With his eyes set on becoming the Head Chef of a top restaurant, 20-year-old Virgin Gordan Tishon S.J. Bridgewater is living his dream as a Professional Chef in the Virgin Islands tourism sector. Photo: Provided

Two of the many culinary creations crafter by our Young Professional Tishon S.J. Bridgewater. Photo: Provided

Our Young Professional fuses fresh and exotic vegetables with seafood as his signature dishes. Photo: Provided

Healthy and nutritious fresh vegetable rolls with dipping sauce. Photo: Provided

Learning from mistakes

An alumnus of the Bregado Flax Educational Primary and Secondary Centre, not being able to graduate from secondary school did not stop our Young Professional from finding a career he was passionate about.

“I did not graduate, I was more focused on the outside world more than I had been focused on school,” he told Virgin Islands News Online (VINO).

Working at Oil Nut Bay; however, Tishon said he learnt so much on the job and has sights on perfecting his cooking skills.

Speaking about the job and what motivates him, our Young Professional said, “I enjoy the motivation my co-chefs give me, they push me to work harder every day.”

He said staying focused, however, remains a huge challenge, “I tend to lose focus easily, my main job this year is to stay focussed.”

Tishon continued, “My biggest life lesson so far is just because you didn’t graduate from high school doesn’t mean you’re dumb or worthless in life, you can achieve anything in life once you set your mind to it.”

Father’s son

For Young Professional Tishon, the decision to get into cooking is one that came easily, given that he is a second-generation Chef. “My father who is not here in the BVI inspired me, he is also a chef in the United States. I wanted to be just like him.”

Before entering the cooking space, Tishon worked for a company named Metro Construction. In fact, prior to his chef job, Tishon worked mostly at several construction companies as a general labourer.

When asked if his current career was one he always desired, he said, “I wouldn’t say it’s the one I always desired, but in life, you never know what’s next. I just tried it out and fell in love with it on the first attempt.”

Tishon continued, “I always wanted to start a scooter rental and repair business with my friend Aldric Thomas who taught me a lot about scooters growing up,” he said; however, the decision to be a chef is one he eventually settled on.

While he still intends to pursue the business partnership, Tishon said in the meantime he will try to keep focussed on the things that matter, which includes “keeping my mind off of the money and actually setting my mind to learn."

Something out of nothing

“I would love to become a head chef one day to let everyone know that you can make something out of nothing. I was always the one people would actually watch and say 'he would never make it in life,'” Tishon shared.

He added that some of his most interesting qualities include making people laugh, and his ability to ‘crack jokes’ and, according to our Young Professional, people love him for that quality.

To young people looking to pursue a dream, he said, “Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something you want to do in life. You could do anything you set your mind to do, wise up don’t do and think, rather think before you do,” he said.

Tishon called for Virgin Islanders to work more and divert away from laziness, “They have a saying that we BVIlslanders don’t like to work, let’s make a change to that,” he urged.

Parting advice

In a final word of advice to youths, the 'head chef in the making' said, “be you, don’t follow bad company, stay focussed in life and everything else will fall in place.”