When life gives you lemons, make lemonade…and maybe gazpacho soup!
When the pandemic brought schools to a screeching halt, you might assume that life was on pause for kids. However, that’s not the case for Kitty. Kitty’s life skills teacher emailed recipes so that her students could continue learning at home in the kitchen. With the help of her self-trained chef/dad, Kitty shopped for the ingredients and followed directions, resulting in yummy kitchen creations. Kitty’s mom filmed and sent the videos to her teacher to show proof of her daughter’s accomplishments in the kitchen. Kitty’s cooking charisma was so inspiring, her mom decided to upload them to social media. Their friends loved watching them and encouraged her to keep posting.
This was the recipe for success.
Two and a half years and 120 episodes later, Cooking with Kitty has more than a thousand subscribers on YouTube and merchandise for every cook’s dream. Kitty has cooked with award-winning chefs and has even been invited into their kitchens.
Yet, the icing on the cake isn’t the number of viewers or episodes.
It’s the message that Kitty sends with each video. Kitty’s videos highlight that people who are “different” are just as capable as anyone else. Kitty’s “different” is a dual diagnosis of Down syndrome and autism. By sharing her love for cooking, Kitty is showing that people who are “different” can achieve great things and need to be represented, so people aren’t surprised when they see their accomplishments.
For example, a young man with a similar dual diagnosis who is nonverbal watched Kitty’s videos, connected with her, and began to speak using words like “pot” and “pan”. Through her videos, Chef Kitty is inspiring every single one of us.
So even though Kitty was handed some lemons when schools closed their doors, she turned that into lemonade and so much more!
Fun facts about Kitty: She hopes to film an episode with the Muppets! Not only that, but Kitty is dreaming up a design at Disney called “Cooking with Kitty Land”…Because why not? Kitty, along with anyone else identified as “different”, deserves to dream big just like everyone else! Cooking with Kitty can be found on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Please follow, subscribe, and comment to show your support!