Our Chef On The Rise series continues this week with pastry chef Terri Brown of Kukupkreations

I love the kitchen. Being in the kitchen is the one thing I can do under any circumstance. No matter how tired I am, no matter how bad my day was, the kitchen has been and still is my refuge and joy. Even when I think it is too much and I just can’t go on once I get in the kitchen by myself, I feel at peace. It was this that drove me upon the completion of my EMBA to feed and nurture what came naturally. In 2005, suddenly faced with a lot of free time after all the exams, I made a decision to teach myself all that I could. I read extensively and watched several culinary programmes. I baked anything friends would ask me to, never saying no to a new request. I would piece together two to five different recipes sometimes to ‘Kreate’ my own, plus add a little ‘spice’ here and there. I love a challenge, and creating something new has become my greatest pleasure.

While working full time I did a cake-decorating course but no other formal training up to that point. Mrs. Annette Chin, my instructor, told me that I had a natural talent and she felt I would be more confident about my potential if I did some formal training. My family and friends have more confidence in me than I have in myself. Hence, when I decided to seek formal training many didn’t understand why I would invest that time and money. I however felt I needed something more.

The words of my instructor came to me again March 2010 when I felt that God was telling me to follow my passion full time and not just do it after work or for fun. I started looking into culinary courses overseas. At that point I still couldn’t decide whether I loved food or pastry more. I applied to a school in Chicago and I encountered several roadblocks. I took that as a sign that this was not where I was to go and even wondered if I was to go at all, but that desire still burned. I started looking at other schools in the US but the courses all seemed too long and expensive. For someone who changed her first major from Hotel and Tourism Management at UWI to Economics and Management Studies just because I did not want to leave Jamaica, the thought of going away to school was still not appealing. I am not quite sure how I ended up in Paris at Le Cordon Bleu for their intense programme, except to say it played out so perfectly from schooling to accommodations, I knew that was where I was destined to be. I ended up choosing pastry over food as I felt nobody does pastry better than the French.

In the end, a piece of paper didn’t make me feel more qualified, but my experience was immeasurable. Many people with that written certification can’t do half the things people without can do (not just speaking in the culinary world but even the corporate arena). You have to have a vision, be determined, strive for perfection and have faith. Having a natural God-given talent and loving what you do is a double dose of blessing. Not to mention, having people who believe in you and can pick you up when you are down (because that is only human) is priceless. I learned a lot in Paris. Practice makes perfect, so I practise and continue to learn something new every day. At KukUp, I make something new almost every week. The list of pastries that I offer is so extensive and just keeps growing. I love making treats done to order as it brings an incomparable freshness to the order. One interesting spin- off of KukUp Kreations is “Be my Cup Kake”, which is essentially a cupcake bar designed to suit a party, based on the age group. We provide a variety of cupcake types. To this, guests may add a frosting of flavour or colour of their choice and further toppings as they desire. The knowledge out there and the possibilities of new ‘kreations’ are limitless. I see myself as my only limitation.