'I Have 3 Strikes Against Me In The Kitchen: I'm A Woman, I'm Black And I'm Gay'
HuffPost
Chef Roshara Sanders shares what needs to happen in the hospitality industry to make it LGBTQ-hospitable.
Chef Roshara Sanders is blazing a trail as a culinary instructor at the Culinary Institute of America, from which she graduated in 2014. Chef Ro teaches with her philosophy that love comes through in cooking. The Bridgeport, Connecticut, native says she is the first Black female culinary arts Instructor at the school, and she previously served in the military and worked in a number of kitchens in New York City. In the latest edition of Voices In Food, she talks about what it’s like to have three strikes against her in the kitchen, why representation matters, and how what’s happening here and abroad may have a chilling effect on those who go into the hospitality field.
I tell people I have three strikes against me in the kitchen: I’m a woman, I’m Black and I’m gay. I’ve definitely experienced sexism. And since I was “outed” in a segment on a network piece during Black History Month in 2017, when I was 28 years old ― I definitely felt a change in the kitchen after that aired.