“I have a really big family,” Martinez said. “We were always in the kitchen. Cooking for my family is a big ordeal when we have holidays. We’re talking like 40 to 50 people on any given holiday.”

To this day, Martinez is still serving up food for large groups of people — she has been the sous chef for The Gallery in between Snyder and Phillips halls for the last six months. Last month, she was recognized by FoodService Director Magazine as a rising food industry star under the age of 30. 

However, Martinez, 29, wasn’t always on the culinary track. 

Upon graduating from high school, she enrolled in Lansing Community College to study political science. 

It was during this time that Martinez not only continued to work in restaurants to put herself through college, but also worked for the both the mayor and the governor in an attempt to start her political science career.

However, soon the whole political scene began to wear Martinez down.

“I’d been in it for a very long time and I was really young and really jaded by the whole system and kind of got to a place where I was like, ‘I really don’t want to do this,’” Martinez said. “‘This isn’t really what I want to do anymore.’”

Following her passions

After giving up on her political science degree, Martinez weighed a couple different options of where she would go with her life. After some of the mentors she had in the cooking industry advised she go to culinary school, it didn’t take long for Martinez to make up her mind. 

She decided to enroll in The Culinary Institute of America in New York, one of the top culinary programs in the country.

Not only was The Culinary Institute of America prestigious, but they also offered Martinez the opportunity to enroll in their accelerated program. 

At the time, no female had ever graduated from the accelerated program. Martinez and two of her classmates would go on to become the first three women to do so.

After honing her skills in New York, Martinez returned home to the Lansing area where she began to work in various country clubs while looking for a full-time job.

When a friend tipped Martinez off to the fact that The Vista at Shaw Hall was opening on MSU’s campus in spring 2013, Martinez jumped at the opportunity and emailed her resume. She was then brought in as a temporary culinary platform attendant.

Soon after this, a sous chef position on campus opened up and Martinez’s experience and love for cooking allowed her to fill the empty spot.

Since then, Martinez has gone on to take over as the sous chef of The Gallery. 

In addition to this, Martinez hasn’t stopped climbing the rungs of her career. She’s done everything from win culinary competitions to help plan and promote a new design for dining at Owen Hall.

As shown by the honor of being featured in FoodService Director Magazine, Martinez’s hard work hasn’t gone unnoticed. 

She was nominated for the feature by Mike Gardner, dining manager for the River Trail Neighborhood and employee at MSU for 42 years.

Gardner said when looking for employees, they hunt for people who have a real passion for food because those are the ones who make the operation run smoothly. 

“When you find someone like chef Martinez, who really cares about the product she’s putting out for the students, it makes the whole operation at MSU that much better,” Gardner said.

Martinez was extremely honored by the recognition.

“It’s a really awesome honor to be considered a mover and shaker because people want you to grow,” she said. 

More than a cook

Amid all the culinary competitions she’s won and changes she’s helped institute at MSU, Martinez said her favorite part about her job is teaching and working with the students at MSU — something she says comes naturally to her. Martinez’s father was a teacher in the Lansing School District.

“I think it’s kind of just ingrained in me to teach,” Martinez said, whose first experience in teaching was showing children from low-income families in New York how to cook. “I get to share something that I really love with a whole lot of people and it’s always a different group. It’s amazing to watch somebody that you’ve taught and watch their skills develop over a few years and watch them leave and be proud of what they’ve learned and developed.”

This is another part of Martinez’s drive that certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed. 

Gardner said when student employees are learning a new part of the job, Martinez will stand right behind them, guiding the students through the whole process and fixing their mistakes.

In addition to this, when MSU hosts culinary competitions between the student chefs at MSU, Gardner said Martinez will always take the time to help those interested in participating.

Spanish senior Jake Mell has worked in The Gallery for almost four years. But in the last six months of working alongside Martinez, he said the experience has been great because of her good attitude and willingness to help people.

“Over my career as a student worker in Culinary Services, I’ve seen The Gallery make many changes, with some being for the better and others for the worse,” Mell wrote in an email. “However, I am confident saying that we have made significant progress in a positive direction since chef Martinez was brought on board.”

At the end of the day, while Martinez has always been a cook, she’s much more than that.

For any of the students she works with, she’s also a teacher and role model, and an example that students can truly make a career out of something they’re passionate about.

“It takes a lot of hard work and I think sometimes people forget that part,” Martinez said. “They forget to share that part that you don’t necessarily get to start out at the top and sometimes you’re going to get knocked, but it’s important how you get back up.”