Chef Laura was an executive assistant and event planner for 15 years, and decided she was going to turn her passion for cooking into her own business. After endless years of throwing fancy dinner parties, she finally catered a dinner with a friend of hers. Laura says "that's when I realized I needed to do this for a living!" Deciding this was a serious consideration, Laura enrolled in the UCLA School of Culinary Arts attending in the evening while working full time. Once she was out of school, she started her personal chef business and quit her day job.

She was an intern at Ciudad, Chefs Mary Sue Milliken & Susan Fenigar's restaurant in downtown Los Angeles. "After interning there for 3 months, I knew I couldn't work in a restaurant. I had to do something else." Turning an obsessive hobby into an entrepreneurial vocation was a dream for Chef Laura. "It (this business) hasn't always been easy, but if you can get past the first couple of years in the building process, it starts to come together." Laura has been running her company 'Splash in the Pan' since 1999.

Laura's attributes a lot of her success to her family. Her father was an accomplished gardener and fisherman when she was growing up, and there was always an abundance of fresh vegetables and varieties of fish. Laura recalls, "My dad used to cook all the time! He was a fireman and used to cook for all the firefighters, and it was a treat when he would cook at home." Chef Laura's father was an obvious influence in her decision to become a chef, but her grandmother was the other. "My grandma was a domestic working as a chef during the depression for a family. When I was growing up, she used to do these elaborate dinners for my family, and always emphasized to me how important presentation was on the plate. She would make sure there was always curly parsley in the house to garnish with."

Laura currently has about six people she services on a weekly or semi-weekly basis. She also does everything from weekly meals for busy professionals to small dinner parties, and buffets for up to 80 people. Laura attributes her current success to the resources and support she receives from the Personal Chefs Network. "I used to belong to another organization, and it wasn't until I joined PCN that I found out how helpful chefs can be with one another!"

Laura also won first place in a nationwide recipe contest sponsored by Trader Joes for Papa Cantella's Sausage. She has also attended various viniculture classes through UCLA, as well as the CIA's Greystone facility in Napa.

Laura's specialties include Italian and Mediterranean cuisine, with emphasis on organic and seasonal cooking. She resides in Los Angeles County with her teenage daughter Kirsten, stepson Mason, and husband Allen. When Laura isn't cooking for clients, she obsessively goes through her cooking magazines (she subscribes to at least 10 different ones!) and reads cookbooks. She also likes to collect contemporary art glass. This has become a passion for her and her husband.

The next step for Laura's career is working with food in a completely different way. "I would like to continue down the road of recipe testing for cookbooks, and perhaps get into food styling for print media and television. I'm also excited about teaching classes to people that want to learn something new. I'm looking forward to the next chapter in my life!"

Contact Chef Laura Hodges
(626) 695-7290
www.splashinthepan.com