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She rushed in like a tornado. Chef Mawa McQueen, who lives life at 1,000 miles per hour, bright-eyed and confident in her stride, looked remorseful for being late but was already asking about her next meeting with the press officer.
This French-American from Aspen in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains is famous for its caviar crepes ($148 each). Ivory Coast In Paris for the presentation of his second book, Unlimited ambition – develop a mindset conducive to success, Published by his own publishing house, Édition MCQ*.
Tang heads four restaurants (Mawa’s Kitchen, Mawita and The Crepe Shack in Snowmass and Aspen) and employs about 120 people, and this kid from Trapps (a suburb of Paris) has a fortune estimated at between 11 and 18 million euros. And she doesn’t plan to stop there. She’s preparing to open three more locations in Denver. Boulder (Colorado) and opened a hotel an hour from Aspen. All this was done after a journey full of pitfalls, without inheritance and without the help of a bank.
Abidjan and Trapp’s turbulent childhood
“For me there are no red lines,” she said. But don’t worry, I’m not going to kill anyone. I hope my message resonates with young people in Africa.migrantwho do not consider themselves worthy of the best and settle for crumbs.»
His work is full of mantras and precepts: “Believe in yourself”; “Don’t wait for someone to save you”; “Dream big!” »… McQueen also highlights his chaotic childhood, more as a measure of the path taken than to evoke sympathy. Her birth was the result of a brief love affair between a Christian who had just come out of adolescence and a polygamous Muslim from Diura. An early separation from this mother who left for France in search of a better life. His wanderings have Abidjanfrom family to family, there are distant relatives, and the conditions are difficult.
Mawa McQueen at her restaurant in Aspen, Colorado, December 2023. © KELSEY BRUNNER
She remembers the nights spent under the table, covered only with a loincloth, the frugality of the only meal of the day and, above all, the feeling of never having been in her position: “I did not feel loved, I always gave the impression of being a troublemaker.” There was also the fear of seeing his father kidnap him. “Some people took pleasure in scaring me. They kept telling me that my Muslim father, who clearly abused women, would come to me, make me undergo a genital surgery, marry me and force me to wear a veil. »
Meeting the latter refuted these alarming predictions. She spent three happy years with her loving father and stepmother who treated her like her own daughter. “I grew up like a weed, and their love made me finally know who I am.” She Mother He returned home when she was 12 and took her to France.
Trapps’ landing was a rough one: a three-bedroom apartment in HLM, housing a family of twelve—nine brothers and sisters, a father-in-law (“as lovely as (my) mother-in-law in the Ivory Coast”) and a mother, a complete stranger whom she had to learn to recognize.
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School was a test: “My French was terrible, my grades were terrible: I was rubbish. » One day, one of her teachers, intrigued by how quickly she left school, approached her and asked her about her interests. She liked to cook. The teacher agreed to enroll her in the hotel high school, despite her objections. “Before I was accepted, I was put on a waiting list. My first big win. It was so incredible that my family was stunned: in their eyes, I was just a big mouth, with no special skills, and barely found a white husband. »
Bottle feeding The Cosby Show
after Middle School Instead of finding a job in the restaurant industry as a hotelier, Marwa decided to become a domestic worker – “while waiting for French naturalization so that I could go to England” – but only in pretty neighborhoods: “I was deploying my strategy. I had developed a real disgust for poverty. Seeing the women in my community resigned themselves to the dull life of poor immigrants with no future, I wanted to commit suicide. »
She had a dream long before she arrived in France. She was tired of American TV series featuring rich and successful black people.American dream That The Cosby Show. had one obsession: to travel to America. Marwa Sidibe McQueen then told anyone who would listen that she was the daughter of Claire Huxtable, the mother played by Phylicia Rashad in the famous sitcom.
To live in the United States, you must speak English. pragmatic, Marva came to London as an au pair to a wealthy family. Her then boyfriend signed her up for the US green card lottery. She didn’t take it seriously: “It was too good to be true.” » But she got it. Her boyfriend left her.
When Mawa McQueen arrived in the United States in 2002, she applied mainly for housekeeping jobs. “Some black people, convinced that they were assigned specific tasks and functions, were satisfied with the minimum, hesitating to ask for what they could legally ask for. » Angels were watching her: based on her resume, the manager of the White Barn Inn restaurant recruited her as a waitress. Six months later, she became a manager and plunged headfirst into the world of five-star restaurants, spending summers in Kennebunkport (Maine) and winters in Aspen, “the place where Victor Newman went on a romantic trip, an iconic figure of Fire of Love».
California pancakes, a specialty of chef Mawa McQueen. © Kelsey Bruner
When they were staying at their summer home in Kennebunkport, the former President Bush and his son wanted to have lunch in the restaurant of the Chateau, the hotel where she worked. First came the voice on the phone: “Mr. President will be here.” She hung up the phone abruptly, thinking it was a bad joke. Faced with the interlocutor’s persistence, she angrily replied: ” Yes, yes, bring him here! » Fifteen minutes later, seven armored cars escorted the Bush family members. “I hid in the garbage room,” she confided. She was invited to serve at the table, paralyzed, she stammered: “I can’t, I’m black.” » Bush assured her: “You’re going to be fine, Marva.”
Maury Sacco and Georgiana Weu
McQueen was the only African-European in Aspen, “a striking name that marked the birth of a dynasty,” which was the name she gave herself after becoming a naturalized citizen. American – initially thought it would be useful to hide her African ancestry. In fact, the continent reflects a sad picture. “African Americans are fascinated by my obvious self-confidence: I give orders with my eyes, tell everyone what I expect of them… Some people think I’m the spoiled only child of a billionaire. » As a French woman, Mawa McQueen has a reputation and a certain degree of complicity with her billionaire clients. “I have personality, I believe in myself and they like it. »
Her adventure as a chef began when a customer at Little Nell’s asked her to help prepare her Christmas dinner. “At the end of the ceremony, it was prescribed: “You know, you deserve better.” » (“You deserve better”). McQueen followed his advice and, while keeping her job, charged into the still-uncharted territory of healthy food cooking.
She founded her first business year 2006, M&M Home Dining Services, a private chef service, will become Mawa’s Kitchen. “I built my business bit by bit, living frugally, investing every penny I saved since I was 16, while also working a lot of odd jobs: cleaning lady, babysitter, etc. “, she said. Its commitment to healthy cuisine enabled it to enter the catering market for private jet companies.
As a chef, she draws inspiration from the cuisine of the African continent, which she describes as Afro-Mediterranean cuisine. George Floyd incident So she removed quinoa from the menu and replaced it with Fonioand add fried okra to serve as an appetizer, just as they do in Louisiana. “I’m combining products that are familiar to customers with unexpected ingredients. Fonio has been neglected all season. So I had the idea to change it up.” name As Africa’s quinoa, it has gained widespread acclaim not only for its nutritional qualities but also because eating it is an environmentally friendly act. Its cultivation requires very little water and supports women in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire who have joined together in cooperatives. »
Mawa McQueen is an advocate of mixing genres and unifying cuisine. “I’m working to bring chefs from all over the world back to Aspen. I just asked Mory Sacko and Georgiana Viou to join me! » As for his “mother”The Cosby Show,Once she had lunch at his restaurant while filming a movie. “A dream! I cried and she laughed and participated. It was amazing,” she said, scrolling through photos on her phone.
* Unlimited ambition – develop a mindset conducive to success,Author: Mawa McQueen, MCQ version, 174 pages, 15,99 EUR.
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