We were lucky to catch up with Andrea Leon recently and have shared our conversation below.

Andrea, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business

AS a private chef you live the lives of other. You are on borrowed time. I very funny story is that I was left behind in NYC. My client decided he had to fly to Miami on the spot. I was at Wholefoods when they decide and flew straight to the airport. I ran out of Wholefoods with my shopping bag. Checked out of hotel went to airport, Checked my bag but I was still carrying the groceries as it was too late to Shop in Miami for his late night meal.

At the new Jersey Airport I got detained for monk sugar. 12 officers surrounded me. I cried and begged them to let me catch my flight or I could lose my job. They treated me like a terrorist but meanwhile they knew monk sugar registers as an explosive. I had broccoli in my bag. What terrorist has cauliflower, broccoli pasta with them!? I had to sleep in a cot in the airport that night ,

Andrea, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Andie Leon – chef, superfoods specialist, author, recipe consultant When Sydney-raised (born in Sydney) actor Andie Leon headed to the US in 2003 to find fame and fortune, she set herself on a career path that almost proved fatal. Amid her success, the Latina actress struggled secretly for 17 years with a chronic eating disorder, bulimia.
Realizing that something had to change, Andie turned to alternative treatments. She discovered that eating organic foods slowly helped her overcome her negative habits and mindset. Introducing superfoods into her diet set her on the long and painful road to recovery. Then, she left the film industry to focus on a new culinary career.
For two years, Andie researched the healing properties of superfoods – acai, apricot kernels, camu camu, chia, cacao, dragon fruit, goji berries, golden berries, hemp, longan fruit, spirulina, pomegranates, maca, maqui, yacon and many more – together with flowers, herbs, and spices. Working with health coach Susie Mooratoff of Superfood Organics, she compiled a library of unique healing recipes, then began teaching the benefits of cooking with superfoods through the prestigious American Wholefoods Market chain.
From 2012 to 2015, Andie taught sold-out classes at Wholefoods stores in the greater Los Angeles area and worked as head chef for select Wholefoods catering events. She was invited to participate in the Los Angeles Food and Wine Festival from 2013 to 2014.
Andie went on to open her all-organic restaurant, C2 Organics, in Hollywood and catered to everything from private weddings to corporate functions for such health-focused companies as Yoga Works and Xanadu Life. She became executive chef for Jean Houston Foundation, The Social Odyssey for Emerging Leaders, then joined Fit Club TV to create the online program Andie’s Kitchen: An Organic Choice. As a recipe consultant, she has been contracted by multiple restaurants to help create healthier menus.
Academically, Andie holds a diploma in performing arts from 1998 with studies in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), meditation, Pilates, and yoga, as well as a degree in Reiki healing. She has studied holistic nutrition at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York and recently graduated from the Escoffier Culinary Academy culinary arts fundamentals program.
For the last four years, Andie has traveled with high-networth clients, high profile private clients and celebrities worldwide, and was part of the team cooking for the Isreali Primeminister. Chef Andie works the perfect menus to get ssome of her A-list stars camera ready. Andie has catered for high-profile parties such as fashion week, “ Oscars parties, tech week Miami, Passes , 365 Ventures and many more. Andie has a cookbook in the pipeline, and very soon, her Superfood Sprinkles line “Organic Alchemy”will be on the Wholefood Shelves. Currently, living in Miami and Los Angeles specializing in weight loss and healthy eating. Currently developing a Organic Superfood Sprinkle
As Hippocrates said, “Let food be thy medicine” – that is the philosophy she lives by.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

As I mentioned I am about to lauch my product line. I have spent the last couple of year researching all the elixir of life for eternal youth. this product is a mixture of superfoods, spices and flower. I have traveled the earth fining the best quality. So I started giving them as samples and one person call me to tell me there was bug in my Maca Vitality.

I was at the time leasing a Kitchen space in Kendall. I ran into the kitchen crying my eyes out and the owner laugh his head off. He immediately went. I got you. I can help and help you resource the products instead of you in a Market in the Middle East grinding them by hand.

I took a deep breath. Turn out he is a doctor and has done all his research on the subject and can medical validated all the claims from studies done. I am so blessed to have him.

What could of been a disaster turned into a blessing

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

First of all I have always paid my staff before myself.

I have had so many moments where my catering business almost went bankrupt. And the system has not supported me. And to be honest after always putting my head out for all my staff had no support in return . They are always out for themselves. I have been homeless a few times building this.

One story in particular when some crazy client decides to have a super club launch with no invites. No one showed up to the party. And she was refunding to pay the other half of our money. She started yelling and screaming on the floor and begging the few people that were there for money. Eventually, she put a part of it on a credit card that she later charged back and square gave her the money back. We had video evidence and all. Letter from the owner of the house that she was a fraud. I still had to pay the staff. That job set me back so much. It hurt my business tremendously.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.andieskitchen.com.au
• Instagram: andiesuperfoods
• Facebook: AndreaLeon
• Linkedin: Andrea Leon
• Twitter: andiesuperfoods
• Youtube: andieskitchen
• Yelp: I don’t have yelp I am all word of month and it out of control. I have a waiting list
• Other: Organic Alchemy Will be coming soon

Image Credits
Photographer Dexter Brown