1. How’d you get into cooking, and who shaped how you cook today?
I grew up in California, where everything was light seasoning and simple flavors. My family moved to Texas to be near my grandmother, and that changed everything.
She put me in her kitchen and taught me the Southern way: fried pies, biscuits, cornbread dressing and green beans cooked with bacon and onions. I thought I didn’t like vegetables…turns out I just hadn’t had them done right.
My dad added another layer. He could look at last night’s leftovers and turn them into something completely new. Fried rice one morning, taquitos the next. That taught me to look at ingredients differently and not be afraid to experiment.
Then I got married. My husband is Pakistani, and over five years of cooking together, I’ve learned to work with deep aromatic spices that pair beautifully with Southern and country cooking. That fusion lives in everything I make now.
2. When you were creating the Reduced Sodium recipes, what mattered most: Flavor, family or ease?
Flavor, always. I want food to surprise people a little. …That’s the goal. I love it when someone takes a bite and goes, “Wait…what is that?”
When I started working with the Glory Foods Reduced Sodium line, I didn’t want to just make the traditional dishes people already expect. I wanted to see how these ingredients could show up somewhere new.
That’s how the Egg Rolls, Hand Pie and other unexpected dishes came together… taking something familiar and giving it a twist people didn’t see coming.
"Food should feel creative, a little adventurous. Not stressful."
3. What does a meal that “feels right” look like at your table?
It’s the kind of meal where people are still sitting at the table long after the plates are empty… because the conversation is too good to leave.
The food usually reflects everything that’s shaped me, whether it’s something that reminds me of my grandmother’s kitchen, the bold spices I learned from my husband’s culture, or maybe a flavor I’ve discovered somewhere in the world through my work in travel.
Sometimes it’s a big comforting dish. Sometimes it’s something playful and unexpected. But the common thread is this: It brings people together and makes them curious about what they’re eating. That’s when a meal feels right to me.