The career journey of a Private Chef

Returning guest, Chef Kenny James, details the changes he has had to make in his career due to professional and personal reasons.

Episode Transcript

Korian (00:05):
Welcome to another edition of For the Health of It.
I'm your host, Korian , KPAD,Padgett.
And today we have a returningguest, Chef Kenny James.
Chef James used to be thepersonal chef for Damian
Lillard.
And before I continue on, letme not misspeak.
Are you still the personal cheffor Damian Lillard?
No, no, I'm not.
But, usually when he has someoffhand events or things that he

(00:28):
needs, I'm definitely on calland always available to him and
any of my clients.
But no, I'm not working withhim formally full time anymore.
Right, right, right.
So for the people that didn'tsee the previous episode, and
I'm gonna link that in.
So if y'all haven't watchedthat, y'all can go back and
watch that.
y'all, your relationship withDame is , can I call him Dame?

(00:49):
Does he is he cool with that?
Yeah, yeah, that's fine.
All right, so y'all, y'all'srelationship is that y'all are
family.
But can you explain what thatfeeling was like when he got
traded?
yeah, it was um a feeling thatwas kind of it had taken time
to set in based on the tradetalks, the writings being on

(01:12):
the wall of the team rebuilding.
it was so many differentthings where we were kind of
prepared for the situation, moreor less.
It's just what do you do as thesurrounding pieces to someone
who is moving on in so manydifferent ways in life and how
you can benefit and take care ofthe things on your end.
, so it was definitely one ofthose things that was a sign of

(01:34):
change, but , we were preparedfor it and already had our
pivots and and things that wewere working on that were
outside of the directconnections of us being client
and an employer.
Right, right, right.
So that's I I want to say I sawyou re-posted something, or
maybe you you might even post ityourself about about just

(01:57):
that situation in general whenan athlete does get moved, that
you know, it doesn't just affectthat that athlete, but it
affects that athlete's chef,trainer, family.
so can you talk about that?

Chef Kenny (02:12):
Yeah, yeah.
Um, I've watched this happenseveral times before it was
game.
, I went through with my firstexperience with Alan Crab when
he got traded to Brooklyn.
I was physically in his homecooking lunch for him, waiting
for him to get back from thepractice facility.
And then I look on my phoneand we find out during the
offseason that he had beentraded.

(02:33):
So I've experienced this on adifferent number of occasions.
And it's something that umwhere people live and work and
have established a lifestyle ina particular city to get
acclimated to being something ofa staple for their family
members while they're doingtheir athletic endeavors.
So it's tough to try and pullyour kids out of school to

(02:57):
get people adjusted to newsports, um, new cities.
Some cities are colder thanothers, so you might have been
expecting a winter that'sdifferent than what you've
expected.
So you have to buy new clothes.
Um, you're talking nannies andpeople that have watched their
children over a course of time.
And if you want to move them,um, there's so many different
pieces that come with that.

(03:18):
So, as a chef, being someonethat's on the internal portion
of it more than just saysomeone who's doing landscaping
or someone who's taking care ofthe outside things from the
inside track, it really is alot of emotional turmoil when it
comes to those trade times andwhich location that they could
end up going to.

Korian (03:39):
Okay.
And then you were supposed tospeak on a black mental
health panel, if I'm correct,for whatever reason it didn't
happen.
And you kind of you kind ofjust hinted at some mental
health or that it might be astrain on it right there.
Can you speak on how you as achef, you know, nutrition
plays a very important role inpeople's life?

(04:01):
Can you speak on that, like howyou are able to help somebody
in that situation?

Chef Kenny (04:05):
Yes.
I I was supposed to bespeaking on a panel in Portland
in the Pacific Northwest, um,speaking directly towards mental
health and things of thatnature.
And um I will be doing itagain.
It's just we had someunforeseen circumstances.
But mental health is the numberone thing that I feel becomes
an issue when it comes toplayers and their families.

(04:26):
going from something that youlove and then turning it into
an occupation can becomehazardous for some because their
identities are also wrapped upin their level of performance.
And with their level ofperformance wrapped up into how
much they get paid, all of thosethings can become a mental
strain all at once.
So if you're getting traded, ifyou're getting moved, if you
don't feel that you're doing thebest that you can, sometimes

(04:49):
all of those things can swirland become something that takes
you off your game a little bit.
So mental health is veryimportant.
, I feel like the professionalsports world has implemented a
lot more therapists andpsychologists and chaplains and
a lot more mentally driventhings into the outside portion

(05:11):
of coaching and staffing when itcomes to their organization.
So I think they're doing agreat job with that, but it's
definitely tough because mostpeople are concerned with how
much they get paid, but theydon't understand a lot of the
stress and the strain that goesinto what they do.
Right, right, right.
And what role does nutritionplay into that?
, nutrition to me plays a vitalrole because what you eat is

(05:33):
essentially how you process andhow you live.
So when you eat fast food,commonly you're looking for food
fast.
So that means that your mentalis just trying to get something
quick without even concerningwhat it is.
If you have a chef, if you havenutrition, if you have someone
that's regarding how you'reeating and what you're eating,

(05:55):
then you're taking your time,you're enjoying it, your body is
processing the fueldifferently.
It's an entirely differentcircumstance.
So nutrition plays an importantpart in your mental and
physical growth and recoverybecause how you eat is
essentially how you're doingeverything else.

Korian (06:11):
That that was a bar.
Everything you said there wasawesome.
But man, when you just saidwhen you eat fast food, you're
looking for food fast.
Oh my god.

Chef Kenny (06:21):
Yeah, man.
And most times people don'tthink about it when you
structure the way you saysomething or you put it in and
go, oh, I'm just looking forsome fast food.
Most times your brain isthinking of some quickly
processed food, something youcan just grab.
, it commonly has a drive-thru.
Most fast food does.
, but if you would look at anyfood or anything

(06:42):
nutritional-wise, it usuallydoesn't have a drive-thru.
It's somewhere where you haveto sit down.
Um, even if it's a healthierlocation, as far as a salad
place, you have to at least walkinto the building, right?
Yeah.
So fast food is usuallysomething that um that implies
that the food isn't the quality,but the time is what you're
trying to say.

Korian (07:01):
Gotcha, gotcha.
man, so it's been it's been,I had to go on my YouTube and
look at it.
It's been almost three years tothe date since our last
interview.
just chat me up, man.
How how's business going forChef Kenny James?
How's life going for you?
, did you have a son last timewe talked?

Chef Kenny (07:22):
, yes, yes, my son is seven now.
Okay, so yeah, definitely.
Okay, yeah, yeah.
Yep.
Um, he's he's going intosecond grade this year and
recently relocated to Detroit tobe closer to him.
things in Portland werebasically, like you said, with
the trade and different pivotsgoing on in life.
I decided to slow myprofessional career down a

(07:43):
little bit and just focus onfamily and having him close to
me and being able to dodifferent things has really
benefited me a lot in thatpersonal space.
Um, learning to acclimate tobeing on in the Midwest, I guess
East Coast, and cultivatingdifferent clients from here.
When you spend so long in aparticular place, you just get

(08:03):
used to how things go and theway they roll.
But um I'm I'm enjoying thecareer change as far as
relocation.
I'm enjoying the family time.
I just like the rebuild ofwhat's going on.
And now I'm just trying toestablish what it looks like to
travel as a private chef, anintimate caterer, and just

(08:23):
provide the needs that myclients have over the course of
the year without being directlyconnected to them.

Korian (08:30):
Awesome, awesome, awesome.
So, what what do you envisionthat looking like?
for me, I would just like totravel a few months out of the
year, just doing some specificweek-long or maybe a couple of
week stints with particularprivate clients if they're in
their off-season or in season.
Um, just traveling for smallintimate events, , worldwide

(08:53):
situations, but making sure thatDetroit stays my home base so
that I'm taking care of family.
, because I gave myself acertain amount of time to
dedicate solely to my job,solely to my work, so that I
could feel fully focused andlocked in and that I didn't miss
a step.
And now that I'm into thelatter portion of my career when

(09:13):
it comes to private work andlong-term work with clients,
it's just trying to taper itdown to where it's similar to
long-term, but not necessarilyum as engaged.
So yeah, yeah, I I enjoy thethe new location and just trying
to figure out what it lookslike.
That's awesome, man.
I I spoke to plenty ofcoaches before because I'm a

(09:36):
coach by trade, , and even otherteachers and principals, and
they've all said something alongthe lines of man, you know,
your kid won't remember youworking overtime all those
years, you know, or or or yourjob won't remember, whoever it
was.
But they basically said thatthat your kid will remember

(09:57):
you not being around.
So man, I think that's veryadmirable that you're gonna be
there, that you're trading orchanging, not trading, but
changing up your timeline andtime I don't want to say this,
your equity, your time equity tospend more time with your son,
man.
That's good deal for you,bro.

Chef Kenny (10:13):
Yeah, I I appreciate it.
Um, I I made the decision oncehe started going into grade
school.
I I feel like elementary,kindergarten, , the the pre-K
time, that's just to getfriends and social skills.
But once he starts going intograde school, needing to
understand structure, understandthe way things work, and that's

(10:33):
where it's vital for me tobecome an active parent and
present parent.
And um, it's not necessarilyhis responsibility for me to
decide how I'm going to split upmy time.
It's up to me as the father tomake sure that everything is
getting done and taken care ofprofessionally as well as
personally.
So I owe that to him.

(10:54):
It was a natural decision, adifficult one, but a very
natural one.

Korian (10:58):
Yeah, yeah.
I respect that, man.
Respect that 100%.
, so you've moved from Portlandbecause you you are is Portland
considered West Coast?
I mean, I know it's is itnorthwest?

Chef Kenny (11:12):
Well, like is it like yeah, I mean, we would
consider it West Coast.
Um, they call it the PacificNorthwest.
Um, I think that's just basedon the geography of mountains
and a couple of forests andthings like that that separate
the California concept of whatthe West Coast is, but yeah, you
would definitely consider thePortland Northwest West Coast.

Korian (11:31):
Okay, so so in my mind, I'm assuming like the diet
between Portland and where yougrew up is basically similar,
right?
Yes, yes, to some degree.
All right, so now I know for afact going from the west coast
over to the Midwest or whateverDetroit is considered East Coast

(11:52):
or whatever.
what's the diet like?

Chef Kenny (11:57):
I feel like I enjoy Mediterranean cuisine, so I'm
loving it in Detroit.
It has a high Middle Easternpopulation.
And yes, I I love thecultural shift.
, I've always praised theMediterranean diet, it has the
healthiest form of oils.
, they use a lot of freshingredients.

(12:18):
A lot of the meat is justgrilled as opposed to fried, and
and they have a lot of veganand vegetarian options based on
the religious aspect.
So I really enjoy that, and I'mgetting immersed in that
culture a lot more now that I'mhere.
So I enjoy the shift and um theculinary world that's booming
in Detroit.
It's become something that isof rather interest to me.

(12:41):
At first, I was just assumingto come here and hear all of
the things that I already heardabout the city and the level of
um disparity and distance whenit came to food deserts and just
overall quality of life.
But it's it's not at all whatI thought it was, and I enjoy
it.
I think that it's going to besomething um that as Chicago
grows, as Detroit grows, as NewYork grows, it'll be that nice

(13:05):
middle ground in between andbecome a hub and a stopping
point in between those twoplaces for things culinary and
overall entertainment.

Korian (13:13):
Okay.
All right.
my next question for you,Kenny, , Chef Kenny, excuse me,
is you you mentionedveganism, right?
now the last time we talked,you you gave a little thought
process on that you wouldn'trecommend that an athlete

(13:34):
partake or engage in a vegandiet during in season.
Do you still hold those samethought processes or have they
changed or evolved and why?
I still feel the same way.
And the reason that I do isbecause it's the intake, it's
not about the diet itself.
if your body isn't used tothe intake that it takes to

(13:57):
maintain a vegan diet and theamount of food, the mass that it
takes, then it can be difficultand bothersome to eat that
amount of food.
So you can get way more proteincondensed into a smaller amount
of animal protein as opposedto vegetable proteins.
So what you're just trying todo is with time, once again,

(14:18):
with that fast food or or howmuch time you actually have to
sit down, an athlete's scheduleis very limited.
So if their body isn't used tothe eating and processing time
of a vegan or vegetarian diet,it could throw their schedule
off in a season where time isvery important and vital to the
schedule of how they do things.

(14:39):
So I never like to rock theboat with a diet in the middle
of the season.
Now, if they would like to inthe off-season slowly ingratiate
a vegan or vegetarian diet sothat by the time they reach in
season, the processing and thethe food time has been set, then
we can go there.
But I just wouldn't suggestdoing that as a pivot in season.

(15:02):
It can become something um thatthat can be weary on the body
if you're not used to it.
So it's not that it's a baddiet, it's just a bad scheduling
situation if you're not awareof it.
Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.
Man, you you were using somesome good terms up in there,
man.
The intake and then theprocessing of that.
If you can, can you can youjust give us like the the

(15:26):
one-on-one version or the bird'seye view version of what
happens when you when an athletetakes in food or and all that
in the process and all that?
well, basically what anathlete is trying to do as
opposed to a normal person who'sjust working a nine to five or
is just in taking some fuelbecause they're hungry.

(15:47):
An athlete is literallythinking about the macros,
they're thinking about theproteins, they're thinking about
what's going to give them theedge.
So when they eat food, they'relooking for a specific result as
opposed to a happiness factor.
So now they're trying to haveenough time to eat, process,
sleep, and then use that fuel toget to the next level.

(16:07):
So most time they're eatingjust for rest so that they can
replenish and get back to thatnext workout.
That's why liquid vitamins, um,such as your Gatorades, , those
nutritional supplements, all ofthose count because they're a
way for them to easily get thenutrients that they're trying to
get in and streamline theirtime process.
So sometimes it's not even foodmore than it is a smoothie, um,

(16:30):
a nutritional pack.
, sometimes they'll have thoseum packages of collagen and
things of that nature.
So when it comes to an athlete,they're just ingesting what
they can in a time frame thatthey can to keep the fuel
running for their bodies to getto the next level as opposed to
someone who is just eating onceagain to feel full or

(16:51):
satiated.
Gotcha, gotcha.
and then can you, ifpossible, I know we didn't talk
about this pre-show, but can yougive us the the meaning of
macros and micros?

Chef Kenny (17:03):
Okay, macronutrients are your larger nutrients.
Macros are your vitamins, youryour vitamin A, your vitamin
D, the things that you need toget that are um larger in space,
your carbs, your fats, thethings like that.
your micros are yourminerals, things that are that
are smaller in nature, um,things that you're trying to get

(17:25):
in the body that usually wouldcome in um in organic matter.
So usually your body processescertain things, and those are
what you're trying to get.
The fats, the carbs, theproteins, those are how you
gauge your macronutrients.
Those are the larger things youwould be eating.
The micros are what can come inbetween those, how you can
maximize getting the vitaminsand minerals in between those

(17:47):
macronutrients.
So your calorie intake isusually based on your macros.
So if you're having a certainamount of fat, a certain amount
of carbs, a certain amount ofprotein, that's what they're
counting.
The micros are what you canlayer in between that to make
sure that the diet or whateveryou're intaking is going to be
balanced.

Korian (18:07):
Okay, that works, that works.
, appreciate that.
So I don't want to get go toomuch behind the scenes because I
don't know what you're allowedto talk about and whatnot.
But I I think I read somewherethat the average basketball
player runs about two miles agame.
not sure how many caloriesthey burn, but I do remember

(18:28):
watching that, you know.
I can't dang who was that.
Basically, they said on lowerlevels outside of the
professional league, they theypractice to play.
Whereas there's so many gamesin the NBA that you're you're
you're playing to practice,right?
So can you just talk to meabout how many calories an

(18:48):
athlete burns on average duringan NBA game?
And or you don't even have tokeep it to the NBA, you can go
to whatever sport you want.
And then how how is it your jobto replenish them?

Chef Kenny (19:02):
Um, I that's all specific to the nutritionist.
So every year I meet with thenutritionist and then we go over
that specific player's needsbased on the projection of
minutes that they have them onthe floor.
So, like you're saying, anaverage of two miles.
But if they know that thatathlete isn't going to play, but
they want to prepare them toplay or get them ready for
practice or second team reps,then that's the diet they're

(19:24):
going to put them on.
But if it's a starter and theyknow they're going to get more
time, more depletion, thenthat's when we increase the
nutrients or increase theintake.
So it literally just depends onhow much they expect this
person to do.
And then as it changes over thecourse of the year, saying,
okay, he gets more minutes,someone gets injured, , the
anything changes, then that'swhen you take it up with the

(19:46):
nutritionist.
So it's really a daily, almosthourly thing.
Um, sometimes they get injuredand they're out for the season.
Right.
We had that happen with Nurk,where um unfortunately had that
leg injury, right?
And that changed from okay, wecan't feed him certain things
because this is about healingand processing time.
So yeah.

Korian (20:08):
Can you talk about how certain foods because you just
you mentioned his leg injury,how certain foods might lead to
more inflammation, and then yougot to change that up?

Chef Kenny (20:18):
Yes, yes.
So there are certain thingslike you don't want to use dairy
um when you're trying to reduceinflammation.
So that immediately just cuts acertain amount of things out.
And most comfort foods havedairy or some sort of um lactate
in it and lactic acid, excuseme.
Yeah, and that type of thing iswhat creates the inflammation.

(20:41):
So you want to try and juststay away from things like that.
, you want to use a lot morebone broths and and things that
would increase the level ofhealing.
So you try and stay away fromcertain things, still stay
within their religious aspectsor dietary restrictions, but
project it out over the courseof time.
So it's not like the food isgoing to create instant healing,

(21:02):
but it just aids in the healingprocess.
So you just change the dietimmediately from whatever we
were expected to do to aworkload where this person isn't
going to be able to work off asmany nutrients, but that's
where we get the micros in.

Korian (21:16):
Gotcha.
Okay, okay.
Do you have fun with likedeveloping an athlete's meal
plan?

Chef Kenny (21:23):
Yes, yes.
I have a lot of fun becausethere are certain things that I
think are just playing the hits.
I think certain recipes andmenus work naturally, right?
I think certain foods arealways a favorite for people.
So when I'm trying to make up amenu or make up a a guide or
anything, I feel like it's funto see where I can benefit them

(21:45):
as well as making theirfavorites and getting them to
try new things.
So as soon as they tell me theydon't like something, I go,
okay, I'm gonna challenge myselfto see how I can, you know,
work the medicine into candy.
Right.
You wouldn't have liked thisbefore, but now I can get you to
eat it.
And then that aids in thefueling process.
And when they feel better andgo, okay, I would like to eat

(22:06):
that again because they see theresults, they notice that it was
something that they didn't eatbefore, and it's providing a
level of performance thatchanges for them.
So yeah, it's fun to challengemyself to get people to do more
and be more because that's whereI feel that my input or or my
contribution to their level ofgreatness comes in the most.

(22:28):
It's just challenging them,just like any other coach would.

Korian (22:31):
Okay.
I was I was literally thinking,man, don't ask that question.
If like they tell you don'tyou don't like something, you
probably wouldn't make itanyway.
Because I was like, Man, he'sthere.
But I I you hit it, it's likeyou were reading my mind, man.
I appreciate that.
Oh no, no problem.
and and I I want to shoutmyself out here.
I was making a dinner for mymother-in-law, and my wife was

(22:54):
like, My mom doesn't likeBrussels sprouts, I don't know
why you cook them.
I was like, I bet she likedthese, right?

Chef Kenny (23:01):
Exactly.
And then it's no better feelingthan when they I don't really
like it, and then they eat, andit's like, oh, I've never had it
in this way, or I've never hadsomeone present this in this
particular fashion.
So yeah, yeah, it's great towatch that wow factor take over.

Korian (23:17):
Yeah, and then I don't know if I said this before, but
it was also when myfather-in-law, one of the
highest compliments I ever got,and the dude said, You're I
can't even remember, I think itwas just a roast.
Yeah, I did it in the crockpot, and he was like, It
reminded me of the holidays.
That is like the highest ofhigh praise to me.

Chef Kenny (23:39):
Right, right, because holidays are that's
where you get the love and themost time and care when it comes
into making a dish.
So for someone to betransported to that time over
something you made, that's thethe greatest honor, and that's
what I like to do when it comesto food.
, trying to transport them to acomfortable space while they're
eating so that they can getthat level of respite in between

(24:00):
that work.

Korian (24:01):
Gotcha.
So, have you ever seen thatmovie Rider Tool?
Right?
Yes.
So it's kind of like how whenhe bit into that, it took them
all the way back.

Chef Kenny (24:09):
Right, right.
That is the goal every time forevery chef.
It's it's a transportation fromone place where you are to us
trying to get you to feel thatcity, that location.
, just like Taco Tuesdays,right?
We are trying to transport youto a space that makes you feel
like this taco is as authenticas it would have been if you got

(24:29):
it where the location was from.

Korian (24:32):
Right.
Awesome, man.
Awesome, awesome, awesome.
and it's Ratatouille mademe think of this thing called a
fork in film.
Have you ever seen somethinglike that?
no, I haven't, but I'mwilling to check it out.
Okay, so it's it's basicallyit's a movie, right?
And then they feed you foodsfrom the movie, but they don't

(24:57):
just dump it on your plate,right?
They just they bring it to youas the food pops up on the
screen.
So that's ratatouille.
They they bring you all thosecourses as he's making
throughout Ratatouille, and thenat the you know, at the very
end, you get the Ratatouille.
the one I did see, I've neverbeen to one.

(25:17):
I I just you know, I just heardof it and I was hoping to catch
one soon, but I've seen onelady go to one where it was a
soul food, and I was like, likethe actual movie, and I watched
it and I was like, br , that'sthe one I would not do just
simply for the fact that there'sjust so much food in soul food,
I don't think I could I don'tthink I could do that, man.

Chef Kenny (25:40):
I honestly um I wanted to do something similar
to that effect with music, okay,pair with the DJ, and then find
certain foods or certain thingsthat are um explained
throughout a song.
So if we're talking aboutBiggie and he says the T-bone
steak, cheese eggs, andWilcher's grape, bring that out.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(26:00):
Okay, this is my rendition ofthat, and then just go through
different spaces in music andand Jill Scott's Is It the Way,
make that breakfast that she wastalking about that made her
feel so good at that moment.
It could be simple, but the wayit's played it, the way it's
presented is what's going to putyou in that mood and in that
vibe.
So, yeah, I think that it'ssomething that if you're um if

(26:23):
you go to it, enjoy the timingthat it takes for someone to
plan a meal and get it presentedto you on the minute that food
is being displayed on a screen,, that's where the level of
difficulty is.
So, yeah, anything like that,any movie where they presented
food throughout the time, Iwould enjoy.

Korian (26:41):
Yeah, okay, man.
Hey, I'm gonna I'm gonna bepaying attention.
I hope you do something likethat, man.
That would be dope.
Yeah, me too.

Chef Kenny (26:48):
I I have tons of ideas, and now that I have a
little bit more free time andnot necessarily connected to any
one place or particular entity,I can I can move around a
little bit more.

Korian (26:58):
All right.
So that kind of segues usinto our next discussion, man.
What what what career goals orprojects do you have coming up?

Chef Kenny (27:08):
Um right now I just partnered with a company and
we're in the process of mebecoming the main um instructor
when it comes to culinary artsand development for a lot of
businesses.
Um I'm in the era where I wantto start teaching all of the
things that I know as opposed toparticularly doing them.
I think that there's a lot ofspace in the culinary industry

(27:30):
where people are not pricingthings correctly, they're not
understanding the properlicenses and business things
that they have to do.
And I would love to start toget people up to speed on what
they need and how that works forthem.
so that's my main goal rightnow, just establishing that
business.
And once that gets off theground, I'll be traveling, doing

(27:51):
certain motivational speakingclasses, demos, things of that
nature in order to just pushthe culinary industry forward
from the new space that I feelwe have, which is this social
media private chef cateringworld that wasn't always there
before.
So I just want to kind ofrevolutionize that as much as I
can.
That's the biggest goal for me.

(28:12):
Gotcha.
the rapping chef.
You heard have you heard ofhim?
No, no.
Okay, so he's I think he'sTracy McGrady's brother.
And he he raps like he he'll heit's basically like a mixtape,
right?
And he'll he'll rap over asong or over the instrumental of

(28:34):
a song as he making the dish,right?
And he's making whatever thedish is in the lyrics to his
song or what he's doing in thein the video, right?
So I I brought him up becausepeople always shout out, you
know, LeBron, he did such agood job putting his boys on, or
Dame with you, or Tracy withhis brother.

(28:56):
And it's like, yes, yes, theydid, but at the same time, y'all
had to hold up your end of thebargain, right?
So so I just wanted to say,man, that's that's dope on you
know, the rapping chef that he'sdoing his thing and you doing
your thing, man.
yeah, I I appreciate it.
It's it's definitely um, it'sdefinitely a certain amount

(29:17):
of, especially with this worldgoing around with the the
nepotism thing with Brianny Jr.
and LeBron, and it's it's ahigh point right now, and it is
a thing when your family is of acertain skill level, you want
them to be the best version ofthemselves that they can be.
And fortunately, like withDame, as him being an athlete,
that allowed me to push myselfin the best way possible in the

(29:40):
culinary realm.
But I was already prepared forit, I was already having a
passion in it and wanted to seehow far I could take it.
And he just helped me to propelthat.
So if I didn't have the passionor I didn't have the drive, he
could have given me a thousandopportunities and I would have
never done what I needed to dowith him.
So it's just understanding.
Understanding that I can't getcaught up in how I got in the

(30:04):
room.
I just need to do the best nowthat I'm in the room and make
sure that I don't disrespect thepeople that allowed me to be
there.

Korian (30:11):
Facts on that, man.
I I'm 100% on that.
it's crazy because there's alady here in Clinton,
Mississippi.
She was a manager at a BurgerKing.
She hired her son and his threefriends for the summer so they
can make some you know summermoney, buy some can or buy buy
some clothes for school andwhatnot.

(30:32):
It went viral.
Nick Cannon shared it out andeverything.
And then, like a month ago, shegot fired.
Her son and his three friendsgot fired because they basically
said she was paying them toomuch, and something like oh, she
broke policy, is what theysaid.
is what the district managersaid.
And , I was just like, man, Idon't she said the quote I read

(30:56):
was that minors are supposed toget it paid at a certain pay
rate per hour versus adults.
And I was like, I never heardthat.
It might be true, I don't know,but I just thought that was
crazy when you but when youmentioned nepotism, that just
rang in my head real there.

Chef Kenny (31:12):
Yeah, see it in a situation like that, , that's
where I think teaching what whatnepotism brings.
Right, there is a negative sideto it.
And if someone sees that you'retrying to create a monopoly
with your nepotism, then they'regonna use the preset rules that
they already have in motion tonegate that.

(31:32):
So unfortunately, if she wasgoing to provide them with a job
and then pay them as muchovertime as they wanted to,
imagine that sometimes with thembeing kids, one of them may
have left early but still gottheir full pay.
Um, someone may have called insick.
There were so many differentthings that over the summer that
young kids are going to do thatmay not have contributed to the

(31:54):
level of nepotism that she wastrying to offer them.
So I have to show up to workevery day with Dame and all of
my.
I can't be late.
I have to do twice as much workbecause of the eyes and the
negative energy that's going tocome with that.
So it's a great thing to do,but she also has to understand

(32:14):
the level of responsibility thatshe now holds to the work that
they need to do, which is aboveand beyond, considering how they
got the position.
Right, right, right.

Korian (32:25):
Before I get you out of here, , I failed to mention that
you are NASM certified, acertified nutrition coach.
So I want to make sure I shoutthat out.
, and then quickly, can youtalk about the food deserts in
in Detroit and how do you planon battling those?
what I want to do, um, thefirst thing I wanted to do was

(32:48):
just speak with a lot of thecity representatives and
athletes in the city and seewhat form of foundations that
they already have that aretackling the space.
Um, see what the actualconcept behind how they food
have the food and distributionhere.
I don't want to come in andfeel a savior complex of

(33:08):
noticing a problem and thinkingthat my outside view is what's
going to fix it.
So it's going to be a longprocess, but I just want to get
myself involved with schools,involved with athletes, involved
with governmental programs, andsee how they're getting
everything where they're gettingit.
The number one thing that I'venoticed is that there are just
certain places that have betterfood and grocery stores.

(33:31):
So how that is distributed, um,the weather here, it snows and
becomes , it becomes hard to getthe the proper produce or what
their seasonal vegetables are,things like that.
So just trying to figure outwhat goes where and how we can
fix it.
Um, I've been thinking of thisum this program and initiative

(33:55):
that I want to put together forprofessional sports where
hopefully we can start gettinggreenhouses built, , the same
way we do parks, because everyyear, All-Star Weekend, they
build a park.
If we can build a greenhouse orsome sort of garden or
hydroponic location that allowspeople to see how food is made
and distribute that food, it canbecome a larger asset.

(34:15):
So it's just so many differentthings that I want to get into,
but mainly just observation andeducating myself on what to do
next.
But it's a long road ahead.
Hey, it's all about the battle, man.
And we right, right.

Chef Kenny (34:29):
The long game.

Korian (34:30):
So just so everybody knows, you do have a flight to
catch today, but hey, Icertainly appreciate you taking
out taking the time out of yourday to get on here with me, man,
and tell your story.

Chef Kenny (34:42):
No, man, it's it's my pleasure anytime.
You know, when you call, I gotyou.
And that's that's what it iswhen it becomes a chef, and you
have to move around, you gottapivot and you gotta make sure
that you get everything done.
So, no, no, it's my absolutepleasure, man.

Korian (34:56):
All right.
Hey, this has been anotherepisode of For the Health of It.
I'm your host, Korian KPADPadgett.
Make sure you follow Chef KennyJames and make sure you follow
us.
Thank you very much for havingme, man.