Today we’d like to introduce you to Nickey Boyd.
Hi Nickey, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My story starts when I was at a point in my life where I didn’t know what direction to go in career wise. I watched my mom cook beautifully as a child and my dad is also a chef but I never even considered going down that path until I went to culinary school. At 30 years old I enrolled in the baking and pastry program at Hudson County Community College and haven’t looked back since! What I thought was just a hobby became what shaped me into the person that I am. It made me believe that anything is possible if I put my mind to it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It wasn’t a smooth road. Starting out in this industry at an older age than most,made it harder because I had to work twice as hard to keep up with my peers who had been cooking and baking far longer than I have. It was also a struggle being in some kitchens as the minority sometimes being the only woman most times being the only person of color.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Hello,
I’m Nickey Boyd a pastry chef in Jacksonville,Florida. I specialize in creating pastries that bring a nostalgic feeling to anyone that tries them. My goal is to make people fall in love with desserts again.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
In the next 5-10 years I sense that the culinary industry will change in a way where everyone gets to eat( literally and figuratively). What we see a lot of now is collaborations and fusions, chefs and farmers working together to produce and provide home grown foods and a lot of community food banks provide fresh foods for the less fortunate.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @chef_nickey_
