We recently connected with Steven Hellman and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Steven thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Recently starting up my Hellman’s Kitchen “Veteran Foodie Podcast” has been meaningful in several ways that I didn’t anticipate prior to beginning my first recording session.

As a U.S. Military Veteran, I am part of a small tribe of individuals with a shared unique experience. Approximately 6% of the United States population has served in the Military which makes the veteran community very tight knit in the most positive way possible. Some impressive ways which this community supports one another is through mentorship, sharing resources of all kinds (social, emotional, professional, etc.), and having an instant bond when meeting one another. It is tough to find another veteran entrepreneur who doesn’t have some sense of mission within their core business model to help others in the Military connected community.

To be clear, Military connection has a few categories; Active Duty, Veteran, Reservist, National Guard, or a Dependent. Previous to running Hellman’s Kitchen full-time, I worked as Fordham University’s Assistant Director of Military and Veterans’ Services, which meant I had the privilege to directly support Fordham’s 500 Military connected students transition into becoming a civilian, into a student, and into a professional. During this time, I learned that one of the toughest parts about figuring out how to support this unique group is to identify who is part of it. Many service members might not identify as a Veteran for instance, until about 7 years after their service is completed.

I plan to support other entrepreneurs by spotlighting other Military connected owned food/beverage businesses through my Veteran Foodie Podcast. My podcast has a relatively simple format where I get to know my guests, learn about their business, and give them a chance to offer advice to entrepreneurs listening in. It is absolutely incredible to meet some of these business owners who have lived so many versions of life, and somehow ended up making a living selling food products or running a restaurant. The skills these veterans bring to the table which helps make them successful is something that truly separates them from their competition. Their leadership experience, time management, and teamwork skills have been some highlights.

My goal with this podcast is to show the world what my Military connected community is capable of by sharing all of our unique Military experiences, and highlighting all of their successful businesses. You can listen to my Veteran Foodie Podcast on Spotify, or watch the video podcast on my YouTube channel.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’m the creator of Hellman’s Kitchen, a cooking show on YouTube where I teach the home cook to save time in the kitchen, by showing what I’ve learned cooking as a Salty Chef in the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) for a couple hundred salty sailors. I also run the Veteran Foodie Podcast, where I spotlight other Military Connected owned food/beverage small businesses to show what veterans are capable of.

I was trained professionally as a Chef during my time in the USCG during a rigorous 3 month, 6 days a week, 16 hour day program in California. My cohort was made up of about 15 other Coast Guardsmen from all over the nation. Our first month consisted of cooking basics in the classroom, followed by another month of group culinary hands-on instruction, with our final month concluding with the responsibility to cook for the entire base (breakfast, lunch, dinner for 500-800 patrons a meal). This training was meant to prepare us for cooking in the fleet where we’d be responsible for feeding crews that needed to be operationally ready for search and rescue missions, drug interdictions, and several other responsibilities protecting our coasts.

My first unit (job assignment) after culinary school was the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton, which is a ship based out of Alameda, CA which holds between 150-200 sailors. I was part of a team of 4-5 other chefs who had the responsibility to run food inventory, create menus, and run the kitchen. Any sailor will tell you that the morale of the ship depends on several things, with the kitchen being at the heart of it all. If a ship didn’t have a high functioning, dedicated, and motivated team in its kitchen then the crew was in for some long hard months out at sea. I was lucky to be part of a team of cooks who truly cared about serving the best food possible to our crew, whose only source of eating was through our hands.

I was deployed 4 different times on the Stratton which sailed to parts of Central America, Alaska, the Arctic Circle, and Hawaii. Our ship’s main mission was drug interdictions off the coast of Central America, where we’d interdict semi-submersible submarines stacked with hundreds of pounds of cocaine, marijuana, and heroin. They also came with a few drug runners who operated these vessels. Part of my duty was to cook for these detainees once we caught them and imprisoned them on our ship. I never thought I’d serve 30 cartel members my Grandma’s infamous garlic chicken, but I did, and they loved it.

Now I take all my unique experience cooking in a high stress operational environment, and share all the recipes and tips with my audience through my YouTube cooking show. I’ve found sharing my sea stories a cathartic process, which also hopefully educates people on serving in the Military and being a Veteran. My “Veteran Foodie Podcast” is my outlet to spotlight my fellow Military connected community food/beverage business owners. Each of them have their own inspiring story that they get to share on my podcast, and invigorate other aspiring veteran entrepreneurs to take the leap to start their own business.

You can watch my YouTube cooking show at www.youtube.com/hellmanskitchen and listen to my Veteran Foodie Podcast on Spotify.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

To all of my Military connected entrepreneurs, I highly suggest you take advantage of all the opportunities that exist to support our unique community starting a business. Look up your local VA (Veteran Affairs) office to ask what local business programs exist in your area. There are typically Veteran Centers that run local events, panels, and networking opportunities.

NYU Veteran Future Labs is a great program based out of New York City, but usually open to the nation since it runs virtual. This program is a cohort of Military Connected aspiring or current business owners. They run on a semester like a college would, and take you through running a startup business A-Z. The best part of this program is networking with all the liked minded business owners, who are always more helpful than you’d think. Remember your net worth is your network.

Another great program is Bunker Labs, which is a similar program but longer in length (about 6 months). Bunker Labs meets weekly with your small cohort to discuss your wins, losses, and helps you work together as a group to grow one another’s business. It is another great networking opportunity where you never know who you’ll meet.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

My absolute FAVORITE part of being creative is sitting outside with my notepad and brainstorming my next video idea. I’ve always been low key obsessed with watching tv and movies, never thinking it’d pan out to be useful in life. But now that I’ve been running Hellman’s Kitchen, I can tell I have a great artistic eye for films that would have never evolved if I didn’t binge watch any new series or movie I didn’t see yet.

Storytelling is one of the oldest professions known to the human race, which I find fascinating how much it has evolved through the digital mediums, but also how little it has actually changed to its core. I love what I do, which I know is rare and I’m super fortunate/appreciative to be able to do this job.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hellmanskitchen.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hellmanskitchen
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hellmankitchen
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenhellman10/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/hellmanskitchen
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/hellmanskitchen
• Other: Spotify http://www.bit.ly/veteranfoodiepodcast