Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with Samantha Sterrett of West Valley

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Samantha Sterrett. Check out our conversation below.

Samantha, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: Are you walking a path—or wandering?
I love the quote “Not all who wander are lost.” and I like to believe I am a wanderer. I enjoy cooking with my entire soul but I am not afraid to wander to different areas of my life and explore them. I feel like culinary is a home that I can return to when I am done exploring. It will always be there for me no matter what path lays ahead of me.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hello! I go by Samii by my close friends and family. I love to travel, read, and learn new things. I am a personal chef and I love creating special experiences around food. I do not shy away from allergies or restrictions, and I love creating refreshing delicious food options for those who are limited in what they can eat! Eventually I want to open my very own pizzeria! But for now I am working on rebranding my business a bit to really fit who I am and what I want to accomplish.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who taught you the most about work?
My parents. When I was about 5 years old they decided to forgo the traditional job and start their very own water softening company. Back then I had no idea what that entailed but now I can look back and see how hard they worked to get to where they are now. They were barely 25 with 4 kids and the hope for the American dream. I watched them build their business brick by brick, and got to be a part of the process. Now I look around at my peers and how they perceive work and I really understand what a difference it was for me to grow up in a household that was not afraid to put in the work and fail and push through again and again until you reach success.

What fear has held you back the most in your life?
I think for a lot of people the fear of failure holds them back, and I am for sure someone who is guilty of that. I have had people tell me for years I should just be a personal chef but I was too afraid of people not liking my food to actually take that leap. I turn 31 this year and thanks to social media I see so many personal chefs start immediately out of culinary school. I graduated culinary school at 20. I look back at that and think to myself how far I could have come if I had just taken that leap of faith back then, where could I be now?

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Whom do you admire for their character, not their power?
This might be a basic girl answer but I am not ashamed of it. Taylor Swift. I know she is not in culinary but her persistence, her determination, her absolute kindness is so blinding. She rarely uses the power and influence and when she does it is always for the benefit of someone who needs it. She had a dream and she shot true to it, she didn’t let anything else stop her from living her truth, no matter how bad it might have looked or come across. She let her character shine knowing in the end everything balances out and that is just so inspiring to me. I have been a fan of hers since her first album and to see how far she has come just warms my heart

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
I truly believe I was born to cook for other people. I have known since I was about 10 year old I wanted to become a chef. Every time I wander away from culinary I always end up back in the industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://scrapdinner.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scrapdinner
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scrapdinner
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@scrapdinner