This is Mentoring Moments—a series of stories about triumphs and skids from successful women. Mentoring Moments is now a podcast.
Sometimes you just know it. You meet someone and you want to catch
what they have. That’s how I felt when I met 29-year-old Ellen Bennett,
also known as the "Apron Lady." She doesn't see walls so she goes right
through them. In her world, the sky's not the limit — she sets the bar.
Four years ago, Bennett went from a line cook to the founder and designer of Hedley & Bennett,
a custom apron and culinary work wear company based in Los Angeles.
Today she has a 14,000-square-foot factory in Los Angeles and employees
over 40 people. Her aprons can be found in Whole Foods and in more than
4,000 restaurants worldwide including celebrity chefs Martha Stewart,
Mario Batali and Alton Brown. Because aprons aren’t just for the
kitchen, she has collaborated with SpaceX, Google, Lexus, Delta, Four
Seasons and Food & Wine to craft functional aprons for their needs.
This is more than a business success story. It’s a story about a
woman who wants to lift people up. And it all started when she
discovered what makes her special. Here’s Bennett’s Mentoring Moment in
her words, an excerpt from our podcast (condensed and edited):
Do you ever think, “Holy cow it feels like I’ve lived a thousand
different lives!”? I certainly do. Even though I’m just approaching
thirty, from all of these lives I’ve learned one essential entrepreneur
lesson, and what I’d call my Mentoring Moment, and that’s: The
path in front of you is rarely a straight line, it’s full of bumps,
twists and turns. Embrace the bumps in the road. They are the road.
My love of food started when I was little. Every summer I traveled
from Los Angeles, where I was born, to Tampico, Mexico to visit my
grandmother. I’d spend all day in the kitchen with her, eating pastries,
tamales or posole. My abuelita was the best cook and a seriously hard
working lady.
Fast forward to my teenage years. My parents got divorced and my
little sister and I lived with my mom who was a registered nurse and
worked 12-hour shifts to support us. She didn’t have time to cook, so I
started cooking, recreating recipes my abuelita taught me. It didn’t
matter how it turned out, my mom would just eat it politely as she stood
at the end of the kitchen counter every night. After a while, I
realized I wasn’t cooking because I wanted to help her but because I
really loved cooking! I decided that I would go into the culinary world
when I grew up. I wasn’t hell-bent on being a chef, but I knew I loved
being in the kitchen.
There were two culinary schools I had my heart set on: Le Cordon Bleu
Los Angeles and the Culinary Institute of America in New York. There
was just one problem — my mom couldn’t afford to send me to culinary
school. She didn’t tell me I couldn’t do it, but it was the first time
ever in my life she hadn’t unwaveringly said, “You CAN do it!” This time
was different.
So in 2006, when I was 18, I moved to Mexico City. I didn’t know
anyone there, but I was ready for a challenge and I had always wanted to
live in Mexico. I rented what can only be described as a large closet
and enrolled in culinary school. I distinctly remember the day I
graduated — a few friends came to cheer me on, but my parents weren’t
able to be there and it wasn’t what I had imagined graduating from
college would be. Still, I was grateful for every moment and for having
accomplished a college diploma, if not a degree. My dream of going to
those other schools had ended and I was OK with that.
After almost four years in Mexico City I felt like I had earned some
life experience, survived living in a foreign country and was ready to
come home. Back in Los Angeles, I worked as a line cook in a few
restaurants including the Michelin-starred restaurant Providence, and it
was on that line that Hedley & Bennett was born. I really disliked
our uniforms and couldn't understand how we were making some of the most
beautiful food in Los Angeles yet we all looked and felt terrible. I
wanted to create uniforms that were well designed, functional and
beautiful for myself and our crew in the kitchen.
With zero design or manufacturing experience, I launched Hedley &
Bennett. I had no money to start a company so I traded my skills for
the ones I was lacking: I cooked breakfast and dinner for people so they
would teach me how to make patterns and sew for me. My first apron
order was from one of the restaurants I worked in. I took all the money I
made from that order and put it right back into making more aprons. I
sold at the Hollywood Farmers Market and told people about them
everywhere I went. Since 2012, we’ve grown from a tiny office to a
14,000 sq. ft. apron factory. We outfit 4,000+ restaurants around the
world, including some of my favorite chefs and heroes like Martha
Stewart, Nancy Silverton, April Bloomfield, Mario Batali and Alton
Brown, to name a few.
Now this is where the road comes full circle. I was doing my Apron
Lady thing one Tuesday afternoon this past fall when an email popped up
in my inbox. It was from the Dean of Le Cordon Bleu. He asked me if I
would give the commencement speech for their 2016 graduation! The school
I hadn't been able to attend 11 years ago was asking me to do the
commencement speech! I couldn't believe it!
When the big day finally arrived, I put on my Sunday finest, walked
in so excited and shared my story and my encouragements with hundreds of
students and their families. Then the faculty presented me with an
honorary diploma and I swear, it was like the last 11 years of hustle
flashed before my eyes — after all the hurdles, twists and turns, in the
end I got the diploma from Le Cordon Bleu, the school I had to walk
away from when I was younger.
So I can confidently say this: It doesn’t matter who you are or where
you come from. It doesn’t matter if you’re born with means or not. Anyone
can pursue their dream, you’ve just gotta get going on it, stop
worrying about why it may or may not happen and just start doing! If you take some unexpected turns along the way, don't worry about it, that's just part of this giant life adventure.
To hear the stories behind these notable quotes from Bennett and to find out about Oliver, her pet pig, tune in to our podcast:
"You don’t need to hero it out and do everything yourself."
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