I grew up in a rural Oklahoma and had one of those kind of childhoods full of discovery, excitement, education and wonder!  To me, life was meant to be an adventure and I took the 90’s “You can do anything” mantra literally and set off on a mission to do just that!  After a quick degree in biology and marring my high school sweetheart, I set off on a conquest to fulfill one of my passions… CULINARY SCHOOL!  I headed to upstate New York and got my hands dirty in a little school called THE CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA.  It was a “mecca” type place located in a former Jesuit Seminary on the banks of the Hudson River.  I thought I’d landed in “food heaven” and immersed myself into all things gastronomy for the full two years!  That season of my life cultivated a desire to use food as my language of love and see the world. I also developed a very deep and lasting sense of sensory perception that would permeate my life moving forward. That beautiful intuition has helped me frame the sense of wonder, adventure, trial and triumph I have experienced throughout my life.

Oh how I wish I could go back and tell young Tiffany how things would turn out… she was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (as we say here in Oklahoma) full of ambition and so ready to conquer the world.  I’d probably tell her to “buckle up buttercup”… it’s going to be a wild ride!  

Back in Oklahoma, I started my chef de cuisine & chef-instructor season as I began sharing my experiences and passion with guests, students and enthusiasts.  I finally felt like I’d found my place in the world, training, cooking and loving on people.  There was something super satisfying about using food to teach about life, love and all the good things we share together in this world through a technicolor sensory wonderland.  

After a quick stop in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, I returned to Oklahoma to start a family and work.

I spent years coaching students from all walks of life… high schoolers, career-changers, community college, incarcerated individuals, private college and eventually university students.  With each surpassing season, I added a few new tricks, degrees, certifications, babies and relationships that constantly inspired me to reach higher, love deeper and grow stronger.  It was in those years as an educator that I cultivated a deep soul desire to help others discover their greatest gifts and use food and hospitality to brighten their world. 

As you can imagine, with the addition of each new degree and each new baby, came the need for additional revenue sources to support our growing brood!  My husband and I have always been serial entrepreneurs.  Growing up, my parents were successful business owners and I remember answering the phone for my dad’s business at the tender age of seven.  I guess you could say “business is in my bones”.  To this day, I love watching the mind of an entrepreneur work!  It’s a mental ping pong match like no other sport… That “neuro-entertainment” actor is what I now live for!   I love the creative mind of an entrepreneur and approaching the business mind from a chef’s angle allows me to give my clients and those I coach an edge like no other!

A New Direction

We all remember where we were and what we were doing when the world stopped turning… If you were alive during 9/11/2001 then you also remember the Alan Jackson song that I’m referring to. If you weren’t, then at least you remember what you were doing in the spring of 2020. I was in a super busy season as I mentioned above. Traveling full time as a senior corporate chef, I had just returned from a trip to Seattle and was back in the home office hosting a large webinar when I got the call… “I’m sorry Chef Poe but we are cutting back due to the shutdowns and unfortunately your position was just released”. I sat there in shock. Never in my twenty five years of employment had I been “released” from anything… I was crushed. I hung up the phone, gathered my composure and bowed my head. It was a day I’ll never forget! In one short minute, I had lost my income, position, benefit package, insurance for my family and professional identity.

After a few deep breaths and a micro tear… I uttered the words “God I trust you”.

You see, this wasn’t the first time I’d walked through a season of loss. Loss was all too familiar to my soul. It had become a file folder in my life cabinet and once again I’d been asked to open that file and insert a scenario I could not change.  Rewind a few years to my busy food media season… We became pregnant with our fourth child, a little boy named Riley.  He was to be our final addition to the little tribe and I was on the “home stretch” of a peaceful and healthy pregnancy.  At the thirty-six week checkup, something felt very wrong.  I hadn’t felt Riley move much that day and after an ultrasound appointment, we heard the five most painful words an expecting family can hear… “I’m sorry there’s no heartbeat”.  We were devastated beyond words and didn’t find out until after his delivery that he had a knot in his cord that eventually restricted his life line.  As a mama, it was the lowest, saddest, darkest day of my life and Riley’s death left an imprint on my heart that will never be erased.  You can read more about our story in the complimentary Baby Loss Guide on my site.

As you can see from my pictures and the storyline, I did have my rainbow baby and God did restore my heart, But my little Riley birthed in me a compassion for bereaving parents that inspires my work and ministry today. 

The second wave of loss came several years later before the birth of my double rainbow baby, Israel.  

My love for business, consulting and food related projects lead to many more amazing adventures.  Over a series of a few years, I had the pleasure of working for dozens of food media companies & projects, celebrity chefs and food companies, helped bring to life a thirty million dollar multi-unit facility, oversaw a multi-million dollar federal grant, opened a bed & breakfast with my family, launched a food truck concept, and then led the creativity, innovation and product application engineering for a multi-national multi-million dollar company as their senior corporate chef.  It was a wild and yet extremely satisfying ride!  That season of my life birthed the dexterity and adaptability that ultimately prepared me for what was ahead. 

I was traveling on an education conference trip when my husband called me and shared the news.  I will never forget the smell of the bathroom and the empty feeling in my gut when he shared that his parents (who were on their way to our house) had just been killed in a car accident.  I felt nauseous and numb at the thought of them not being in our lives and the shot of devastation that hit my heart was almost more than my very pregnant body could take.  Once again our family walked through a season of grieving and mourning for a loss that did not make any sense and made us question life and wonder why we were once again walking through an unfair season of change.  Twenty-one days later we were preparing for a somber holiday without my husband’s parents to celebrate with, when we went for a routine ultrasound to check baby #6.  At first everything seemed fine, but slowly the technician drew a concerned look on her face and began to explain.  

Another ultrasound confirmation and several hours later and we were scheduled for an emergency c-section to save the baby’s life.  The doctors and nurses were amazing and the hand of God was on every single process and moment that transpired.  Israel was born and immediately put on life support.  He was given a 5% chance of survival and very slim odds of ever recovering fully or living a full healthy life.  Several days after his birth the doctors also diagnosed him with Down syndrome and tried to prepare us for the worst.  When you’ve already walked through your darkest day in life, everything else seems manageable compared to the alternative.  We politely disagreed with their prediction that he may not survive, took that 5% chance and ran with it!  Needless to say, everyday of the 92 days we spent in the NICU was coated with Miracles.  God healed my son and has continued to write his life recipe in such a beautiful inspiring way!  To this day, I’ve never tasted such a bittersweet blend of grief and hope mixed together as I did in that season of challenge.  I did however, find a new hope and resilience that has sustained me through dry seasons and given me a faith that is unshakable.  

After my job loss on that cloudy April day, I made a decision to not return to the corporate or institutional world.  Something in me died that day professionally and I made the decision to take a much needed (20 years in the making) sabbatical.  I will forever be grateful for that season of rest, renewal and reimagining what the next 20 years of my life might look like.  During that time, on a quiet morning alone, God asked me what my heart desired.  To be honest, I was kind-of shocked.  I talk to the Lord frequently, but this was a different type of question… one that I knew would be paramount to my future, calling and healing process.  I thought for a few seconds and answered… “Lord, if I’m being really really honest with you and myself… I want another baby”.  

I talk about this more in depth in my book “A Chef’s Guide to a Beautiful Pregnancy”, but I will share this… I have never in my life been so sure of something than I was with that request.  I knew a world of healing, restoration and redemption awaited me in that reply and I also knew I would never be the same after uttering such a faith-filled plea!  

Nine months later, my triple rainbow baby was born in water via v-bac (vaginal birth after cesarean) and when I held him for the first time, something shifted in my universe!  A flood of emotions, ecstasy and elatedness filled my soul and from that divine download, so many other beautiful ingredients have been deposited into my life recipe.  Visions, dreams, expansion and even more struggles have marked this new season. But, I welcome each new increase with joy and less resistance than before.  It’s not that each time seasons change, gets easier. On the contrary, the new chapter is not free from its own dragons to slay.  The difference is that my perspective has radically changed… now it’s unshakable.