About Me!

A few months ago, I was “retrenched due to budgetary reasons” from my position at a College and wondered what I would be doing next.  Would I look for another job, “retire” and/or be an entrepreneur and start a business.  I thought a lot about this and decided that while I was deciding what was next, I would focus on my “MoneyChef” blog.

Now, why this name “MoneyChef”.  It’s been something that I have been cooking up for a very long time.  One of the reasons, money is so central to my life is that when I was 18 my father passed away.  Now, this happens to a number of families, one or both of their parents pass away and they eventually adjust to being without the parent.  Well, my family (Mom and 6 kids) did adjust but it wasn’t easy.  Dad left a business, a garbage business that had a route in Brooklyn NY.  Well, how does a woman (my Mom) manage this type of business in the 60’s?  Women, in those years were barely accepted in leadership roles in any type of business, yet she assumed the role of a women business owner.  There is a lot to the family working in the business but I’ll concentrate on me since this is my blog.  I became a “lady” in the truck.  Why I say this is when we used to go for fuel, the guy pumping used to say “hey lady” can’t believe you’re riding this thing!!!  Yes, I did, I got up at 4 am in the morning and rode the truck and picked up garbage with the “male” drivers.  It was going okay but it was difficult being a “lady” in a man’s world.  At the time this happened, I was a sophomore in College and didn’t want to drop out so after several hours on the truck, the driver would drop me off at a Brooklyn subway station and I would ride an hour on the New York City to get to my classes.  I don’t think I ever really thought about how it was going to work, I just know it was the reality at the time and I did it.  Now, there is much more to this story and I won’t bore you with more but the long and short was after several years, my Mom decided she needed to sell the business.  She got a few dollars when she sold the business which was to last for a lifetime and she thought she better find a “stockbroker” to invest the money.  Now, the person was a very nice person but somehow the investment advice wasn’t sound and my Mom wound up with no money.  So here is where “money” becomes a really BIG issue for Mom, my family, and Me!!!

So it’s why money has been extremely a central theme to my life.  Now, why “Chef”?  Well, in our house, being Italian everything of any major importance happened in the kitchen.  My Dad when he was alive, gave my Mother money for the week at the table in the kitchen.  In the 50’s and 60’s people used real dollar bills to purchase things, they didn’t use credit cards so “cash” was king and it was in given in the kitchen.  It also seemed that every major decision that was made was around food and at the kitchen table.  We would cook, eat, talk and cook, eat and talk and nine out of 10 times it was around the kitchen table.  So that is why MoneyChef seemed a good combination of words to use for my blog, sounds better than MoneyCook!!!

Now you have a little of the background as to why “the MoneyChef.”  Now to the credentials…I have a number of them, I have done workshops and talks both in the States and overseas on money matters, business, entrepreneurship and a number of other business related subjects.  I have B.B.A in Business and a Master’s in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.  Certificates in Money Management, Coaching and Financial Gerontology, Teaching, Leadership, co-host a cable TV show on business for over ten years, and if you really want to know more, contact me at Christine@MoneyChef.com and I’ll send you my CV.