Nik Fields is a celebrity chef. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York as one of 13 children of her Caribbean-American parents. The love for food and cooking was instilled in her since childhood. Despite earning a culinary art degree, her parents discouraged her from pursuing a career in the field as they did not find it glamorous.
According to Fields, her parents considered cooking for people to be a form of servitude and so they didn’t want their daughter to become a cook after African Americans spent more than a century doing domestic work.
“My parents thought it was a downgrade,” she told AZ Central. “They thought, ‘so you’re really going to culinary school to cook for people. You’re becoming like a stereotype when you can go to college and be whoever you want to be.’”
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Fields went on to get a master’s degree in finance, got a banking job and excelled. Nonetheless, she continued to show love for food. She would organize family events and get together and display her culinary skills.
Fields decided to pursue her passion after she turned 43 and her daughter had graduated from college. All she needed was to brush up on her cooking skills as she already had the skills. Using her business skills, Fields created her own path in the culinary world.
After earning her degree in culinary practice, Fields traveled to Italy in search of culture and good food. When she started her food brand Chic Chef Co., Fields purchased olive groves in Italy, produced olive oil and introduced 15 organic, salt-free and hand-mixed seasonings.
“Think of it as a healthier version of Goya. It’s easy, delicious and doesn’t require any cooking,” she told Cuisine Noir.
According to Cuisine Noir, she “recently introduced a line of honey-based organic simple syrups under Chic Chef Co. that come in flavors such as mango lime, jalapeno and lavender vanilla. The products are available online and in select retail stores. Next, Fields is working on a line of sorbets.”
Affectionately called “Nik the Chic Chef “or “Foodie with a Cause,” Fields has grown to national prominence, earning her the status of a celebrity chef. She has prepared cuisine for celebrities such as Sharone Stone, Jess Hilarious, Supa Cent, Angie Stone, Vivica Fox, Tisha Campbell, Tichina Arnold and Snoop Dogg.
Fields didn’t set out to cook for celebrities but “once you cook for one, they come out of the woodwork,” she told AZ Central. She recalled catering for a film crew in Los Angeles how she got cooking requests from film stars like Vivica A. Fox and Sharon Stone afterward.
According to Cuisine Noir, Fields is possibly the only Black chef with her own olive farm and a collection of infused olive oils and balsamic vinegar.
Fields attributes her success to her brand. According to her, she embodies exactly what the brand Chic Chef Co. represents. “Normalizing luxury in the Culinary field has been an amazing journey. I believe In order to be successful with your brand, first you have to love what you do,” she told Shoutout Atlanta.
She also said her job at the bank gave her the business acumen needed to succeed.
Fields recently opened her first restaurant in Phoenix, despite the pandemic. She opened the restaurant alongside her first brick-and-mortar shop to sell goods from her business Chic Chef Company and other Valley brands.
