Today we’d like to introduce you to Mandy Foalima.
Hi Mandy, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I got to where I am through the grace of God and a beautiful community of friends and loved ones I call my Chosen Family.
I have always had an affinity for creating, but truthfully I loved the community surrounding food before I ever loved creating in the kitchen. I come from humble beginnings as an army brat who is half-Samoan who was raised between Wahiawa, Hawai’i and Fayetteville, North Carolina. And my mother’s family is as southern as they come, coming from a farming and agricultural background and my entire life I would be in the kitchen with the men and women of the family before big suppers doing jobs as little as separating rolls, to helping my mom make pies for holidays. When I came to college, I found my Raleigh family through sharing meals and spending holidays sharing meals with the families that adopted me through harder times in life.
I would describe myself as a Jane of many trades, but with all of these trades, I have always worked with families and most notably in the capacity of being a nanny over the 11 years that I have been in Raleigh. Throughout my time as a nanny, I would often see my busy, hard-working nanny moms often sacrifice quality meals for themselves in order to get food on the table for the little ones. They were often left eating leftovers, take out or cold meals. In my last position, I had more time than ever because I was only watching a little baby boy, after having nanny families previously that had three kids each. In my downtime while he napped, I would offer to do meal prep for my nanny family. I began sharing this on Instagram and called them “fridge cleaning it meals” utilizing only what was available at the house, and many of my friends and connections within the community began engaging further! This may sound silly, but in my second year as a nanny for this family I woke up one morning convicted that I should leave my job. My friends were confused because everyone who knew me knew how much I loved my nanny baby and how much I loved the families that I worked with, but I truly believe that God was telling me that it was time for me to go down another path. So January came along, and I put in my notice and I was terrified but I decided to pursue work as a Private Chef. I have a degree for Meredith College in psychology with a focusing industrial organizational practices and a minor in communications, no formal training aside from a love for nourishing those I love and creating community through food. A conviction to step into an unknown path has now lead me into my second year of business, a beautiful community of meal prep and private event clients and we are expanding the business to include The Burnt Toast Project, which is my nonprofit that seeks to provide meals for families who travel to the Raleigh Durham area for medical care from outside of our region.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I am blessed to say that the nine years that I spent building community in Raleigh has sustained me through my first year and a half of business.
But I would not say it has been easy, I have not faced many setbacks, but redirections and with starting a business, there are absolutely challenges. I am a first generation college student, with little financial literacy and on my dad’s side I am first generation American. It is up for a debate about that term, but my dad is from the island of Tutuila in American Samoa where many of these opportunities are hard to come by.
I did not grow up with the entrepreneurial knowledge from my family, so in a way many of my setbacks have been needing to slow down and learn things for myself or doing things the hard way first and then realizing a couple months months and that I’m working hard harder, not smarter. But with these difficulties comes perseverance, and I am very blessed to say that with any frustrations or complications, I have a community of wonderful human beings who are my sounding board and I am able to look to wise counsel through prayer and from other business owners and creators.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The Main Dish?
My business seeks to create nourishing and delicious meals, so that families may come together around the table. 80% of what I create is Gluten-Free, but I overall take the unique dietary needs of each family into consideration when I am collaborating on menus together. We strive to buy local when we can, and to limit the use of dyes and highly processed ingredients.
I tell everyone that I am just a fancy meal prep chef who loves to build community, and on the other side of my business I create carefully curated menus, bites and dishes for special occasions and events and I love to network and support the families I serve however I can.
There are so many talented chefs in the triangle! I think that my sense of building community and taking part in events in more than just creation of the menu sets me apart.
Brand wise, I am most proud that my business serves the community and we have taken an initiative to host food drives, find a need and help alleviate that, and that we focus on continuing our education and staying up to date with peer reviewed research in food, and are working to serve those with specific medical needs through the non-profit.
In January 2026 we will be launching a Substack that will contain 80% gluten free recipes, and where we will be taking everyone’s favorite dishes and making them “better for you” without sacrificing tastiness!
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
As repetitive as it is, be yourself! I don’t need to elaborate but also, know that you cannot rely on one person to be your sounding board. Have many mentors! Mentors who you chat with daily, mentors who you chat with once a year. I have people who I see and they are encouraging and people who will check me just to see if I will push back, it builds grit. My mentors are business women, nonprofit owners, people who have known that struggle is not failure, while it may have felt like failure at the time, they can look back with appreciation for where they’ve been and trust that it was simply the burnt toast that guided them along the way.
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