I often tell people “I have no business being a food stylist.” That is to say: I didn’t go to culinary school, or art school, or get a degree in design or photography. I got a degree in biology. I thought I wanted to be a scientist.

As it turns out, what I wanted to be was a food stylist. Every time I go to work, I am thankful that the universe helped me figure that out. Even on shoots with regular clients, prepping food I’ve prepped a hundred times, there is always a new discovery to make or a new problem to solve.

I’ve seen how far an open mind and a curious attitude can go in this industry. As it turns out, I am a scientist after all.