Managing Your Career–From the Kitchen to the Camera

So, you’ve been working hard at your craft, and people are starting to take notice. The invitations are pouring in for appearances and gigs, and there appears to be no standard for what people are offering across the board. Most chefs on the ascendant rise often find themselves balancing the load of a busy kitchen and restaurant management while trying to navigate the unknown: personal brand management, the publishing, film and television worlds, not to mention that huge social media space. Our panel will share tips and trade secrets direct from both sides of the culinary trenches.

Confirmed Participants: Debbie Trenholm (Savvy Company) – Moderator, Kimberly King (Limelight Communications), Bob Blumer (Surreal Gourmet), Todd Perrin (Mallard Cottage), Ned Bell (Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver)

Debbie Trenholm, Savvy Company

Debbie is constantly waving the Canadian flag.  She has devoted her career to helping winemakers, brewmasters and artisan cheesemakers from coast to coast forge strong ties with consumers. Debbie’s enthusiasm for sharing creative social experiences, her refreshing approach to marketing and her in-depth industry knowledge have helped her clients increase their market access. At the same time, she has developed Savvy Company into the go-to resource for consumers and the media.  

Initially focused on hosting and marketing wine and food events, Savvy Company now offers Taste & Buy events where consumers meet the makers. Debbie created Savvy Selections – Ontario’s largest ‘wine-of-the-month club’ and recently launched Savvy Hip Hops craft beer of-the-month club that quickly has become the largest in Ontario.

Debbie’s achievements and personal commitment to Savvy Company have earned her a place on the Ottawa Business Journal’s Top Forty Under 40 list and was recognized as a finalist for Ottawa’s Businesswoman of the Year Award. Recently Debbie was selected to be on the Board of Directors for Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance and the Amazing People movement.

Kimberley King, Limelight Group

Kim’s talent is that she knows talent. And she understands her customer.

After many years in advertising and public relations, Kim founded her own independent firm as a successful marketing consultant. Her work as a publicist and agent for Pete Luckett, Canada’s favorite greengrocer led her into the speaking industry, where she recognized an opportunity to build a full service speaker and entertainment bureau: LimeLight.

Working with Kim is a process. She takes the time to truly understand her clients’ objectives. Then, she carefully selects the right talent for the job. Because it can’t be just anybody up on that stage. It has to the right somebody.

At LimeLight, everything is about delivering outcomes. Kim has spent years collecting a lineup of truly inspiring talent from all walks of life.  Each artist and speaker is unique, but the one thing they all share in common is excellence. Kim looks for authentic talent that moves people; talent that wows the audience by connecting with them on a deeper level.

Kim is very passionate about the Meetings and Events industry. She is a founding board member of the Atlantic Canada Chapter of MPI – Meeting Professionals International and is a Past President of the chapter. She is also an active member of IASB (International Association of Speakers Bureaus).

Kim attended Mount St. Vincent University in the Public Relations program in Halifax, Nova Scotia and graduated from the Advertising and Public Relations program of Grant MacEwan in Edmonton, Alberta.

Bob Blumer, The Surreal Gourmet

Proud born and raised Canadian (turned Californian), gastronaut, artist and seven time Guinness World Record holder Bob Blumer is the creator and host of the television series The Surreal Gourmet and Glutton for Punishment, and host of World’s Weirdest Restaurants.

Known for transforming ordinary ingredients into wow-inspiring dishes through simple cooking methods and whimsical presentations, his creativity has become his culinary trademark. As an artist, Blumer recently created a show featuring 25 surreal wine glasses and decanters that he exhibited in Napa, California, and designed a Surreal Gourmet Suite for Toronto’s legendary Gladstone Hotel.

He is the author of five acclaimed cookbooks and is co-author of the best-selling Pizza on the Grill (just released in it’s second edition). His culinary Inventions du jour can be found on his Instagram page, @bobblumer.

Todd Perrin, Mallard Cottage and The Chef’s Inn

Canadian foodies know Todd Perrin as the burly, entertaining, larger than life Newfoundlander who made it to the top 8 on Food Network’s hit series Top Chef Canada in 2011.  Todd graduated from The Culinary Institute of Canada at Holland College in PEI and went on to work at The Lodge at Kananaskis in Alberta and then at a private hotel near Zurich, Switzerland. In 2001, he opened Two Chefs, a fine dining eatery in St. John’s that in its first year, was listed as one of EnRoute Magazine’s Top 50 New Restaurants. In 2008, he opened The Chef’s Inn, a B&B in downtown St. John’s, where he sources the freshest local ingredients from his own backyard, neighbors’ farms and his root cellar, practicing farm-to-table whenever possible.

Todd’s latest project is a restaurant at Mallard Cottage, in Quidi Vidi Village, St. John’s. The painstakingly restored 18th century cottage opened as a restaurant in November 2013 after much anticipation and was recognized by EnRoute Magazine as #5 on it’s list of Top Ten Best New Restaurants in Canada 2014 and as #7 on the 2015 Vacay.ca list of the top 100 Restaurants in Canada.

Ned Bell, Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver

Whether cooking for six or six hundred in his role as Executive Chef at Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver and YEW seafood + bar, Ned Bell’s cooking philosophy is globally inspired and locally created.

Ned’s love of sport, travel and adventure have taken him all around the world creating memorable experiences and cooking up a storm along the way. He is inspired and passionate about crafting dishes that lean heavily on plant based, nutrient dense ingredients with an emphasis on sustainable seafood. His community-focused life is firmly based on the health and wellness of his home, his country and the world through ‘feeding’ extraordinary life experiences. In 2014, Ned founded Chefs for Oceans and rode his bike 8,700km across Canada. He hosted two dozen events that featured some of the best chefs in the country striving to raise awareness for healthy lakes oceans and rivers and sustainable seafood.

Ned’s diverse British Columbia upbringing instilled a passion for fresh and locally sourced cuisine. This drive led him to work in some of the country’s top kitchens in Vancouver, Niagara, Toronto, Calgary, Kelowna and Vancouver amassing many great accolades along the way – from seven seasons on Food Network Canada’s Cook Like a Chef, to Where Magazine’s Best Overall and Rising Star awards, to being named Western Living Magazine’s Top 40 Foodie’s Under 40. To add to the list, Ned was recently honoured as Canada’s Chef of the Year recipient for Food Service and Hospitality Magazine’s 2014 Pinnacle Awards, along with the Green Award for Sustainability at this years Vancouver Magazine Awards.