Direka Gordon ’26, a culinary chef, custom cake creator and cooking teacher, chose the B.S. – Food & Beverage Entrepreneurship degree program at Johnson & Wales University Online to hone her skills in planning, pitching and marketing new ventures.
Gordon is candid in sharing how losing confidence in herself almost derailed her entrepreneurial aspirations — and how earning the degree at JWU Online renewed her belief in her dreams.
A CULINARY JOURNEY
A military spouse, Gordon moves every three years as her husband is reassigned. “My husband, Donte Gordon, Sr., is a Chief Warrant Officer 2 in the military. We’ve relocated to six duty stations — Georgia, Texas, Tennessee twice and also Italy and Germany. Visiting over 20 countries and being exposed to so much variety has shaped my culinary journey. Originally from New Orleans, where I first began cooking, those roots make me thrive. When people ask what my culinary specialty is, I tell them it is ‘cultural cuisine.’”
Despite her many accomplishments, Gordon says she often feels like an imposter
“I didn’t follow the traditional route of working under someone in a restaurant to become a chef. Knowing I would leave, employers weren’t willing to move me up in the ranks. As an entrepreneur, I can build a business that travels with me when I move.
“As a business owner, people still ask where I’ve worked as a chef. When I explain that I am a private chef, they think I’ll be too expensive. When I say I teach cooking classes, they think I’m a home cook without any training. When I’m a contracted chef, for example with the The Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, the chefs I work with have 30 and 40-plus years of experience. They ask why I haven’t worked in restaurants because that’s how they built their careers. People expect chefs to follow a certain path, and I’m paving my own way.”
Recognizing that to successfully promote her culinary business, she needed to elevate her financial acumen, develop a solid business plan and increase her confidence as an entrepreneur, Gordon embraced the opportunity to pursue a bachelor’s degree at JWU Online.
CHOOSING JWU ONLINE
Gordon was encouraged to apply to JWU Online by her former chef instructor at the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, who had graduated from JWU’s Charlotte campus. Credits from an associate degree in culinary arts and certificate in baking & pastry transferred toward earning the Food & Beverage bachelor’s degree.
“I knew that JWU has a long legacy as a leader in culinary education, so I was excited to be accepted for a January 2024 start.”
NAVIGATING A PERSONAL SETBACK
Unexpectedly, a family crisis delayed Gordon’s plan to start school. “A few days before classes started, my daughter tried to take her own life. My husband was leaving for his school training. I had built momentum as a chef, but needed to stop working, put school on hold and homeschool my daughter.
“The journey to recovery was long. We’re grateful that my daughter is doing well now, but the traumatic experience left me feeling that I couldn’t be a chef anymore. I didn’t believe I could complete a bachelor’s degree or pursue my entrepreneurial dreams.”
SUPPORT FROM JWU ONLINE’S ADMISSIONS STAFF
Despite Gordon needing to postpone her enrollment start in the program, Admissions Associate Sarah Bardsley stayed in touch with Gordon with encouragement that she would eventually be able to begin her academic journey at JWU Online. “I told her what had happened and how I was feeling. She would call and I would tell her I needed to defer my enrollment again.
“When some schools call you, it feels like a sales pitch. Sarah was sweet and kind and authentic in how she cared for me. I appreciate that she believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.”
MOVING FORWARD
Slowly as her daughter healed, Gordon began taking one custom cake order every couple of months, so as not to overwhelm herself. Then her husband received orders for a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) to move from Georgia to a new duty station in Korea.
“We began the moving process — packing up and preparing to ship all of our belongings, finding a new place to live and locating schools for my son and daughter. Then two weeks before we were scheduled to leave the states, the orders were canceled and we were ordered to move from Georgia to Texas. I was kicking and screaming because I wanted to go overseas.”
Reconciling with her feelings about the new orders, Gordon called Bardsley to say she was ready to enroll at JWU Online. Gordon shares, “As we made the 16-hour drive from Georgia to where we were relocating in Texas, I was writing papers for my first two classes in the Food & Beverage Entrepreneurship program and working online full-time.”
LEARNING ONLINE
Gordon’s first attempt at online learning was right after high school and hadn’t gone well; she had failed her online classes. Wanting to redeem herself, Gordon worked hard — sometimes taking four or five classes in a semester to complete the program more quickly and using creative strategies to manage classes, family and work.
Gordon’s biggest challenge — which she says she quickly overcame — was the amount of reading her programs required. “I’m an auditory learner, so I needed someone to read to me. I purchased a subscription to Speechify, which allowed me to download my textbooks and also have it read material in Blackboard to me. I stayed focused instead of getting distracted, as I do when reading on my own.”
SUPPORT FROM WILDCAT WILLIE
Throughout the program, Gordon received text messages from Wildcat Willie, the official school mascot. “Sometimes I would feel overwhelmed and then I would get a text message from Willie. I know it’s probably a bot on the other side of that text, but the messages were so encouraging. Being able to press a number to respond either with one for ‘I’m okay’ or two for ‘I’m not okay and may need to talk to someone’ was super helpful.”
ELEVATING HER FINANCIAL SKILLS
Nervous about using math and learning about finances, Gordon explains, “As a military mom, I’m savvy about family finances, but I needed a framework for the detailed financial operations in which I would interface with an accountant or lawyer. Honing my financial skills in the program has increased my confidence in the business world.”
Using spreadsheets revolutionized how Gordon runs her business. “In the past, I didn’t plan or price out what I made for an event,” Gordon explains. “When I was invited to be a vendor at a festival last year, I made five or six baked products, because I’m good at making them. I didn’t consider demographics, or which one or two things would sell well. I spent about $2,000 and only made a $200 profit.
“Now I price everything before I put it on the menu. I go over my spreadsheet to estimate my profit margin according to how many customers I may have. I take pre-orders using Hot Plate instead of just popping up, because those are guaranteed sales on top of the sales I make on-site. More attentive to the financial bottom line, I am better able to turn a profit.”
CREATING AN ACTIONABLE BUSINESS PLAN FOR HUMMINGBIRD
Students in the Food & Beverage Entrepreneurship program write multiple business plans, each one influenced by the course’s instructor. Gordon laughs, “Initially I was like a deer in headlights — I had no experience with business plans.”
Hummingbird, Gordon’s idea of a culinary educational organization, began percolating when she had an externship with a high school culinary instructor during her baking and pastry program at Escoffier, and continued throughout her enrollment at JWU Online. “I fell in love with teaching culinary arts and began teaching my own classes while I lived in Georgia.”
The Hummingbird name came to Gordon in a dream during the Food & Beverage Entrepreneurship program, when she fell asleep thinking about a class assignment. “Since childhood, dreams have been messengers, telling me I am on the right path. In the dream, I was looking out the window of a childhood home, where watching hummingbirds had lifted my spirits. Then I saw myself behind the counter in a bakery. I felt like God was telling me, ‘Keep going, I’ve got you.’ I woke up refreshed, knowing the name would be ‘Hummingbird Roots & Recipes.’
“All the business plans I wrote were for the Hummingbird Roots & Recipes Academy. I envision it as a culturally-rooted culinary educational organization that blends hands-on cooking classes, pop-up dining experience, youth culinary programs and community-centered events, with a strong emphasis on accessibility for military and working families.
“Food costs today are outpacing incomes,” explains Gordon, “so I strive to teach practical, repeatable kitchen systems, how to shop smarter, stretch ingredients and cook efficiently without adding extra time. I aim to instill confidence in clientele to produce scratch-made cooking with heritage flavors — and to create original recipes that families can hand down as legacies.”
GAINING CONFIDENCE TO MAKE HER PITCH
Gordon explains, “Through the guidance of my professors in each course, I reshaped and restructured my idea of Hummingbird. I wrote my fourth business plan in the Entrepreneurship Seminar.”
Gordon wrote her fifth business plan by participating in The Launch Pad, JWU’s coaching and mentoring organization for aspiring entrepreneurs. “The Director, Jeff Binczyk, ’23 DBA, had been my professor, so we tailored the plan I wrote in his class to become my presentation for Sharkfest 2026, JWU’s annual pitch competition.”
Gordon enthuses, “You have no idea the amount of courage I’ve acquired working with Dr. Jeff. I was a ball of nerves when we began the project, and didn’t believe I would be able to make a full presentation on camera. Dr. Jeff took the time to bring out the best in me by reading draft after draft and providing feedback on each version of my video.”
Gordon’s hard work paid off, as she was named one of three finalists at Sharkfest and was awarded a grant for Hummingbird Roots & Recipes.
“It’s truly an honor. I was in the middle of fulfilling a cake order when I received the email from Dr. Jeff. My son had to hold me up because I was crying so hard.”
Recently, Gordon contracted to be the sole bread baker for one year at Graze Craze in Killeen, Texas. “In only two weeks, I’ve made almost 200 loaves of a type of French bread used in New Orleans po’ boy sandwiches. The grant I was awarded as a Sharkfest finalist is going towards purchasing a bread making machine to help me fill orders.”
CONFIDENTLY GOING FORWARD
Gordon says that what drives her today is being a good example to her teenage daughter and son. “I’ve always hustled — I want them to see that I always go for what I want. Work should be more than just for paying the bills. I want my children’s lives to have meaning and joy.
“JWU Online has given me the tools and confidence to turn my lived experiences, cultural roots, and passion for food into a purpose-driven business. When I worked at a bakery on Sundays while in school, I was able to walk into that bakery, recognize the different systems and structures they were missing and help build that for the bakery owner. I knew then that I was capable of owning my own bakery.
“Eventually, when my husband and I settle in one place, my goal is to convert a horse trailer into a mobile bakery I can hook onto my car and use to do pop-ups. If I’m led to a brick-and-mortar bakery one day, I’ll be set up for success.”
“When people ask me if it’s worth getting a higher education degree I reply, ‘Absolutely yes.’”
“Education is powerful. Credentials make people see you in a different light and believe in your craft. Most important — education helped me believe in myself. Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy, but if you can dream it, you can do it.”
FOOD & BEVERAGE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT JWU ONLINE
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