Our guest for Episode 9 is Amelie Kang from @malaproject! Amelie grew up in Beijing, watching her grandmother cook, and her early exposure to food had her pursue Culinary Arts at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and then an externship at Chef Daniel Boulud's Bar Boulud & China Blue. Amelie has been honored by Forbes 30 Under 30 for Food & Drink & Eater Young Gun for introducing Sichuan dry pot to the NYC food ecosystem. Amelie’s work ethic, creativity, and care for people are what have made her first restaurant @malaproject such an incredible success, and we're so excited to share it with you! ****TIMESTAMPS**** 4:40 Warm up questions 9:37 How Amelie's interest in cooking began 16:02 Menu development 23:24 How Amelie approaches branding 31:27 Approach to scaling across multiple restaurant locations 38:36 Mentorship & favorite foods!