Deliver Quality Work, and Create and Foster Trust

Delivery of quality work is essential in the culinary world. I have many instances where I fail to achieve delivery quality work or create and foster trust.

For context, my team and I need to cater for a wedding that was an hour away from the kitchen located on the day of the delivery. We were in a time crunch and to throw more to the challenge we lost some of the protein for the main course right before the cooking time. Since we planned and prepared extra portions  I decided that we were tight but should be enough for the party and decided not to communicate this to the bride and groom.  Once the event evolve we realize that the amount of protein was not enough, the bride and groom noticed, and that is where the explanation began not only were embarrassed about it, this event added unnecessary stress to the bride and the groom. We rectify the mistake by giving them a decent discount on the final bill to make it right to the party.

That said, here are some options I could approach in that situation. From that point forward I decide always prepare with the back of all the ingredients. Second, schedule our time so we can have extra time, and in case of unforeseen events, we have some time to spare. Simultaneously, I’ll hire more people to make sure we are covered in every area. Lastly, bring any situation to the customer so they are not blinded and bring them with possible solutions only if we have run out of solutions because we want to bring the most smooth and pleasant experience for the customer and guests.

“Hard skills will get you the interview, and Soft skills will get you the job.”

Although is very early in the program to permanently say what my hard skills are, there has been enough time to pinpoint the areas that  I’m developing faster than others. My soft skills are UI/UX design, Ideation, and bilingual abilities.

First, my bilingual abilities are the one I have worked on for the past 20 years, to exemplify this is the multiple occasions I have served as a translator in and out of a professional field.  Secondly, I have been able to apply Ideation to various assignments. A case in point is when we worked on the poster in the first quarter where the goal was to create a poster for a specific client -in this case, Full Tilts Ice Cream – by research, development, and applying the company Northstar. Lastly, UI/UX design (to my surprise) is a skill I have been able to develop and apply to create designs that are both interesting and functional. In fact, we are working on our very own website for this quarter’s final project.

On the other hand, with my soft skills, I had the chance to apply and develop truthout my professional life. My Soft skills are organization, collaboration, and willingness to learn. First, I apply my organizational skills through the program to meet the milestone. Although has been one occasion that I missed a deadline, overall it has been essential to meet all the requirements during the program. Secondly, Collaboration is a skill I developed during my culinary career but became more essential during the program. An example of this is the many team projects during these 2 quarters.  Of course, not all the collaborations have been smooth, but we have been able to collaborate. Lastly, my willingness to learn. I believe it is essential in any professional field. I have the desire to develop and improve my skills.

There are many skills I would like to develop during the program. For hard skills, I would like to develop branding and push my creativity to be bold. My hope is to be able to work with brands/companies and understand in-depth what makes the brand/company unique. I want to be able to bring to life their uniqueness through graphic elements, illustration typography color and/or logos. Furthermore, to accomplish branding skills I would like to develop a bold design to be able to bring fresh concepts to brands/companies. Simultaneously, for soft skills, I would like to continue developing presentation skills, persuasion, and decision-making and would also add adobe programs (Ai, Id, and Ps).

For example, Delivering a presentation is what one would like to master. After the first week of the first quarter, I learned the importance of this skill. It is essential to have the ability to present a clear and understandable presentation, so I can communicate design decisions. Last but not least, I would like to master Illustrator, Indesign, and Photoshop since they are essential for any graphic designer.

Elevator Speach

Pivot

The mIdterm team project in history class for the fall quarter is the perfect example of pivoting and planning. The project consists of  a pre- record presentation- Protest and Activism- where the objective of the assignment was to research the history of a specific period, movement, or culture; in this case “ Protest and Activism”.

Our team was Unanimous on the topic “Queer Liberation”.We wanted to bring a piece that showcases the struggle and the evolution of the LGTBQ+ community throughout the decades: from Stonewall through the present times and the relationship that graphic design has  with it.  Find the visual characteristics of the topic we choose and connect it with the cultural factor. The key points needed to consider for the project were history, research, collaboration and presentation. Our team was fully committed to creating quality production, we have a  clear vision of the way we wanted to go. An engaging min-docu where people can learn about the LGTBQ+ community, in the hope people become curious and more open about the community  with a splash of humor and trivia.

To achieve this project it was essential to collaborate as a team to produce the vision. We brainstorm, plan, distribute roles within the team, and schedule regular meetings. Our goal was to be as much ahead as possible  so we are able to get all the other classes assignments done on time.As well as scheduling meetings with specific milestones would give a chance to have wiggle room in case of unforeseen events. Even though having this expectation early on of the assignment was pivotal to finishing the project. However, the load of assignments and deadlines to meet for other assignments made it complicated to meet the deadline of the Mid term project. Without this wiggle room it would have been hard to meet the deadline. 

We absolutely struggled to finish the product and there was a lot we could have improved in the final product,such as Include and plan the edit portion of the mini-docu. As a result we were 80% close to having completed our vision.  To sum it up, planning is essential and includes a wiggle room for those unforeseen events that might come up.

“We eat first with our eyes” Apicius.

The charcuterie platter is a simple and flavorful board that invites you to gather around. It seems very fitting for this assignment because it is aesthetically pleasing with the abundance of color and texture you can imagine the flavor displayed in the charcuterie. In addition to being the centerpiece of a gathering, the charcuterie board has something to please any guest. The guest will have a chance to discover a combination that they never thought of… For the charcuterie board I decided to use a variety of carefully selected cured meats, local artisanal cheese, nuts, assortment of olives, fresh fruit and local crackers as well as fresh rosemary as a garnish to highlight the ingredients. I cut and carefully pair the meat and cheese followed by the fresh fruit to assemble this crowd pleaser charcuterie board. I used photography and photoshop to highlight the gorgeous flavors.