But it takes a village.

It really does and I really do live in one. It’s called the Village of La Grange and it’s a stones throw from Chicago in the land of Lincoln (Illinois). I was reared here, then moved to the big city after college and then returned to raise my family.

I started this business after dragging my feet through years of doubt. I wanted to work with cheese somehow but I didn’t know enough about the cheese itself. Then one day I started to think, “if not now, when?” And “would I regret it if I didn’t try?”  The answer was yes, I would regret it. So I set out on my cheese mission to study, plan, shape, mold and prepare a curdy future. Sure, I learned a lot more about cheese, but the more I learned the more I realized that I needed to learn more about something I didn’t know I would need to learn.

Ugh.

I have a husband, a young son and another job. I pressed my internal pause button.

“I can’t do this. Am I crazy?”

It felt crazy. Or did it? Turns out, I simply couldn’t stop thinking about it.    I want to discuss cheese with people who like cheese. It’s not brain surgery. I don’t have to be a highly certified expert I just have to be good. And I know I’ll be successful if I can entertain them while improving their understanding of cheese; its history, how it’s made, why it looks or tastes that way, and a million other things.

So I un-paused and got back down to business.                                                Which is this: Ten Four Cheese.

I didn’t do it alone. My husband and my son have been behind me and my parents and friends have helped me too. The businesses in my Village provide many great settings for me to host classes and events and they have been very accomodating.

As my first event approached, I wasn’t ready. I had prepared well, I thought, but as the day approached I realized I behind. In over my head. It was the little things, last minute changes to my presentations, which knives and glassware would be needed, transporting everything, would I be greeting guests while still plating? I envisioned myself setting up like a chicken with its head cut off.  It was then I decided to accept the help my friend’s had been offering. They came through and it made all the difference.

So it starts here, in La Grange, IL but the business is me and I take it wherever cheese lovers want me.