I’ve known Kala for many years; we sloughed through the cheese mines of the PNW for a lot of years opening Murray’s Cheese Shops; re-setting existing cheese shops. We laughed together; we cried together and we became fast friends. When I first met Kala she repped DPI as in-store support; when Spaulding and Kala sat down for their Q&A she had joined management at Market of Choice… where is she now… in her own words:
It’s been a wild time since I was interviewed by Spaulding Gray in September of 2013!
I had the pleasure of being the Specialty Cheese Sales Manager for Market of Choice until June of 2017 when I stepped down from my position after 5 fantastic years. During that time there were three new store builds and openings and 2 major remodels. I was lucky enough to travel to Paris in 2014 for the SIAL food show, to Fancy Food Show West and East and to ACS in Madison, Sacramento, Providence, Des Moines and Denver among other places. The most rewarding parts of my position were helping local vendors find placement to grow their businesses and being able to take MOC Cheese Stewards out of the stores to ACS, food shows and to meet local producers at their farms and facilities. I got to work with amazing, creative and hilarious people and it will always be a very special time in my life! With the good there were personal challenges being away from my home every week and my circle of friends more than I liked. I made a quality of life decision to leave the corporate position and go back to the West Linn store after getting the SE Belmont location open to a happy public and spending some fantastic quality time with Christie Alexandre-Zeoli who took over the helm of the Specialty Cheese program.
It was great being back in the store up to my elbows in cheese again and seeing some of my favorite customers! I stayed at West Linn until March of 2018 and then I left to try my hand at selling flooring for a friend who bought into a business. Note to all in the food world – do not try this! Floor coverings are a crazy cutthroat world and while I learned a lot in my 6 months of carpet, sheet vinyl, hardwood, LVP and laminate it wasn’t the world I thrived in.
I began to percolate on what was next, soul searched, job hunted and talked with my mentors in the food industry. I decided if I was ever going to lose my mind and start my own business this is the time to do it! I did a soft launch in October and registered my business Top O’ Food Chain LLC November 1st 2018. At times being a business owner is maddening, terrifying, exhilarating and extremely rewarding. Sometimes all at the same time 😊. I do consulting and provide promotional support for fantastic producers that I adore and get to learn from daily about resilience and daring to risk in the name of growing their business. I love helping people sell, strategize and achieve goals, and I love being home more!
Another major change since 2013 is on the 4 footed fronts. My beloved cat Bridgid of 18 years passed in the Spring of 2015. After a few months of an empty, quiet house I found a bizarre looking dog at a shelter on July 1st of 2015 that I couldn’t walk away from. Jack is a Chinese Crested and then Memorial Day Weekend of 2017 I adopted Joe, a Xoloitzcuintli or more commonly called Mexican Hairless from a fantastic rescue in Salem, Oregon! I never thought I was a person that would dress up dogs in clothes and yet I’ve found myself with two sweet, adorable, hairless dogs that I absolutely dress in clothes!
For more info about my business feel free to check out www.topofoodchain.com as well as Instagram and my Facebook page for Top O’ Food Chain LLC for events, blog posts and food pics. Insert oh, so shameless plug here 😊!
My thanks to Kala for being a part of my 2019 “Where Are They Now” Series…
In addition to being an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional, I am a Certified ServSafe Food Production Manager with certifications that also include ServSafe Certified Instructor and Proctor. I am 
available for cheese events, cheese program development, cheese training, food safety training and 3rd party food safety auditing. See my About Me and Resume pages for more details or call me at 360 921 9908 to discuss availability.
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