It all started in 2002 when a friend of mine brought a stunning basket of breakfast pastries to work. I asked her where she got them and she told me she made them in school. What a concept! Formal baking classes that were more than just the one-offs that I had taken before. My passion for baking could finally progress to the next level and I enrolled in both Cosumnes River College and American River. I graduated from American River College with a certificate in baking in 2007.

Along the way some friends asked me to cater a couple parties and having been through sanitation lessons, I knew that I needed a health inspected commercial kitchen. I asked my teachers where one was and they said there were none in Sacramento.

This fact mulled itself around in my head for a couple years and I finally decided to establish a kitchen for local chefs, caterers and friends to indulge in their passion for making food.

People have asked me where I got the name Steel Magnolia. No, it isn't about the movie. The 'steel' is for all the stainless steel in the kitchen. The 'magnolia' is for the huge tree at my Nana’s that had a great swing hanging from it and where I spent many hours flying through the air.