My name is Kaylee Torres. I am a freshman at New York City College of Technology studying Hospitality Management for the purpose of discovering different aspects of the culinary and hospitality industries. I recently graduated from the culinary program at Long Island City High School where I learned a variety of soft and hard skills like food identification, knife skills, prepping, discipline, organization and many more. From a young age, my dad has taught me many skills and recipes in the kitchen that have made me grow to love the art of cooking and baking. Being born and raised in New York has allowed me to gain a wide range of culinary insight from people and places from many different cultural backgrounds. This initially sparked my curiosity in wanting to continue learning and exploring from people around the world and my dream to travel to different countries, gaining more culinary knowledge with each experience.

I have experimented with different internships in the culinary industry from marking innovation to working back of the house in a bakery to find where my passion lies. I’ve taken part in volunteer work for many catering events and even competed in a culinary competition with Ccap to help me make connections that’ll benefit me in the future. From each of these opportunities, I have been able to gain valuable skills that I can use in the culinary industry or any other profession. Some of the skills I learned were working under pressure, time management, teamwork, public speaking and presenting myself as a responsible employee who is always up for any task. By joining the Hospitality Management major, I hope to gain and strengthen my culinary and business skills so that may use it towards discovering the path that is best for me in the culinary world and how far my skills will take me.