Client/ Life

I am a client of Chef Lauren’s now, but before I was her client, I was her teammate. Lauren and I went to the same high school, and she was the senior captain of our cross country team in the fall of 1998 when I joined as a freshman. I spent a season learning how to be a distance runner under her strong leadership: she executed practices, motivated us to improve, and always encouraged us — as individuals and as a team.

23 years later, in 2021, I looked up Lauren’s number and called her. I asked if she remembered me from those cross-country days, and she did. I had once followed her lead on the course, and now I needed to follow her lead in the kitchen.

One of my three children is a particularly “picky eater”, and I had come to recognize that my limited meal repertoire wasn’t helping the situation. My plan was to work with Lauren so that she could introduce some new dinner options to our family and teach me some skills along the way, hoping my son’s interest in new foods would grow as a result. Thankfully, all of these goals were met. But what I hold with even deeper gratitude is the outcome I didn’t expect when I signed on to become a Chef Lauren client: the profound impact of her regular role in our lives.

Practically, Lauren comes once a week to my home, where she prepares two meals. We work together to decide what those will be, and I shop for the necessary ingredients. Through this arrangement, my children have been exposed to and willing to try many new foods, and my “picky eater” has developed his palate. Lauren has passed on tips and taught me skills that have improved my own cooking abilities. We prioritize better ingredients and locally sourced, seasonal foods through her influence. My family’s approach to food and dinnertime has been transformed in our years as a Chef Lauren client – she’s brought an ease, an expansion, an elevation to how and what we eat. In modern life, that’s no small thing.

What surprised me is the ease, expansion, and elevation Lauren brought was not evident just in the kitchen and the food: it’s felt in the whole of our lives. Lauren’s weekly, warm, engaged presence has become a valued rhythm of our home life. She’s a person we’re deeply connected to as a family. Lauren has developed a genuine bond with my three children. They annually bake and decorate Christmas cookies together. They eschew what they know would not be “Chef Lauren Approved” — respecting her as a trusted role model, which will be even more impactful as they age. My husband, who also loves to cook, delights in the days he can be in the kitchen with her talking shop. He loves her food, but he also loves her energy.

And me? In some ways, I feel like I have my captain back. While Lauren’s there to practically execute meals, she’s also once again a personal source of motivation and encouragement, both in the kitchen and in life. Lauren is a talented chef, no question about it. She’s also an incredible human, and while I am so grateful to be her client, I am even more grateful to be her friend. I once thought I’d work with her for some time; I now intend to be a client of hers for life. She was once a captain for a season; she’s now our chef for all seasons. My life is better, twice over, with Lauren on my team.

- Maryellen Collins Brown