Meet Jade, a cook and cafeteria assistant manager in the City Seeds kitchen at Edgewood, serving the Freestate ChalleNGe Academy.
A Humanim employee since November 2022, Jade plans and cooks meals for more than 100 people, ensures everything is properly prepared and safe, and helps clean up.
She finds fulfillment feeding people. “I love having the responsibility of making food and making sure everybody is satisfied. Cooking is something I’ve been enjoying a lot,” she says.
The young people in the Academy can be picky, but also open to new tastes.
“The kids, they always say, ‘I don’t like this, I’m not used to this.’ But they’re open to trying new stuff. I honestly like hearing the feedback after serving the food. I like to know what I can do better to make the food taste better. I like having control, especially when the food comes out good.”
Jade enjoys the challenge of work and is eager to develop new skills and move up. “You could give me a job, and no matter what the job is, I’ll find a way to make it something I enjoy. I won’t complain about it. I’m a really hard worker. When I like something, I put my all in it. I’m very driven.”
Outside of work, Jade’s weakness is true crime stories. “I really love true crimes. I watch that a lot. Whatever true crime video comes up, I’ll watch them all day.”
But mostly she’s focused on caring for her young son, Ja’mir, with trips to Chuck E. Cheese, bounce houses and Dave and Buster’s. She also cherishes quiet moments with Ja’mir. And as a former member of the all-county chorus, she loves to sing to him. “I sing my son to sleep every night. I’ve sung the ABC song to him since the day he came home. It’s his good night song and he loves it.”
Jade values her job and the people she works with. “I value the positivity the job brings into my life. It’s something I cherish. I’m learning from the other people there, and I value that.”