“I can come in, be professional, and do the work. Knowing how to be efficient, knowing how to ask the right question. As soon as you go in, you know the protocol in a professional kitchen. As one of the first U.S. Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship graduates in Illinois, we made history. We literally made history. We are opening doors to possibilities.”
Despite her love of cooking, Geraldine Bleavings never imagined it would become her career until she completed the UNITE HERE Chicago Hospitality Institute (UHCHI) Chef de Partie Apprenticeship Program. Bleavings is inspired by her mother, but she has always been an ambitious self-starter. At seven years old, she surprised her family with a cake she made completely by herself. Bleavings recounts:
I was in the kitchen while everyone was in a den watching television. I just put on my mother’s apron and I was just pulling things off the shelves. I mixed it, I put it in the oven, and then I brought my cake out into the den. Everyone was laughing because it had absolutely no taste but I baked it right. That stayed with me all my life.
Now Bleavings does not just draw on her creativity and drive, but on her education and her experience working in professional kitchens. Bleavings splits her time between the Levy United Center and Savor at the McCormick Place. Beyond her technical skills and expertise, her apprenticeship has given Bleavings the confidence to speak up and shine in the kitchen. She says, “I can come in, be professional, and do the work. Knowing how to be efficient, knowing how to ask the right question. As soon as you go in, you know the protocol in a professional kitchen. Arriving in my chef uniform from UHCHI, I stood out for that alone.”
Her performance has not gone unnoticed. In her position as a Cook III at United Center, Bleavings won an award for Best Improved New Employee within the first month she was there. She says, “I pushed myself, because I have the confidence. I know what I’m doing.” To potential employers, Bleavings says “[UHCHI apprentices] come with a set of skills. Just let me shine.”
Bleavings’s path to the culinary career was unconventional. For twenty years, Bleavings worked in entertainment as the personal assistant to well-known comedian Bernie Mac. Even in show business, Bleavings was drawn to the kitchen. “Believe it or not being on the road, you eat a lot of restaurant food so you get tired of it. Once the crew learned I knew how to cook, I ended up doing all the cooking on the road,” says Bleavings. After that, Bleavings and her sister owned a hotdog stand for seven years on the west side of Chicago. Right before COVID, Bleavings ran a home catering company, but work dried up during the pandemic. That is when she decided to develop her skills further by joining the UHCHI Chef de Partie Apprenticeship Program.
At first, Bleavings was not sure if the program was right for her. She remembers, “We’re taking a math test and I thought, ‘oh no, this isn’t gonna work.’” But she recounts how the UHCHI chef instructors assured her, “It will come, because we will be doing it every day. It is just up to you to decide when you are going to take it on.” Between their support and how the instructors described the career, Bleavings realized by the end of day one that she had made the right decision. “It is a lifestyle. The chef instructors said the word lifestyle and that’s when the passion clicked.” She adds, “That first day was the start of a new life.”
Bleavings is one of the first graduates of the UHCHI apprenticeship program to complete her competencies over the 1000 hours of on-the-job training and rise up to become a national culinary journey worker. The accomplishment means even more to Bleavings because UHCHI is the first and only U.S. Department of Labor registered Chef de Partie apprenticeship in the State of Illinois. “We made history. We literally made history. We are opening doors to possibilities.”
Bleavings has big dreams. “I will reach my goal of becoming a very famous restaurateur,” says Bleavings and adds she already has her eye out for who she might hire. “I look at the cooks and some of the chefs I work with and think, would you do well in my kitchen? I would hire any UHCHI graduate, because I know the skills they come with.” Bleavings is planning on building off of her experience in show business and her newly gained expertise in the hospitality industry as a culinarian by serving as a representative for her community. She says, “I love African American foodways,” and adds, “I laugh to myself because I’m no Julia Child or Martha Stewart, but I tend to feel I can become them. So you might be looking at that…The passion, the creativity to want to do better for myself, I never let it go because it has taken me so far. Yeah, I’m standing out.”