We recently connected with Adrienne “AC” Price and have shared our conversation below.

Adrienne “AC” , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Thank you so much for the opportunity, I am truly honored!

AC Art Of Food was created out of a love for family and to rethink the heart of the home, the kitchen. I come from a long line of amazing cooks and a DNA deeply rooted in eating good food! Now, the food created and devoured in my family’s kitchens were recipes that deliciously fed our souls, but were not always beneficial to our health. Unfortunately, illness and death stole the lives of many of my relatives, and in most cases this was directly correlated to their eating habits. Witnessing this heartache, I was able to identify healthier swaps, add-ins, and approaches in recreating some of my family’s favorite comfort foods. Coincidentally, my relatives weren’t too far off of the health-focus, as whole foods were often used- strongly because of the vegetable gardens growing in the backyards of most of my grandparents. It was the excessive sodium, refined sugars, cholesterol laden-fatty meats and oils, that were the tempting culprits. AC Art Of Food is dedicated to the art of making healthy taste good incorporating great health with great flavor.

Our flagship product, Abstract Spice Seasoning, was created out of a desperate need for a lower sodium all natural seasoning to replace the excessive sodium season-all blends loaded on the shelves of grocery stores and markets. I became disgusted with the processed artificial ingredients and unfathomably high sodium levels in these ‘flavor boosters’ that we all were becoming addicted to! That’s when I decided to get in my ‘lab’ and create a better product. Curating a select blend of spices and formulating a healthier full bodied seasoning line, low in sodium, and all natural everything- super tasty on everything, is how I earned the title “healthy spice mixologist”.

There was also the need for these ‘health-arized’ family favorites to be quick and easy. I learned this from being raised between the ages of 5-11 by a single mother. My mom always made sure we ate home cooked meals. We tease at the fact that she didn’t know anything about cooking from a “box”, which jokes at the notion of the quick, processed, ready-made-box-meals often selected for their time-saving preparation. However, Gayle was adamant about good quality food, eating ones fruits and veggies, and being efficient in the kitchen. I remember after church on Sundays saving some of the money given for me to put in the collection plate to purchase candy at the produce stand we’d always go to at the corner of Old National Hwy and Herschel Road (where my College Park natives at!?!). This small but mighty open air produce stand would provide our upcoming week’s meals and were always bountiful, fresh, in season, and delicious. See, I literally ‘get it from my momma!” She would often remake our family’s traditions from her hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio in half the time. My Aunt Colette is also a master at finding delicious short cuts in the kitchen, and has a wicked Grilled Chicken & Green Pea Fettuccini Alfredo recipe that will make you drool and is ready to eat in the blink of an eye! My beloved Aunt Jackie and Godmother Jo, would introduce me to the more sophisticated dishes such as Orzo Pasta Salad w/ Prawns and Roasted Loin of Pork w/ Cranberry Chutney & Fresh Lemon Parsley Potatoes. While my Aunt Judy, well, she’s a master of identifying a good sauce, lol!. All of these contributions gave me the inspiration to remember the flavor when adding in the health, making me the resource for healthy eating for my family, friends, and clients.

And this was, and remains, the inspiration for me creating a company providing delicious heart-healthy seasonings, meal prep cooking classes, custom meal plans, blood type health and wellness coaching, culinary health courses, healthy recipes, cook books, and is an overall hub for healthy eating lifestyles.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Absolutely, I’d love to!

I was born and raised in East Point/College Park, GA. Funny thing is, my whole family’s from Cincinnati, Ohio, even my husband! Guess the South had something to say that they wanted to hear it!

I earned a Bachelors degree in Business Management from Savannah State University where I proudly pledged Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. I then went on to earn my MBA from the University of Phoenix. But my passion really lies in health and wellness. I am a certified Health & Nutrition Life Coach (TS), and Health & Wellness Coach (CPD) accredited, with additional certifications in Food/Nutrition/Health, Food & Health, and The Science of Well-Being from Stanford and Yale Universities respectively.

I am also ServSafe (Mgr) certified and licensed by the Georgia Department of Agriculture, so you know I take food safety seriously!

For over 15 years, I worked in the corporate world, doing everything from administration and project management to health and wellness coordination and accounting. But a few years ago, I was ‘pushed’ and took the leap in becoming a full-time health entrepreneur – a “health-preneur” as I like to call it! It’s been a wild ride, but I’m going into my fourth year now and loving the freedom to focus on my passion for healthy living.

This passion actually led me to found AC Health Foodie, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on promoting healthy lifestyles for kids and kids at heart, where I serve as Executive Director.

I also serve on the board of directors for Melanated Growers, Inc. 501(c)(3) non-profit. I’m really committed to helping people live healthier lives, both through my business and through these organizations.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Resilience is a must in an entrepreneur’s toolbox. The amount of discernment you must have as an individual and representative of your brand is enormous. There will be times when you may be approached by colleagues and businesses seeking to partner and or provide your business with what may seem resources you ‘need’. You may from time to time be approached by entities seeking to duplicate your brand as well- “business sheep in wolves suits”, if you will. The key is to know your brand’s worth. It may have started as a hobby, but once you nurture it and decide it is what will be your legacy, you must treat it as such. Structure, legitimacy, and a great team, are the 3 primary elements needed to build a resilient brand. I have been approached numerous times with promises of million dollar success, only to be left with less than I started with. When I’ve been hit with these losses, I do a strong evaluation, assessing what went wrong, and the red flags I overlooked. I take these ‘fail forwards’ as lessons and learn from them. Often times what was presented as a collaboration, I have taken on, repurposed, and enhanced my brand for the better making it the resilient company it is today. How I handle this sometimes bumpy journey is encompassed in a mantra of mine, a little food for thought: “What if what I see as failures is really God setting me up to soar?”

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The only constant thing in life is change. This means being able to pivot at a moments notice…if any notice at all. The biggest pivot I’ve had to make in my career is being ‘pushed’ out of over 15 years in corporate America to full time business owner, all within a matter of about 3 minutes. I was terminated during covid 2020. After years of enduring and trying to fight micro-aggressions, racial and sexist undertones, mysogyny, hypocrisy, double standards, bullying, oppression, and an overall archaic good ol’ boy environment, I was terminated for defending my rights. It’s funny now, because right after the call (everything was virtual due to the pandemic), I didn’t even process what happened because I was scheduled an hour later to go live on social media to introduce my new Abstract Spice Lemon Salt & Pepper seasoning blend! And it was a success! And I’ve been a full time business owner ever since. I’ve endured highs and lows, ebbs and flows, and breath taking financial hardships, and I can say with conviction that I would not turn back for anything. The road by no means has been easy. Thankfully I am blessed with an amazing support system, and at the head of this system is my husband, Landon, who has been my rock, my comfort, and biggest fan. Assessing my employee role back in the day, and lack of competent leadership, actually helped me to become a empathetic and strong business owner. I have literally taken the incompetent approaches bestowed on me and created a blueprint on becoming a better manager of people and systems. My past work environment was so toxic my husband stated I should have left years ago because of how it was tearing me down, inside and out, mentally and physically. This particular pivot I interpret as God’s ‘pushing’ me towards my purpose of growing AC Art Of Food to its fullest potential full time, since I didn’t take heed to the obvious signs previously. This experience has truly renewed my faith in my purpose and the path I walk daily. I now accept pivots as life’s redirections.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.acartoffood.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/acartoffood
• Facebook: facebook.com/acartoffood
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/acartoffood
• Youtube: youtube.com/@acartoffood9215
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/ac-art-of-food-atlanta-3
• Other: TikTok: tiktok.com/@acartoffood Pinterest: pinterest.com/acartoffood

Image Credits
Photos: Tony Jordan, PoloMillion Photography www.polo1millionphotography.com