Born and raised in Korea by her single-mom and grandmother, Kelly developed a taste and curiosity for food and cooking. She remembers being strapped on her grandma’s back while she toiled over a new batch of homemade kimchi. But at the tender age of nine, and not speaking a lick of English, she was uprooted and shipped off to live with her father in Houston, Texas.

The culture shock was…shocking. America was a land of many new flavors but she adapted and learned. Her father owned a small chain of Texas barbecue restaurants which also had a big influence on her by indoctrinating her to “restaurant life”, both good and bad.

She moved on to young adulthood and independence in sunny Southern California. A true mish-mash of cuisines from the familiar – Korean – to Chinese, French, Hawaiian, Indian, Japanese, Thai & Vietnamese. But the biggest underlying influence was California’s focus on a healthy lifestyle and availability of fresh ingredients.

Chef Kelly belongs to all three distinct cultures - Korean, Texan and Californian - but at the same time not. Her identity continues to evolve, and she combines her favorite elements of each phase of her life into a palette of comforting and distinctive flavors with a focus on health and wellness.