LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) – Chef Teisha Seely, who has worked at Garden Cafe for nearly two decades, has been selected to film a TV pilot more than a thousand miles away in New York City.
Seely said she is not afraid to take a chance when it comes to life outside the kitchen.
“I have always lived with not wanting to have any regrets,” Seely said. “So, it seems big and impossible and like beyond me. Which it is. But when it came to me. I thought I just can’t say no to this. I have got to try.”
Seely first found her love for the kitchen watching her nana cook.
“I was inspired by my nana,” Seely said. “I always liked to help her in the kitchen. She had a garden and a small little chicken farm so I would help her in the kitchen. As I grew up, I was just really focused on what she was doing more and had fun with her in the kitchen. And that just inspired a journey which I never really thought that this would be coming about by any means. But if I had told sixteen-year-old me that I was getting to do something like this I wouldn’t believe you.”
As her passion grew, so did the challenge of creating new recipes. Along the way, Seely met Scottie, who works alongside her in the kitchen every day.
“In particular Scottie,” Seely said. “He is in the kitchen with me every day and he is very passionate about food. And we have grown to be really good friends and he has inspired me. He is always sending me recipes. So, he has taught me a lot for sure. It has been a humbling process. Challenging. But all the good things that could come from a job.”
Seely gave a preview of her TV menu, which she calls “Oh My Gourd.”
“I really like OH MY GOURD,” Seely said. “I was just going to do an appetizer, an entree, and dessert that features a different squash or Gourd. Just to inspire you know the normal people that usually past by those vegetables most the time where they go what I am supposed to do with this. Just to have fun with those.”
Seely is working toward a $4,000 fundraising goal to help cover the costs of the opportunity. If her pilot episode wins the viewer vote, her trip to New York City could turn into a full series.
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