Today we’d like to introduce you to Maggie Lawson. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Maggie began her career in cooking and wellness 18 years ago. Her passion for food justice and health drew her to Oakland, CA where she spent five years working as a nutrition health educator teaching young people how improve their health through scratch cooking and advocating for more access to healthy foods in their neighborhood. This work showed her that the most compelling reason to change the way you eat was to discover the amazing flavors of in-season produce. The vibrant art scene in Oakland also helped her re-establish her love for the arts and she began working with other artists in her community to mount huge community dinners, underground art shows, and develop performance art on her family history. The merging of all these passions has created a life-long love for helping others lead their most vibrant, creative lives through healthy eating. She was also able to attend University of California Berkeley and complete her Master’s in Fine Arts in 2018.
Maggie started working as a personal chef and started The Heirloom Chef (www.theheirloomchef.com) in 2011 and in 2020 moved back home to Cincinnati, Ohio where she started a sister company Goosefoot Cook and Grow (www.goosefootcookandgrow.com).
Both companies are prospering today. One of the most exciting parts of moving back to her childhood home has been discovering plants that are indigenous to this area. One night she had a dream about a plant native to Ohio, called lamb’s quarters or goosefoot. Through Goosefoot Cook and Grow, Chef Maggie and her team aim to continue building a relationship with the natural world through food and sharing that experience with their clients and community at large. Goosefoot partners with local farms to source and create beautiful seasonal, local, weekly meals delivered to their clients’ doors weekly.
The Heirloom Chef is now a team of ten personal chefs that work one-on-one with clients that range from CEOs of tech giants, new parents, and older adults who are working to maintain their independence.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Absolutely not, it has been very challenging. I wouldn’t have it any other way! I live my life in a way that feels authentic to me and that often means taking the road less traveled. I expect there to be challenges.
In 2004, moving across the country to an entirely new culture, working with exclusively students who were people of color really challenged who I thought I was and forced me to evaluate my relationship to class and race in ways that are critical to how I see the world today. When I left that work, the first few years of being self-employed were terrifying. I was living in one of the most expensive places in the country and as a single woman had to find ways to support myself as I developed my art career and chef business. For the first three years, I took on part-time work as a high school teacher and built my business slowly until I could manage to support myself just with my business earnings. I also lived in a housing coop sharing a huge historic home with 11 other creative, spiritual adults. We shared food and our rent was super affordable because we didn’t have a landlord. The home was owned by a nonprofit whose mission was to help house low-income people. I got training in running and growing a small business from Women’s Initiative and I worked on my relationship to money and earning through a group that supported business owners in their financial wellness. I loved the Bay Area but the lack of affordable, stable housing far from my parents made settling down very hard. I decided to move back in 2019 and was able to transition my business to a partnership with a former employee, Erika Minkowsky. I moved into my new home in Cincinnati, Ohio almost exactly 2 months before COVID hit the US and we went into lockdown. Erika and I were able to get PPP funding and find creative solutions to keep our team safe and keep The Heirloom Chef running through those scary months. Upon moving back to Ohio, I discovered that someone had decided to use the same brand name I had been using in California for the last decade. I marketed myself under my name (Chef Maggie Lawson) and Erika and I worked with a designer to create the name and branding that became Goosefoot and launched at the end of 2021.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Goosefoot Cook and Grow?
We provide personalized weekly meals. Our chefs work hard to provide our community with delicious, locally sourced meals to fit their needs. We package them in sustainable and oven-proof glass containers for convenience and deliver all meals personally. We prioritize sourcing locally, with the goal of making local food more accessible to everyone. We are committed to mentoring our chefs and facilitating conversations to help co-create a more resilient food system while deepening our collective relationship with nature.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Grit and perseverance
Contact Info:
- Website: www.goosefootcookandgrow.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goosefoot_cook_and_grow/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Goosefoot-Cook-Grow-105014705306164
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/goosefoot-cook-and-grow-cincinnati?osq=Goosefoot+Cook+and+Grow
Image Credits
Manman Studio
Laura Sioux Studio
