Conversations with the Inspiring Charmaine Forte

Today we’d like to introduce you to Charmaine Forte.

Charmaine, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My love story with food started many moons ago ( I’d say exactly how many, but, a lady never tells her age). So, for the sake of saving time, we’ll skip forward to when I decided to turn my passion into a living.

My father passed away unexpectedly in April of 2018 & as much as I’d like for that to be the defining tragedy that led me to triumph, it wasn’t, but it definitely set things in motion. After he passed, I was struggling in more ways than one, but the emotional & mental depression I was experiencing was crippling. Every day was a struggle & in order to find my way through, I cashed out my savings, paid my bills in advance, & quit my job.

I’ll be honest, even if he hadn’t passed & I hadn’t had that small nest egg, I still would have quit eventually. The job was by definition, just a job: I was overqualified & underpaid, the commute sucked & management sucked more. So, last summer, I really tried to figure out who I was without my Dad, but, in hindsight, I was every definition of lost!

Right when I felt like I was turning a corner, my Grandma, who had progressive COPD, was getting increasingly sick & I was once again being faced with the inevitability of losing another person who was a large part of me. My grandma was a Classically Trained Chef & taught me what I know about food today, as well as encouraged me to challenge myself in the kitchen.

Sadly, that wasn’t the last soul-shaking experience I’d be dealing with, as in December of 2018, the person I’d dated off/on for 10 years was diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer. Not only had I lost my Dad, but I was also being told to prepare for the loss of my Grandma AND the person who was my first real love. My core was beyond shaken! Unfortunately, in January of 2019, both he & my grandma passed away, five days apart.

I can’t explain how slowed down time appeared, but nothing moved nothing made sense, and the only way to describe it is, my life was literally shattered into pieces in nine months. I knew eventually I’d have to find a way to pull myself out of the fog, and for me, cooking is my stress reliever. Imagining a recipe while I pick fresh fruits & veggies, thinking of what spices will play well with each other, recalling the taste of a specific food, hoping to find a new way to serve it. In my darkest days, cooking literally saved my life. I still wasn’t sold on business until April of 2019. I was asked to cater a golf event for 20+ people, which is normal this time of year, as I always cook for family & every year for my Uncle’s golf group when they come to AZ to golf & escape the snow. But this time, it felt different. So, I picked a named, decided I’d utilize my personal knowledge of holistic nutrition, combine it with the training provided to me by Grandma, and Forte’ Foods was started!

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Nothing is ever a “Smooth Road.” Even the smoothest of roads only appear that way at the moment you view them, but prior to, someone, somewhere, had to lay down the gravel &smooth down the bumps. It’s often difficult to please anyone, let alone everyone, and when a client is being difficult or when the food I want to serve isn’t in season, or can’t be found fresh, I could view those as obstacles, but instead, I view them as learning curves. Right now, I’d like to remain humble & refrain from giving advice, especially with this being the beginning of what I hope to be the best decision I ever made. However, I will say, being a woman has its challenges, and being women of color isn’t exactly an easy pass lol. So if there’s something you want to do, have put off doing, stopped doing, DO IT! Feed your body, but always remember to feed your soul.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into Forte’ Foods story. Tell us more about it.
With Forte’ Foods, my main goal is to not only provide low cost, healthy, fresh meals, made with local ingredients, but also to educate my clients on the importance of our diets, more specifically, what foods will benefit you as an individual. Not only do we offer a wide variety of options via Catering & Private Chef sessions, but we also offer pre-cooked meals via Meal-Prep, as well as individualized Meal Planning, for those who prefer to cook their own food, but need guidance. What I’m most proud of is how much of my services are based on the needs of others, from the dietary review in our intake process to my determination to keep these services affordable, by working with only local vendors/farmers. If my food doesn’t set me apart, I’d like to think the approach I take when providing these services does.

It would be great to hear about any apps, books, podcasts or other resources that you’ve used and would recommend to others.
I’m currently writing four books, I also have had a podcast called “Slow Motion Sundays” for the past year, so as of right now, I’m only listening to my old episodes, finding ways to improve before revamping, as well as only reading what I write. I’m an avid book lover, have done years of volunteer work at a wide range of literacy-based events for multiple organizations in the Valley, so it’s safe to say I love books almost as much as I love food!

Contact Info:

• Email: fortefoods2go@gmail.com

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