Now is the time to Lead With Your Brand New Year!
As we start 2021, Jayzen is thrilled to announce the #LeadWithYourBrandChallenge! Each week for the next six weeks, Jayzen is breaking down the Lead With Your Brandtm system into five steps. This week’s episode provides an introduction to the system and each week following you’ll learn a new skill and will be able to download a free PDF at https://www.leadwithyourbrand.com to help you develop and refine your professional brand and achieve your next career breakthrough in 2021!
Plus, hear from amazing leaders in entertainment, tech, media & more starting with this week’s guest award-winning chef and restaurateur, Susan Feniger. Susan has had a number of highly successful restaurants across southern California and in Las Vegas and authored six cookbooks over her forty-year career. You’ve seen her on Top Chef Masters and on Food Network’s “Too Hot Tamales.” Susan is a great example of someone who extends her personal brand through everything she does, how she dresses and how she runs her company.
Guest Bio
Iconic culinarian, author, and entrepreneur may be best known for her Modern Mexican concept, Border Grill restaurants, trucks, and catering, which she runs with her business partner of more than 35 years, Mary Sue Milliken. Now with locations in Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Downtown LA, LAX Airport, The Huntington Library, and Rose Bowl, Border Grill continues to serve street food-inspired regional Mexican cuisine with a commitment to sustainability and the best quality ingredients. In June 2018, Feniger and Milliken debuted BBQ Mexicana, a fast casual eatery with locations at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Las Vegas Ballpark, and most recently inside the new Allegiant Stadium. The chefs returned to Santa Monica with Socalo, an all-day California canteen and Mexican Pub, in December 2019.
After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in New York, she made a groundbreaking move in joining the nearly all-male kitchen at Chicago’s Le Perroquet, serendipitously meeting the only other woman in the kitchen—Mary Sue Milliken. After working for Wolfgang Puck at Ma Maison in L.A., Feniger went to the French Riviera to further hone her skills, and returned to open City Café with Milliken in 1981, forever changing L.A.’s culinary landscape by introducing eclectic dishes from around the world. That evolved into the larger CITY Restaurant in 1985—and the introduction of Border Grill as a simple spot for authentic home cooking and street foods of Mexico informed by the duo’s treks through the country. A James Beard Award that same year confirmed their impact on the nation’s cuisine.
Feniger and Milliken brought their innovative approaches to The Food Network with nearly 400 episodes of the “Too Hot Tamales” and “Tamales World Tour” series. They also were the original co-hosts of the popular food-centric radio show, KCRW’s “Good Food,” in L.A. Susan has co-authored six cookbooks, including Susan Feniger’s Street Food and competed on Bravo’s “Top Chef Masters” in 2010.
In 2018, Feniger and Milliken were named the recipients of the fourth annual Julia Child Award from The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, marking the first women to be honored. The distinction complements additional accolades, including the Elizabeth Burns Lifetime Achievement Award from the California Restaurant Association in 2013; earned induction into Menu Masters Hall of Fame in 2014; and the 2018 Gold Award from the Los Angeles Times for culinary excellence and innovation in Southern California.
Feniger is an active member of the community, and currently sits on the boards of the Scleroderma Research Foundation, L.A. LGBT Center, and L.A. Tourism & Conventions; works closely with Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, Share Our Strength, and Human Rights Campaign; and co-founded Chefs Collaborative.
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