Today we’d like to introduce you to Lynn Wolsted.
Hi Lynn, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I’ve always been enthralled with cooking and eating! In between learning my numbers with, The Count, I was enthusiastically smashing garlic with Yan Can Cook. Being raised in a household where homemade wasn’t a term that was thrown around that often I became obsessed with seeking it out elsewhere. Enter my best friend’s grandma, Nona Rose. I owe a lot of my cooking passions to watching Nona lovingly make sugos, handmade ravioli, and other Northern Italian dishes for her family. Food was her love language and was the way she took care of people, especially her family, and community.
After that, every part-time or summer job I had was in a restaurant or a kitchen. After pursuing a career as an interpreter and then sliding over into education, I did a complete 360 and enrolled in culinary school at the Culinary Institute of America. But unlike a lot of the fresh out of high school graduates who were in classes with me, the idea of opening my own restaurant wasn’t super high on my list of priorities. I wanted to pursue a career that would combine my other passion for travel with cooking. After a brief year of working in fine dining restaurants in NYC, I found myself living and working aboard a 150-foot passenger ship as an assistant chef off of the Pacific Coast.
I worked onboard for Lindblad Expeditions for 5 years, ending the last 2 as a manager, which took me out of the kitchen and into a supervisor role. I enjoyed being able to use my teaching and interpersonal skills to manage the hotel team, but the craving to work with my hands and cook for others was insatiable. I chose to leave the sea behind and moved to Boston, MA where I was an intern for America’s Test Kitchen until the Covid 19 pandemic shut everything down. Luckily, I had the opportunity to work on a few photo shoots with the photo team and began to explore food styling.
With my tenacious spirit, I began reaching out to food stylists and photographers in the Twin Cities, Bellingham, and Seattle, WA, all while working on my portfolio and learning about food styling and photography. As studios began to re-open, I found opportunities working on sets as a food styling assistant for commercials, ads, and cookbooks here in the Twin Cities. Having gained this experience I was able to translate what I learned on set to work as a lead food stylist on other projects.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road and I have had many obstacles I’ve had to overcome. Seeing others gain success quickly or be further along in their careers has always been tough. Applying to job after job of positions I believed to be qualified for, but then never being offered the position, let alone an interview was disheartening. But I am grateful for every opportunity and experience.
Because, as cliche, as it sounds, it has helped me to learn, grow and cultivate the strength to persevere. I no longer fear rejection and am putting myself out there, creating content that I enjoy. My goal is to help people design a better relationship with cooking and food. I know that the right projects or opportunities will come to fruition and whatever will be, will be. The best thing I can do is try to stay present; it’s hard when you’re a planner and a big-picture thinker! And just ride the wave.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a recipe developer and tester, a food stylist, and a creative. I have developed recipes and food styling for Morton and Bassett Spices. I’m also a recipe tester and have done a little photography for Serious Eats. I’ve assisted on commercial sets for Arby’s, Pillsbury, and Target, among other companies.
I am always seeking to learn new skills and enjoy challenging myself. After years of working in kitchens, I know how to anticipate and observe others’ needs. As a natural planner, I am always thinking 10 steps ahead of other people and looking for ways to make their jobs easier, or ways for the production to run smoother. Quality over quantity has always been what I strive for.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
The pandemic made me slow down and stay put, something I am not always accustomed to doing. I learned to check in with my loved ones more often. I learned that you don’t have to move somewhere to be a part of an industry.
There are opportunities closer than you may think, you just need to be willing to research them and seek them out.
Contact Info:
- Website: lynnowolsted.com
- Instagram: @lynnowolsted
- Facebook: wolstedcreativesLLC
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynn-wolsted-foodstlyist/
Image Credits
Charity Burggraaf, Isabel Subtil, Kristen Olson, and Amber Fouts, Ryan Dyer along with Kelsey Chance
