You’ve found your next private chef! 

Hi! My name is Marj, and I am a personal chef serving Charlotte, North Carolina.

I have a passion for cooking great food from scratch that is fresh, good to eat, and good for you. I specialize in custom meal prep, private dinner parties, bartending services and drink pairings, menu creation, and pantry organization with ingredients tailored to your dietary needs. 

Experience & Culinary Background

I have been cooking for over 30 years, with most of my culinary and hospitality education coming from my mother, who worked as a research Chef, caterer, and food inspector. Since the age of 9, I’ve been in informal culinary training, receiving verbal instructions from the best cooks in my family on how to prepare and present meals and getting feedback on how to improve for the next time. When I reflect on this even further, I’m reminded that I come from a long line of cooks and chefs who have passed down a wealth of culinary knowledge through generations.

For Black people, food is more than just sustenance; it’s also survival and community.

Throughout our history, we took what we knew from our native lands and used foreign ingredients to make familiar meals. This became the diasporic evolution of African foods (jambalaya, gumbo, fried dough, rice and beans, etouffee, barbecue, etc.). Cooking as survival sustained us for generations, while we were limited with what we could do, how we could do it, and who we could do it for. We fed nations while feeding our own village and families from one continent to the next. And because of the sacrifices of my ancestors, who cooked for survival, I am able to liberate myself from the system of oppression and cook as a luxury in the community and not as a requirement. 

This rich ancestral and familial history makes my culinary experience unique. Combining this with traveling the world and exploring diverse flavors and new cooking techniques, I bring a distinct approach to cooking and food preparation.