Chef Ayesha Curry Reveals Her Food Industry Playbook

Forbes

Ayesha Curry is a maven in the food world. From being a chef to having her own cooking show, putting out cookbooks, launching a magazine, and so much more, she's really seen every kind of deal that the food world has to offer. While Curry is a prolific entrepreneur in the food industry, she's also very intentional about what she puts her name and her energy behind. Curry sat down with Forbes reporter Chloe Sorvino to discuss her career and upcoming projects.  Read the full story on Forbes:   Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 - Ayesha Curry is a maven in the food world.

00:05 She's really done it all, from being a chef,

00:10 to having her own cooking show, putting out cookbooks,

00:14 launching an alcohol business, to having a magazine,

00:17 but then also has collaborations.

00:18 She's really seen every kind of deal

00:22 that the food world has to offer.

00:25 While Chef Ayesha Curry is a prolific entrepreneur

00:27 in the food industry, she's also very intentional

00:31 about what she puts her name and her energy behind.

00:36 She's really thoughtful and doing things quite differently.

00:40 I was super excited just to get to meet Ayesha Curry

00:45 and to hear more about her strategy, what inspires her,

00:48 what keeps her going, and she is so hardworking,

00:51 but my biggest takeaway really is just that

00:54 she's a force to be reckoned with

00:56 and that she has created a playbook

00:59 for how to succeed in the food industry,

01:02 truly like no one else I've seen.

01:04 I'm Chloe Sorvino, and here's my exclusive interview

01:07 with Ayesha Curry.

01:08 You have such a breadth of experience in this food industry.

01:14 Not only have you sold a wine company,

01:16 I understand how deals like that are put together,

01:19 but you have a cookware company, you have Sweet July,

01:21 which covers food and culture and a lot of other things,

01:24 and then you also have created olive oil

01:26 and coffee that sells.

01:28 When you're developing products

01:30 and when you're trying to find a market,

01:33 how does that work for you?

01:34 What's your creative process like?

01:35 - For me, it always stems, well,

01:38 we work from a team perspective,

01:41 so it's the team coming together and figuring out

01:43 where that passion is stemming from,

01:46 and then we kind of do a deep dive from there.

01:47 And for us, being a black female-founded business,

01:52 the focus really is on how can we continue to empower

01:56 through the products that we're putting out

01:58 into the marketplace.

01:59 And so we approach it from that standpoint first,

02:03 and then we kind of do a deep dive into the creative

02:06 and decide what it is that we're looking to do.

02:09 - I mean, that's so special, right?

02:10 'Cause I mean, in this world,

02:12 very few products are founded and created first with that,

02:16 but it needs to happen more.

02:18 - Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

02:20 - And what have you learned from actually

02:23 getting these products in the market,

02:24 and what works, what doesn't?

02:25 - I've learned that you really have no idea

02:28 what's gonna work and what's not gonna work,

02:31 and that's why you have to wrap your arms around

02:34 whatever it is that you're putting out there,

02:36 and it truly does have to stem from a place of desire

02:41 in your own life, of filling a white space in your own life

02:44 and looking in the marketplace and seeing

02:46 where there's white space there and starting there,

02:49 because you really don't know what's gonna work

02:51 and what people are gonna gravitate towards,

02:53 but I guess that's also the beauty of the business.

02:55 - So where does your entrepreneurial drive come from?

02:59 - You know, I think from watching my mom growing up.

03:03 My mom was a hairstylist and a small business owner

03:06 for 40 years, and I watched her grind

03:09 and saw the fruits of her labor in real time

03:14 and watched how, yes, tumultuous that journey was,

03:19 but the joy that came from single-handedly

03:23 making people happy on a daily basis through her business.

03:26 And so I think watching that and just coming from

03:30 a long line of female entrepreneurs,

03:32 it was kinda in the blood.

03:35 I always have to be doing something.

03:37 I'm a busy body, and so for me being able to take

03:41 the ideas that live in my head and then create something

03:45 with that is really magical to me.

03:48 - Yeah, it's really powerful.

03:49 So you also do a little bit of investing.

03:52 Can you, you were saying earlier that, you know,

03:54 it's not too many food companies,

03:56 but what's really your ethos there?

03:58 And what do you look for?

03:59 - I mean, we're always looking for companies to invest in,

04:03 especially in the food and beverage space

04:06 and food innovation.

04:08 One company that I sit on the board for

04:11 is Back to the Roots, and they're doing amazing things

04:14 in the gardening space.

04:16 - Very cool.

04:17 - It really is the future, and I do believe that everybody

04:20 should know how to somewhat garden

04:23 and produce their own produce,

04:25 you know, in case of anything happening,

04:30 and just to understand how to do that

04:32 and understand where your food comes from.

04:34 And so they're doing amazing things.

04:35 That's a company that I've been working with

04:38 for so many years now, and so I love them.

04:41 - Yeah, those mushroom boxes are so cool,

04:42 but they really do drive food sovereignty, food security.

04:47 - Absolutely.

04:47 - Which is huge.

04:49 - Absolutely.

04:50 - Huge.

04:51 Okay, so what's next for you?

04:52 You obviously have so many different hands

04:53 in so many different pots.

04:54 So, no pun intended.

04:57 - So what's next is Sweet July.

04:59 So Sweet July launched several years ago,

05:02 but most recently we launched Sweet July Skin,

05:05 and I'm really excited about Sweet July Skin,

05:08 one, because I needed it for my skin,

05:10 but two, it's inspired by all of these amazing ingredients

05:15 that come from the Caribbean that I grew up hearing about

05:17 from my mom and grandma.

05:19 And so it's a company, it's a product line

05:22 that really stems from the food space,

05:25 because I approached it from a mindset

05:28 of what you put in your body, you can put on your body.

05:30 And so we really did consider the formulations

05:34 in the way of like a recipe.

05:35 And so I'm excited for people to experience that.

05:39 - So this is a big one.

05:40 What do you want your legacy to be in the food industry?

05:44 - You know what's interesting,

05:45 and something that my family and I talk about all the time

05:49 at home is for me, it's more about impact over legacy.

05:54 And so I think my hope is that we leave a lasting impact

06:00 in the space.

06:01 People don't have to know that it was me or know my name,

06:06 but if we can change the way the industry looks

06:11 and the way products are looked at and used

06:15 and the impact that they have in the community,

06:17 I feel like that'll be worth it for me.

06:20 (upbeat music)

06:22 (upbeat music)

06:25 (upbeat music)

06:28 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Recommended