Female Founders: Julie Burleson of Young Chefs Academy On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Even if you’re in a fun business, you need to be prepared for some not-so-fun times. Haters are real, but so is earned success. Don’t lose sight of why you started!
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Julie Burleson, Founder and CEO of Young Chefs Academy.
Julie owned and operated two culinary businesses before launching the Young Chefs Academy model and setting out to build a franchise network dedicated to teaching children the joy and value of cooking. Julie is the recipient of a Best Feasibility Plan award from Baylor University’s John F. Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship and has been a panelist for IFA Convention events.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I was always an entrepreneur at heart. When I was in college, I started a business making homemade gingerbread houses for the holidays. I can credit my mother for my love of food and cooking. I spent so much time in the kitchen with her, but I always knew I wanted to open my own business that I was passionate about. I started off about 20 years ago selling culinary herbs in a co-op space and eventually started a business selling home-cooked meals for busy working moms, well before home delivery meal kits were introduced. Business was booming and I was finding ways to include my children in the kitchen with me as I got busier and busier. My son was having a blast helping me with the cooking and I had a lightbulb moment to open a children’s cooking school. We opened up and it took off. We were holding parties and classes and it wasn’t until customers had asked when we were going to open additional locations that I considered franchising the brand. Now more than 30 locations later, I’m so proud of the progress we’ve made for Young Chefs Academy.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
It’s so important to find mentors whose values align with your own. I made relationships with people in franchising, veterans in the industry who I could turn to and trust. Additionally, the leadership team at Young Chefs Academy, Shelly Young and Jamie Skinner. In addition to being incredibly genuine and loyal, they’ve always had my back in terms of helping to see who has our brand’s best interest at heart. I also owe so much to the YCA employees who care about the brand as much as I do. The success of this company wouldn’t be the same without the people who choose to be involved and I am eternally grateful for my team.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
Why wouldn’t women want to found companies? I don’t think anything should hold them back. If a woman is being held back from their dream, their inner voice is to blame. The world isn’t holding you back, it’s either you or somebody you’re doing business with. My best advice would be to get out of your own head, because the time to act on that dream is now. Maybe a male counterpart tried to hold you down, but so what? Don’t give them the gratification. There are people who adhere to the older ways of thinking, but that system is outdated. They will try to find your weaknesses to discourage you- it happened to me. It didn’t hold me back completely, but it did stall my progress. If you get into a culture or system that wants to do things the old way, recognize it, learn from it and move on to something better.
Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
Goes back to what we should have all learned in grade school- the golden rule; treat people how you want to be treated. It’s that simple! Standing up for yourself and for someone who you see as a victim of being bullied should be the standard. Be aware and be willing to have courage to stand up for what’s right. We need stronger support systems in the workplace.
This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
Culture, culture, culture. Everyone is becoming very aware that culture matters- and it matters a lot! I believe women have that innate sense of relationship building, which is what companies thrive on. You can have the best business model or product, but without a healthy culture your company will not succeed to its fullest. Women are more nurturing, it just comes naturally. Female founders have the opportunity to build that nurturing, caring culture within the workplace, and I hope to see more women taking on that role.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
Not all founders are naturally-born leaders. Founders are dreamers, they have big dreams, but founders and leaders they don’t come as a package deal. I loved the idea of starting a business and making a positive impact, but leadership skills have to be learned along the way. We are champions of our dreams but we have to grow into our role as a leader. You have to learn to lead, and it’s not easy.
Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?
I think successful founders know they are only a piece of the puzzle. However, founders are not any more important than the ‘regular jobs’ as employees. Successful founders stay humble and know their place in the world. Not to mention, we can’t all be founders. If we were all founders the world would crumble in on itself. It’s been a humbling experience for me to learn firsthand that I’m not any more important than the operators in a company. Founders know the right people to include in their business, but operators are who make their dreams come to life. A specific trait to being a successful founder would be staying humble in your position.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
- There are so many different opinions out there on how to approach franchising the right way. Make sure you build a trusted franchise support system before diving into franchising as a business model.
- Understand that there are very tough decisions to make as a leader. You won’t always have the luxury of making decisions based on convenience, and sometimes the decisions you make may affect personal relationships. It’s no longer about you; it’s about your company!
- Anything worth building is going to take a long time.
- If you don’t establish a culture from day one, the culture will establish itself. If you fail to articulate it and make it very clear from the beginning, it will take a long time to turn that ship around.
- Even if you’re in a fun business, you need to be prepared for some not-so-fun times. Haters are real, but so is earned success. Don’t lose sight of why you started!
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
Young Chefs Academy’s mission adds so much value to children’s and families lives. Our whole purpose is making people’s lives better through teaching the joy and value of cooking. In addition to our brand’s purpose, being a franchisor and providing opportunities for franchisees to fulfill a dream that they otherwise would not have been able to achieve without our support is invaluable. And the best part is watching it come full circle! Through enhancing a franchisees life, they are able to make a difference in other people’s lives. One of our company promises is that we expect our franchisees to support the communities in which they do business. We provide a platform for owners to give back to organizations that they are passionate about. It’s a wonderful experience to watch franchisees become involved philanthropically in their own way.
Just as well, Young Chefs Academy has partnered with several national and international brands. We enjoy incorporating philanthropic efforts into our business, especially when it aligns with our mission. For example, we include ways to encourage students and families to donate to World Central Kitchen, and hold events such as “Cookies for Kids Cancer,” where our students bake the goods for the cancer drive. It’s important to empower our students and involve children in the act of giving back. We enjoy watching them find joy in being an active participant in philanthropy.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I lost my mother to Alzheimer’s last year. Going through that experience has inspired my next project where I hope to impact the lives of senior citizens. I’m currently working on a model where our Young Chef Academy students can be paired up with individuals at senior living centers. Through my mother’s diagnosis, I learned there are a lot of lonely people out there who weren’t blessed with grandchildren, or maybe their grandchildren live far away. Pairing two different generations together through cooking could really bring those two groups of people together in a beautiful example of mentorship. The idea is to bring the seniors to YCA and pair them up on a one-on-one basis where they share recipes or participate in a class together. The older generations are living longer and they have so much to give back and share with today’s youth, and we would be remiss to miss out on an opportunity to share those experiences before it’s too late.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
Sara Blakely, Founder and CEO of SPANX, is a female leader that I have always admired. Sara personifies the female founder of doing it right. I’m continually inspired by her leadership style and the confidence she holds to stay true to herself. The journey she took to build her business independently set a tremendous example for aspiring entrepreneurs everywhere. Sara is a great representation of authenticity and humbleness.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Female Founders: Julie Burleson of Young Chefs Academy On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.