Work Opportunities Unlimited (WOU) is dedicated to meaningful employment for all. Melissa was working as a dietary aide at a nursing home, but she dreamed of a career in the culinary arts and was referred to WOU for assistance finding a new role. With hard work and WOU’s support services, Melissa is thriving at a job that aligns with her goals!
Career Resource Specialist Leslie Gell on WOU’s Providence, RI team started working with Melissa in November 2023. When Leslie learned of Melissa’s career aspirations, she encouraged Melissa to explore culinary arts opportunities while retaining her position. Leslie helped Melissa enroll in the esteemed Culinary Arts training program at the Genesis Center, a nonprofit organization. Curriculum for the eight-week program included food service sanitation and safety, nutrition, knife skills, food preparation and presentation, dining room service, menu planning, units of measurement and math for planning menus and scaling recipes. The class also included an internship at the Culinary Hub of Providence (CHOP), a restaurant affiliated with the Genesis Center that functions as a training facility and potential employer for their culinary arts students. Leslie attended class with Melissa a couple of times to offer support, but she mostly assisted her with reading, as this was Melissa’s biggest barrier. “The class required quite a bit of reading, and at the end she was required to take the long and difficult ServSafe Manager exam. Melissa received accommodations for the test, meaning I was able to be with her and read it to her aloud,” explains Leslie.
Melissa on the job at CHOP
With Leslie’s support, Melissa interviewed for and successfully secured a permanent role at CHOP as a Front of House Attendant in November 2024. Melissa was excited to begin her new job, and the internship had helped her hone her skills in the kitchen, but she needed Leslie’s support to overcome her challenges with the role’s customer-facing responsibilities. “Melissa is very warm and friendly but she struggles with profound shyness, so it’s difficult for her to engage in conversation with people that she doesn’t know,” says Leslie. She and Melissa practiced roleplaying customer interactions to help her feel more comfortable with chatting and making eye contact. Melissa also needed to learn the different coffee drinks on the menu and understand which orders required follow-up questions, such as preference of milk for a latte. Leslie and Melissa practiced both onsite and offsite to increase her order taking skills. In time, Melissa grew more confident in her tasks, and her supervisors praised her improved customer service skills and increased accuracy in taking orders.
Now, Melissa is fully proficient in all of her tasks at CHOP. She takes customers’ breakfast and lunch orders at the service counter and accepts payment. She serves and busses tables for customers who dine at the restaurant. Melissa stocks the refrigerator and rolls utensils into cloth napkins. She also completes a variety of cleaning tasks, like emptying the dishwasher, sweeping the floor, wiping windows, and deep cleaning the coffee station. Melissa’s favorite task is crafting beverages. She prepares novelty coffee drinks such as carrot cake lattes and shaken fig espressos. CHOP has expressed interest in sending Melissa to a coffee art class where she will learn to make foam art on the lattes and cappuccinos. As Melissa’s supervisor Sophie says, she is also the “go-to person” for making a wide variety of simple syrups that the restaurant uses for homemade sodas and in coffee drinks. On any given day, you will find Melissa peeling and chopping all kinds of interesting ingredients for syrup recipes, like pear and fennel, ginger and lime, carrot and honey, and fig and lemon. She interacts comfortably with colleagues and helps train interns on making syrups, operating the coffee machine, cleaning, and crafting drinks. When Leslie visits Melissa onsite, she is thrilled to see her easily assist customers and smile and laugh with coworkers. “I’ve seen so much growth in Melissa. She’s really come a long way, and she’s very happy at CHOP,” says Leslie.
Melissa recently celebrated her one-year anniversary as a CHOP employee! Her stellar performance earned her a raise, and she’s also increased her hours. Leslie visits Melissa once or twice each week to check in and offer support as needed. Melissa has also achieved another long-term personal goal of obtaining her driver’s license, for which Leslie helped her advocate for accommodations to pass her written test, and she is saving up money for a car. Melissa has gained confidence and independence and is working at a job she loves, with support from Leslie to help her realize her dreams. Congratulations, Melissa!
