Chef Shelly Flash ’15 Returns to KCC
KCC alum Chef Shelly Flash '15 shares advice and inspiration during Chef Michael DiGiovanni's catering class's practical exam that also served as an after-hours networking event with local business leaders.
Chef Shelly Flash ’15 Returns to KCC for Catering Class’s Practical Exam, a Bite, and Words of Advice
Through her Brooklyn-based catering business, 2 Girls & a Cookshop, she and her daughter, Chef Jataun Flash, have served up signature Jamaican tacos and diasporic street food to crowds at popups around the city and at high-profile events such as the Essence Festival, Smorgasburg Brooklyn, the New York City Wine & Food Festival, and Art Basel, to name just a few. She’s also competed on Gordon Ramsay’s MasterChef (seasons 6 and 12) and on the Food Network’s Chopped and The Great Food Truck Race.
On Monday, May 18, Chef Shelly Flash ’15 was at Kingsborough, her alma mater, as a special guest of Chef Michael DiGiovanni’s Culinary Arts program catering class. This was the class’s practical exam, and Flash could be seen tasting dishes and offering inspirational advice while the aspiring chefs served plates of hors d’oeuvres, mezze, and flatbreads to a guest list that included students, college supporters, partners, and senior administrators.
“Kingsborough was one of those places that, smack dab in the early parts of my career—when I was competitively cooking on TV and figuring myself out—they were there,” she said. “And they guided my path in so many different ways.”
She credited Kingsborough Tourism and Hospitality Department Chair, Professor and Chef Michael D’Alessandro for not only teaching her foundational culinary skills, but also why they’re so important.
“If you do not have sound skills, it does not matter what room you step into,” she recalled him telling her. “It’s about longevity, it’s about sustainability, it’s about making sure you show up in places and know that you belong there.”
She also recognized the students’ hard work and remembered her own days at Kingsborough.
“That sweat on your brow? We like to call that ‘glow’ in the kitchen,” she said. “I
remember being in that back room, trying to get temps right and using the sous vide
machine—it was so stressful. I want to let you know that
on days you don’t feel seen, you are seen. But understand you will never have better
instructors or a team that you can utilize whenever [you need to].”
Kingsborough is “a special place,” she continued. “And we just thank you for giving your skill set, giving your culture, giving your identity to us tonight. We’re all your family now. You’re officially part of the KCC family.”
For culinary student Sonya Dominguez, Flash’s words were more than inspiring—hearing them, she said, dispelled some of the doubts she was having about her own career trajectory.
“When I started to consider more my place in an actual kitchen, and just knowing the negative part of it—that women aren’t heavily accepted, I might be minimized or infantilized—I struggled with thinking, Do I even belong here? Would I even fit in in the kitchen I want to work in?” she said. “Hearing her say, ‘This is a space for you, get to know your instructors, follow through with everything, be a part of everything you can,’ it’s really inspiring.”
Talking to Flash helped her change her perspective, she said.
“She inspired me and made me feel like I was in the right place.”
Culinary student Timothy Welch, who was providing front-of-house service at the event,
has experienced firsthand what Flash said about Kingsborough’s culinary program.
He’s leveraged an internship he secured through the Culinary Arts program online job board at Fusion Bytes BK, owned and operated by KCC alum Chef Rayma Garraway-Bey ’14, into a full-time management position. Welch credits Kingsborough for his promotion.
He said seeing successful alums like Flash and Garraway-Bey gave him greater confidence in himself and in the education he is receiving at Kingsborough.
“It was great meeting her and listening to the great advice she gave us about the school and how we are important people in this world—chefs making a difference,” Welch said.
“We’re so glad to have this opportunity for our amazing culinary students to show off their front-of- house and back-of-house skills and that members of the community and important supporters of the College, student leaders, alumnae, and senior administrators are here with us to enjoy the service and the food, which is excellent,” President Suri Duitch said at the event. “Congratulations to all of you.”
Community partners in attendance included Kaplan Educational Foundation Executive Director Nolvia Delgado, Chef Frank Puleo, owner of Staten Island Catering by Framboise and treasurer of GROW, a nonprofit catering educational foundation, and Apple Bank Branch Manager Michael Shamis.
To learn more about Kingsborough’s Culinary Arts program, visit the college website.
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