band from Miami, Cubanos from Miami. Someone recommended me from PBS. I met with Joe from the Chamber. Later, I met Andrew. It was a great way to connect with people with whom I otherwise I wouldn’t And at the same time, It was a great prize for me to represent the Latinx community in such a big way. I had no idea that there were 50,000 people there. I’m glad I didn’t because I was already nervous. When they told me the next day that there were 50,000 people there and it was being televised on PBS. I was super-nervous. But at the same time, I felt good to be asked to represent my community in that way. It was an honor for me to do it.”

And Beisser feels that she can represent the Latine community in other ways when she volunteers.

“I like to help my community,” Beisser said. “Second, I know that representation is important. Sometimes, in some of these places, they need a brown girl. For example, for CEOs of Tomorrow, they need to see a Latina, a person of color who is a business owner and has done something successfully. I serve not only as a mentor, but also they can see someone they can relate to. And I think that is important. Sometimes, I feel that if I can lift and help the younger generation see that they can get to where I got maybe or do better than what I am doing, I think that is important. In one of the classes that I had at Rooted this year, we were cooking and there was this little Venezuelan girl. She was super cute and she reminded me of myself. She kept asking me questions. It was Venezuelan food, so she kept telling me where her parents are and everything. And then at the very end, she gave me this big hug. I could see that she can see herself in me. Just for that reason alone, I feel good about what I am doing. I’m like, ‘If I don’t do it, who else is going to do it that is going to represent?’”

Beisser’s life is connected to community in another way. As the assistant vice-president at Park Bank, Beisser helps coordinate Park Bank’s interface with the community, which includes their employee volunteerism program.

“My work at Park Bank kind of connects me with the community,” Beisser observed. “At Bayview, we sponsor the food pantry. Because of that, we have committed to help them with the food pantry weekly. So every week, we try to send two people from Park Bank to volunteer there. Sometimes, I take a spot and go and help. That’s one of the things that I do at Park Bank is to help coordinate the volunteerism. We have a specific committee that’s called Connections Committee. And they find volunteer opportunities. But I am the one who manages the program where we enter all of those opportunities for people to track their hours. Everyone gets 16 paid hours per year to volunteer. The program that I manage is where they track those hours to make sure they have used them. Most people like to volunteer more than their 16 hours. We have an annual goal of 4,000 hours. I help manage entering opportunities. Recently I entered a lot of opportunities for Centro where people can go and volunteer every week at Mercalito. That also gives me the opportunity with work to see all of the places that need volunteers. From time to time, I will go and volunteer a few hours here and there outside of serving on those boards. Last year, I volunteered over 100 hours. This year, I already have 60 hours of volunteer time booked.”

Beisser’s passion for cooking also took off through community connections. She would cook for pot lucks and organizational gatherings. People loved her food and asked her for the recipes. Eventually she started her blog Five Senses Palate so that people could go to the site and download her recipes. One thing led to another, but it all began at home.

“My kids eat everything,” Beisser said with a smile. They definitely love my cooking and they are both really good cooks too. My recipes aren’t necessarily Venezuelan. I would say they are Latin inspired. But sometimes I also cook Asian-inspired food and Mediterranean. My grandfather was from Spain, so I grew up eating a lot of Spanish food. So my food also always had a little bit of Spanish influence. When I offer my services, I make sure that I tell people upfront that Latin cuisine is my specialty. If they want something else specifically, I’m like, ‘This is my menu. These are things that I can cook very well.’ I don’t want to take over anyone else’s culture. I can speak for my culture. I can speak for my experiences with my food. I don’t want to take anyone else’s culture just because I can make it. When I am offering my services, it is specifically Latin food. Some is Venezuelan, but I also love to cook Peruvian, Mexican, Bolivian food. But at home, I cook everything.”

At one point, Beisser was cooking for up to 12 people at their home, buying and cooking the ingredients, serving the meals, telling stories about the food and then cleaning up. She has always approached her work very professionally.

“These are recipes that I created from scratch,” Beisser confided. “The recipes that I publish on my blog are definitely my own recipes. Sometimes I am inspired by things that I have eaten in a restaurant or sometimes I use cookbooks to make something. And then I find some tweaks that make it taste different. But I always try to disclose where I get everything, especially when I am at dinner, I cook recipes from a book and I let people know that it isn’t my own recipe. On Wednesday, I cooked an original recipe from a Venezuelan whom I took a class with. I tell people that it is someone’s recipe and I am just cooking for them. Sometimes when I cook from renown books that I own, I tell people, ‘This is a recipe from this book’ so that they know.”

Beisser has transitioned from doing authentic suppers in people’s homes to teaching groups of people how to cook her recipes.