Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Corey Siegel. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Corey , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
I knew that I wanted to be a chef from a very young age. Both of my parents are in the industry and it seems there was no way of avoiding it! When I was in High school, there were many things that didn’t make sense to me like homework. Why am I spending all day at this place and then have to take work home for me to complete? I was a pretty smart kid but did the bare minimum to just skate by. My junior year, I had the opportunity to attend a culinary program at a vocational school which took up most of the day so I only had to attend English and Gym class. This is where it all clicked for me! Finally a teacher (Scott Steiner) giving me positive reinforcement and encouraging me that I could be great in this industry. He encouraged me to compete in a high school cooking competition and out of 50 people, i’m pretty sure i came in last place. But this was the spark for me. I was so curious as to how those kids did so much better and I became obsessed with winning and feeding people ever since.
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?
After graduating from my high school vocational program, my instructor told me about Culinary Team USA and the Culinary Olympics. He said i think you should try out in 8 years and you would be the youngest to ever make the team. So, I ventured to the Culinary Institute of America where I received an associates degree. On my internship at Westchester Country Club, many of the chefs told me if I was serious about this goal, I had to go do the 3 year apprenticeship program at The Greenbrier Resort in WV. The same day I graduated from CIA I moved down to WV to begin my training. Over the course of the three years I worked every station in every outlet of that hotel including the butcher shop where we would break down whole animals. I had the life changing opportunity to compete with Rich Rosendale in the Bocuse d’Or. The Bocuse d’Or is one of the most prestigious cooking competitions in the world that happens every two years in Lyon, France between 24 countries. This experience allowed me to work with some of the best chefs in the world including Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud, Grant Achatz and many more. Upon completion of The Greenbrier Apprenticeship I left with a few medals and an incredible training to tryout for Culinary Team USA. in 2013 I tried out for the team and 22 years old, I became the youngest member of Team USA. With the team we competed over 4 years winning 5 gold medals in the Culinary World cup in Luxembourg and the Culinary Olympics in Germany. I’ve spent a few years since working with high tech cooking equipment and educating chefs on how it changes the way we operate kitchens. Now, I am focused on food content creation, and special events.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Growing up in kitchens, there is usually a bit of a toxicity that comes along with it. Chefs you look up to, throwing hot pots at you, telling you that you will never make it in this industry, calling you a little B*tch and reassuring you that you suck minute of your day. When I grew into a management role in the kitchen, I lead by the same example since thats the only way I knew made people great. One day I had a close friend helping me out with some things late at night for Culinary Team USA and as she came up to me crying (and of course I didn’t care) she said “Do you know the only thing you can give someone that you cant take back, It’s time, and you F*%king wasting mine!” That was the moment i realized there was a better way. I had to learn how to talk to people, how to care about people, how to be genuinely interested in what they have to say and mentor by guiding and not berating.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Build a true audience. Create content that provides value to others and not just promoting yourself or your business. If you provide them with content that is valuable to them, they will follow and share your content with others
Contact Info:
- Website: www.coreybsiegel.com
- Instagram: coreybsiegel
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreybsiegel/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG-NOqFUE2iUGJkER7tNNdQ