took my first food course, it was the introductory to food service course.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You're like, "I got this ride."
Chayil Hyland:
I was like, "I got this in the bag." No, I didn't. I failed my first exam. I called my mom like, "Oh my gosh, I can't be here. I can't believe it, but I failed my first exam. Take me out of here." And she was like, "Okay. Calm down."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What was the exam?
Chayil Hyland:
It was about the different stations in the kitchen, and the thing is I knew that. I had a lot of pride going into it, and pride always comes before a fall. So I was like, "I don't need to study anything. I don't need to listen." I ended up failing the exam. So it was about the positions in the kitchen and also the types of food service industries. It was a very service level introductory course, and I didn't do that well on the first exam. So I went to office hours and I said, "Professor, please, what can I do? I need to pass this next exam." And he was like, "Well, you need to study. You need to pay attention and you need to study." And I said, "Okay."
That was what I needed to shift gears and really take this experience as a learning experience and not go in thinking that I knew everything and that I had all the experience that I needed because in reality, I was just getting started. So studied and I got an A plus on the exam, and I was like, "Wow. That was fun." And I really also enjoyed taking every single class that I've taken so far. I never thought of myself as a finance girly. I looked at my first P&L and I was like, "What's the profit? What's the loss? What is an asset?" I didn't know what was going on, but now I can say, I know what a profit and loss statement is. I know what an asset is.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's very important.
Chayil Hyland:
It's really important.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Especially in restaurants.
Chayil Hyland:
Yes, I agree. And I was talking to one of my professors and saying, "Listen, I don't know anything about finance," and he was like, "Well, you need to know enough to not get robbed." I know enough to not get robbed at this point. When I think about the classes, it has offered me a great experience and a great opportunity to learn about hospitality and how food intersects with every single part of hospitality. I've taken a lot of interesting courses. My favorite one right now has been the hotel development one, and I never would've thought that I would be really interested in hotel development. Our final project was to make our very own hotel with all the amenities and we had to go and check out properties. I took a little walk, went to this open land and was taking pictures and surveying it and making sure it was-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Were you able to build CAD and stuff too?
Chayil Hyland:
No, it was all on Excel. So it was a really interesting and really fun way to create something from the ground up. I've taken a lot of interesting classes that are hospitality focused as well. I think I've had a really well-rounded experience.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. I definitely want to hear more about your hotel and maybe it'll come to life one day. Obviously, you're also very involved, not just from an academic perspective. I know you're an RA, and marching band, which is really cool. And you also do a lot of DE&I stuff at the school. So you are the director of Impact and Inclusion for Hotel Ezra, can you tell us a little bit about Hotel Ezra Cornell and what does your role as director look like?
Chayil Hyland:
Yeah, absolutely. So Hotel Ezra Cornell is a student run hospitality conference that takes a whole year to create. It's in the spring every year around the end of April.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Nice, coming up.
Chayil Hyland:
Yeah, exactly. They're hitting the ground running this semester. The conference really served as a way for students to get involved in a really impactful way to be innovative, to think of new ideas and what it takes to put on a successful conference. So this conference involves food and beverage aspects, so we're catering to over 200 guests. There's a beverage team that makes the cocktails, makes the beverage menus. The culinary team makes all the recipes and so many things like that, and it takes a really huge amount of people to run it successfully. My freshman, year I was assistant function manager of the closing cocktail function team. I think that's what it was-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You've got those titles on lock. Yeah.
Chayil Hyland:
Thank you. I appreciate it. My friends and I were in charge of creating all the desserts for that conference for that year, HEC 97, which was two years ago. The next year after that, I was assistant director of People and Culture. So the People and Culture team is the HR of the conference, making sure that everyone who is in the conference and is involved in the conference feels safe, secure, and feels like they can create whatever they would like to create to the best of their abilities. So being as best of a support as you can.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Which is very important, especially in restaurant culture.
Chayil Hyland:
Yeah, absolutely. I feel like people don't think about it enough about the role of support and the role of HR in creating safe spaces and creating sustainable organizations. While I was an assistant director there, I made several DE&I trainings and collected a lot of data to help progress the DE&I of the organization because I noticed that it wasn't as diverse as I would've liked to see, and there's always so much to learn, especially being at a predominantly white institution. It becomes really sometimes difficult to just exist in these spaces. So I wanted to make sure that people who look like me felt safe enough to be themselves and also give their all to the organization without feeling like they have to hide a portion of themselves or code switch or any of those types of things. I decided I really wanted to make a huge impact. I applied to be the director of Impact and Inclusion, which is being a director is probably one of the higher positions because all of the board of directors, we get credit for being on the board of directors.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Like academic credit.
Chayil Hyland:
Yeah, exactly.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It's a course for you?
Chayil Hyland:
Exactly. Whereas other, when I was an assistant director or a function manager, you're doing it for fun for volunteer hours, which was also great. This year I'm the Impact and Inclusion director, which has been really fun. I am so thankful I get to lead my own team of people who are just as passionate about me, about promoting DE&I, advocacy, authenticity, being yourself, so we've been able to collect lots of data. We've been able to do lots of trainings, and we're really excited for this next semester and this next year of what impact and inclusion is going to do. It's been scary.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, it's a huge responsibility.
Chayil Hyland:
Yeah, it really is. I think I've had a lot of self-doubt of, "Wow. Why did they put me in this position? Why am I here?"
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You are qualified and you deserve it.
Chayil Hyland:
Thank you. Now six months in, I feel qualified and I feel like I can do it, and I feel really thankful to be given the opportunity, so we're going to make HEC 99 the best ever. I'm really excited for this conference and I'm really excited for the impact that we're going to make on the organization.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's so awesome. Obviously, I'm about to ask you the worst question to ask any junior. Oh my gosh. I think I know. I'm really curious. Next year you're going to have your C-CAP and gown on walking across that stage. What do you hope to be doing when you get out of school if you have any idea?
Chayil Hyland:
I hope to be walking across the stage with a smile on my face. I know that I will, and I'm also trying to embody the idea that rest is resistance. I need that. I think it's really important, although I'm doing so many things, I think being able to rest has been something that I really strive to be able to accomplish. I hope that I'm able to rest, but afterwards, I'm not really sure. Like I said, I've really enjoyed every single class that I've taken. Every single class makes me reconsider my career. Maybe I'll be a hotel general manager, maybe I'll be a restaurant general manager. Maybe I'll be a designer, but I think I've just been really passionate about in general, making change in the industry.
Hopefully that's through social media or just like any form of media. I really enjoy being creative especially I figured that out about myself through my internship with Cherry Bombe and through Pass The Spatula and through all of my different involvements within Cornell as well. So I wanted to be able to be creative, but also make a difference in the industry to be able to create more safe spaces for people and be able to develop the next generation of hospitality leaders that are Black and Brown, that are first generation, low income that are from the city that go to food and finance. People like those who have thought and dreamt of being in these positions of power, I really want to be able to support them. I'm not really sure the trajectory to get there, but I know that I'll get there and I know that when I'm there it'll be great.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I'm curious for you now, I think there's so much change has happened even in the last five years in the industry. How are you hoping that food changes, like the industry of food and what industry are you hoping to pioneer or lead?
Chayil Hyland:
I really want to see more leaders in the industry that look like me. I've never been able to work in a place where the general manager or the executive chef was a Black woman. I know that we're getting more and more representation within the restaurant industry, but I think in order for young people, especially when I was in high school, to be able to see themselves in those positions, there needs to be a form of representation so that they know that they can make it to that stage. I really hope that the future of food is diverse and really accepting and really willing to teach the younger generation and really willing to teach others everything that they know.
I hope that no one withholds information. No one is gatekeeping, no one is keeping things to themselves for their own benefit. I hope that we're able to share that information with everyone so that we can all succeed. And I hope that everyone also has fun and enjoys it. I don't want the food industry to be associated with being stressful or being tiring or just not being fun. I hope that people are able to enjoy their passions and also make a sustainable living afterwards as well.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's so awesome and so empowering, and obviously I know acceptance season is coming up. People are ready. I'm really curious. Do you have any advice for the incoming class of a freshman at Cornell or any student who's going to some culinary related school? What would you say to them if you could give them a little pep talk?
Chayil Hyland:
I would say try your best. Try everything. Ask as many questions as you can. I would also say don't necessarily look at what other people are doing. What I've heard all the time is that comparison is a thief of joy and it really is. I compared myself a lot my freshman year, and even now I catch myself in this trap of comparing myself to other people. Everyone is on their own pathways and especially in college, there's so many different trajectories and ways of going about success in college. So I would say keep your passion really close to your heart and try your best not to lose sight of it no matter what other people are doing, no matter what internships people are getting and connections people are receiving and whatnot. Really try to keep your passion really close to your heart and try your best. You're already doing great. You got into these universities, you got into these-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Ivy Leagues and other schools.
Chayil Hyland:
Yes, I'm grateful. That's my advice to the incoming class of Cornell or any culinary school or any school in general.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And then what do you think the future of food education is?
Chayil Hyland:
The future of food education is expansive, fun, and I think it's not just restaurants and I think it's not just traditional culinary experience. Of course, when we were learning in Food and Finance High School, we had a very French way of learning how to cook, learning all the knife skills-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The brigade system.
Chayil Hyland:
Yes, exactly. I hope that the future of culinary education and food education branches out into non-Western places, into different continents, different countries, and expands, which I think will be really, really great and can really develop a more empathetic and a more competent society when we're moving into the future. So I'm excited for that.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Thank you so much for joining us. I am so inspired by you and I can't wait to see what you do even in your senior year and after. If we want to support, you are the best places to find you?
Chayil Hyland:
Yeah, you can support me. I'm on Instagram at chayil.co, and on LinkedIn as well. But yeah, that's where you can connect me and I'm also inspired by you Abena. I'm so grateful to be on this podcast and see people accomplishing their dreams and doing what they love.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Well, yeah, you are the future, so it's such an honor to have you.
Chayil Hyland:
Thanks, Abena.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Awesome. Thank you. Before we go, our guest is going to leave a voicemail just talking to themselves 10 years from now. You have reached The Future Of Food Is You mailbox. Please leave your message after the beep.
Chayil Hyland:
Hey, Chayil, it's me, you. Congrats on everything you've accomplished. I hope that you're listening to this in a more diverse and vibrant society like you have always hoped. I wouldn't be surprised if you are a few degrees hotter, your bachelor's degree is complete and perhaps a master's. I know you are more educated than ever before, reading all sorts of books and doing all types of research. You've also done a lot of creative projects and continue to be consistent in them. I'm really proud of you. I hope you've also continued giving back to those who gave to you so abundantly.
How's Food Education Fund? Have you gone back for a Visiting Chef demonstration? Have you made it on the Junior board of directors helping to create bigger and better opportunities for those students? I hope that you know the work that you have done and are continuing to do right now continues to make a successful pathway for those that look like you in this industry. I know that by now you have mastered the art of confidence, and have continued to pursue everything that you love doing. Curiosity has always been your strong suit, whether that's music, reading, design, or any other hobbies that you have picked up along the way.
I hope you never forget where your heart lies and that you always remember the passion, love, and care that you have for food and those around it, and I hope you continue to share that love and passion with everyone around you. And girl, I hope you finally learned how to walk in six inch heels. You have places to be, red carpets to walk on, awards to receive, and speeches to give. I know that 10 years ago you were a bit unsure of where you fit, but now you've realized that you don't have to fit into any box and that where you are now is right where you're destined to be. What's for dinner tonight? Take care, Chayil.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's it for today's show. I would love for you to leave a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to the show. Thanks to Kerrygold, OpenTable, and SIMPLi for supporting today's show. The Future Of Food Is You is a production of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. Thanks to the team at CityVox Studios, executive producers Kerry Diamond and Catherine Baker, associate producer Jenna Sadhu, and editorial assistant London Crenshaw. Catch you on the future flip.