Chef Janine Pezarro: From Michelin Kitchens to the Warrior's Path with Chef Brett Wright from Palm Beach Meats

Get ready to innovate and organize your workspace with Metro. As the industry leader in storage and productivity solutions, Metro is here to transform and organize your kitchen. With their premium solutions, you'll experience the Metro difference. Metro's sturdy and versatile shelving units, workstations, holding cabinets, and utility carts are designed to streamline operations and maximize your productivity. Don't settle for imitators.

Metro products last longer and offer unparalleled quality and durability. Plus, many customization options ensure that your workspace is tailored to your unique needs. Visit their website or contact them today to start designing your perfect space. Metro Shelving

your partner in organization and efficiency. You've just stepped inside the Walk & Talk podcast, number one in the nation for food lovers, chefs, and storytellers. I'm Carl Fiedini, your host, shining a light on the flavor, the hustle, and the heart of the industry.

We're the official podcast for the New York, California, and Florida restaurant shows, the Pizza Tomorrow Summit, the U.S. Culinary Open at NAFM, and the North American Media Platform for the Burnt Chef Project. Recorded at Ibis Images Studios. where food photography comes alive and I get the first bite. Find out more? Info at thewalkandtalk.com. In kitchens, we romanticize passion, the flame that gets you in the door. A passion without purpose can burn you out.

Today, we're sitting down with Janine Pizarro, a chef who chased joy from her grandmother's kitchen all the way through three Michelin star pressure cookers, unsafe staff housing and toxic brigades, and then chose a different battlefield, coaching men. Janine turned hard lessons into a program rooted in samurai principles, somatic work, and daily tangible tools. Not talking therapy.

Built to restore discipline, dignity, and self-respect. She said no to mass production, walked away from big titles, and rebuilt a life where happiness is the metric. And yes, her grandmother's rule still stands. If you want cake every day, make it yourself. Also on the show, we'll bring in Chef Brett Wright, a partner at Palm Beach Meats who went from surviving Jersey streets to bid recognition and Kobe certification and a concept making Wagyu approachable, not precious.

Two very different paths, one shared mission, turn pain into craft and craft into service. Let's get into it. My man. I mean, you brought the Wagyu today. Yeah. Let's talk about what you did because it was spectacular. And I think there were two dishes. Yes, sir. And the beurre blanc, it got me. Okay. Let's get into it, man. Talk about it. What did you do? All right. Well.

We just took an unconventional approach to beurre blanc. Everybody uses beurre blanc for fish. We just said we're going to use it for beef instead, and we cut it with horseradish sauce. And we made our horseradish Wellington, horseradish Berblanc, just so that we can give people a different approach to something that's so classical. And that's what we did today.

Let's talk about Palm Beach meats. Okay. Because you're doing funky stuff with the Wagyu. Yeah. And it's Kobe. Yeah. It's not just Wagyu. Yeah, we got Kobe. We sell Kobe in the rack. We use Kobe tallow a lot. for certain things um takamori tallow we sell takamori omi cattle those three are like the highest you're gonna get um and that you're gonna get in um the wagyu field

And then we have our regular everyday Wagyu that everybody can come and get at a normal price point. But Wagyu is, you know, a four ounce piece of meat. If you think about it, you get like four steaks out of one steak. It's kind of worth it. Yeah, but not everybody can sell Kobe. How do you get about to doing that? You have to be certified through the Kobe Association. Yeah.

We went and got certified in Japan. We're there once a year for seven days. And we're certified by the Colby Association to certify other people as well. And so meet. So rare. We're the only in the country restaurant, wholesale, retail restaurant that does this.

And you just recently got your bib gourmand, right? Yeah, we got our bib this year for our first location down in Palm Beach. And we're working on this one in Orlando. That is amazing. Congratulations for that. Thank you. Thank you. Florida's turning into a hotspot.

Yeah. I mean, there's Michelin everywhere. Not a lot of, I mean, I think we should be doing better with Beard. And I think that, you know, the people who want to chase it, it's there. you know, for everybody else, you don't have to, you know what I mean? I'm, I'm, I'm in both camps with this. Yeah. Cause I, I think it's fun and I respect it and I enjoy the, uh, the mechanics of how you achieve.

these awards you know uh we've talked about it before but john and i did a photo shoot at uh camille out there and just to watch chef yeah he's a beast he's a beast and to watch him work And the clocks are everywhere. And every movement is a movement that has cleaning attached to it. It's beautiful. I look at that and I can geek out on it forever. With that said.

you know, give me a smash burger, dude. I'm happy. You know, I'll take a smash burger any day. So you're, but you're doing, but you're doing stuff like that with, yeah. Talk a little bit about it. Um, so. With the Wagyu we do, we're using Australian Wagyu because I don't think the majority of the people know that Australian Wagyu is halal meat.

I chose to use this meat so that we can open up the doors for everybody to be able to come in and eat. It's not just Japanese. Japanese and American isn't allowed, so everybody won't have that opportunity to experience what Wagyu is. So we just take our meat case, break everything down, put it in a meat case, and then I turn and make the menu out of that. So when you come and buy ground beef, it's the same ground beef that we do our burgers with.

And I chose to go pub style instead of smash. Like I'm doing an eight ounce fat burger, you know, cook the temp, no sauce, just lettuce, tomato, onion. Just so that you can really get that taste of Wagyu and know that you're eating something that's, you know, what we consider to be the best beef in the country or in the world. Well, look, I mean, you did the Sando.

And I have to tell you, I enjoyed the hell out of that. But then, you know, and I've said this, I say a lot of stuff. There's some repetitiveness, but I don't care. Don't listen. No, no, keep listening. You have a Wellington. A Wellington.

on its own, doesn't excite me. When a chef says, eh, we're going to do Wellington, I'm like, oh gosh, okay, if that's what you want to do, fine. But the last few Wellingtons that have come through this studio have been next level different stuff. And, you know... To have a Wagyu Wellington and the way you did it with the Reblanc, man, I literally, I would want two of those. As savory as they are. It was the balance that was there with that sauce and that meat and the crust.

Dude, you hit it right on the nose. Thank you, man. I appreciate that. Absolutely. I totally dug it. Unfortunately, John got the, you know, he ate most of that. In fairness. In fairness. Yeah. I ate the sando.

So whatever. And so our guest who's in the wings waiting at this very moment, she's been through some Michelin kitchens too. Let's go ahead and introduce Janine. How are you? Hi, I'm good. Thank you. How are you? I'll tell you, if I was any better, I don't know what I would do with myself. I've been waiting for Thursday. I've been waiting for today since last week. It's amazing how fast the days go when you know that you're going to show up to a studio.

and meet and talk to awesome people all about food and all about the food culture. It's quite nice. That is amazing. I wish I was in the studio to eat what sounds like an absolutely incredible meal. Seriously. I mean, listen, at some point in time, you know, after, after this episode, I know you're going to want to come out here and we'll, we'll host you.

Yeah, and either you, if you want to cook, you can. If not, I'll make sure there's somebody worthy here to make that happen. We'll feed you good. Magic. So let's get into why you cook. When you think about it, what's the first picture from your grandmother's kitchen? Oh, gosh. You know, it's still today you just say the word grandmother and all of these phenomenal memories just flood back. But my favorite one is my grandmother used to make these.

They are famous in our family and top secret in terms of the recipe and how to do them. And I would always run into the kitchen, say hello to no one else. go straight to the kitchen because I knew it was fresh out of the oven, put a slab of butter on this bread roll, take a bite of it, and then say hello to my grandmother. I'll always remember the way that she looked at me when I put into that role because it was pure joy and it was what I now understand to be purpose.

And for her, it was that conviction of this is why I love to cook a thousand bread rolls for these guys because of that one moment. where she saw me bite into the roll with pure joy on my face of how delicious it was. And that's why I cook, because when I see somebody enjoying something that I've... spent hours or days making, that's what it's for. That's all it's about is that moment of watching someone have joy. And that's where you go in your mind.

When things get rough, because in the kitchen life, I mean, it's the sound of the tickets printing and servers coming in and out and just that chaos. When you have a happy place and it has something to do with your family. and happy memories, it makes the whole experience so much better. 100%. And you can actually taste it. You can taste when someone is making the food.

from a place of deep love and joy, or whether someone's just making it to, you know, as a job to make ends meet. Well, I can appreciate what you're saying when I was a boy. My grandmother, you know, we'd be at the house and she'd be making a sundae sauce or something like that. And she would dip the bread in the sauce and she'd, you know, whisper.

here come here and you know i kind of you know get over there and and it was the happiest thing for me like to this day um if there's a sauce somewhere i'm dipping bread in it and i am And I find my happy place. My cousin used to have to have her own... sauce made specifically for herself because she was she would eat so much of our grandmother's gravy that she had to have her own separate like jug of gravy so that all of us would actually have some and she would have her own.

So I understand the gravy. I can get down with that. I would have my own stash as well. If I could, I would. I mean, you know, unfortunately, we got to share with the rest of the family. So we're talking about happy moments. memories and whatnot, but you've seen the ugly side of the business. Everything from stalking to sabotage, obviously yelling and throwing things. I'm sure that you can remember what your first...

This isn't okay moment was. Yeah. I, you know, I think it's different as a female chef in a male dominant area. It was my initial thought and yes, it is different, but I think just. Any human being, when you feel unsafe and when you have that moment of unease, that's not okay. Whether you're female, whether you're male, it doesn't really matter.

As soon as you have that moment of, I don't feel easy or I don't feel safe or something internally makes you pause for a moment, that for me was when I was like, this is not okay. And there were so many moments like that, which you start to question, is it just me? Am I just overly sensitive? Or is this really a problem? I would get stalked in freezes and, you know.

too closely walked past in aisles which had miles of space like just random moments where you just think this is not okay and i don't feel safe as a woman in that situation how do you even set a boundary Because, you know, here's the thing before you answer that. Here's the thing. When I was coming up, you know, call it in the 90s while I was getting into the restaurant scene. I don't know. I know times were different, but, you know, as a front of the house person.

the servers, you know, male, female, whatever, they're given back rubs at the, at the machine. Like they're like, there's all sorts of, of these things that go on behind, you know, just out of the eyesight of the guest and. There's people who are willing participants and then there's, you know, like it's never okay. But the reality is the females who try to say stop or put a boundary.

Everybody looked at them poorly, like they had a problem. And I think that is disgusting. Is that what you ran into? Yeah, I got to say I stomached a lot of it because...

I wanted to work in, you know, mission star restaurants and I wanted to work for chefs who would help me grow and would help me achieve things. So, yeah, I, I did. take a lot on or stomach a lot or just pass things off and just be in uncomfortable situations. You know, and it's terrible to say, but you sort of then start to do a measuring test of like, okay, well...

On a scale of unsafe and unease, where does this rate and how am I willing to be able to take it? You know, I worked in a Michelin star restaurant where...

17 men and I was the only female there and uh yeah there was many times when I was like wow this is not okay uh and I remember even having conversations once or twice with head chef and just being like you know this is happening and it's not okay and he was like you know you gotta either suck it up or you really can get out because there's plenty of people who would want to have the opportunity that you do and i just

You know, you sort of go, OK, well, that's how it's going to be. So, yeah, it's definitely it's not everywhere. Like I have also worked for some extraordinary chefs who are the most. you know, beautiful men to work for and have really taught me that, you know, there are both sides, like any industry, but yeah, if it's rough, it's really rough. Listen, there isn't any shortage of...

let's just say disgusting people, whether male or female, you know, and everybody has their different approaches or traits or, or whatever. In the end, if it's a, if the environment isn't healthy, you got to go. that there definitely is a sense of if you want to achieve in the industry as a female, you have to take a lot more and the journey is a lot harder. Is there a reward?

For doing all that extra work, does it feel better to have that accomplishment? There is no better job than the job of a chef. Because you literally are... creating magic every single day. You are putting joy, excitement, curiosity onto a plate for people to experience. And so being a chef is one of the most extraordinary jobs on the planet. There is nothing like it where you get to take ingredients and make magic.

It is so rewarding. And chefs, whether they run a fish and chip shop or run a Michelin star restaurant, it doesn't matter. You're creating joy. You're creating something that is providing. to people. And it's just, it's extraordinary. There's nothing like it. Was it because of the circumstances with some of these individuals that you were working with that you sold everything and you actually walked away from big roles?

No, not at all. It was curiosity. I love being a chef. I will be a chef till my dying day. Some of my greatest... positions or jobs. One of my absolute favorites was being a private chef. That was my absolute greatest role. I looked after a couple of male CEOs and Those were some of the greatest times of my life, cooking for these men, making them breakfast, lunch and dinner. And it was just, it was incredible. I sold everything.

Because of curiosity, because I wanted to see what else is out there in the world for me to experience. You went from kitchens to coaching. Give us what that looks like.

What's the core idea, the body or the tool? How do you handle doing this? Over the last 25 years of my life, I've done my own personal growth and my own personal journey in terms of... Just rediscovering myself, what makes me tick as a human being. And what I found is that throughout my life, I always did what I now call and what's actually a framework is.

the hero's journey so i would always depart from something knowing that there's i'm curious about something there's something else out there i would always then go through this initiation of life and do a course, do a master's course. And then I would always come back. I would always return to myself and be more knowledgeable and need more skills. And I put all of that into a framework. because I could see that one of my favorite courses that I did and was curious about was the Samurai.

And the more that I researched the samurai and realized I'd been practicing a lot of these tools over the 25 years, both in my shift career, in other careers that I had, I always did this. constantly searching for ways to ground myself find my inner voice etc and the samurai the structure of the way that they are was something that just sparked a light. And so I decided to put it into a course for men. I mean, you had me at Samurai. I mean, every man in their psyche somewhere.

They're going to embrace samurai. Okay. Just in general. Right. Especially if they're a little bit older and they grew up with like Kung Fu Sundays and stuff like that. I mean, you're just going to gravitate towards that. This question, I want to measure it up to me. So when you coach men, what do they most need to hear and what do they least want to hear? There's sort of three things that I always say to a new client. I always say you're not broken and you don't need to be fixed.

Because immediately men tend to think that if they go and do a course or they go and do some inner work, and it's not all, I'm saying something that I've spoken to, that there's a problem. And they need to fix this problem. And the second part is that if you do work on yourself and you go through moments of deep work.

And maybe in the moment you're emotional. It doesn't mean you're going to break apart in the kitchen or break apart in a meeting. It just means that in that moment you were vulnerable and that's where the deep work is. The third thing I say is I can handle it. I can handle everything that you bring to our station. And if I can't handle it...

I won't leave you at that point. I will help you find somebody who can and someone who then best fits your needs. So at any given point, you know that you don't need to be fixed. I'm not going to tell you what to do. You're not going to fall apart at the seams because you start to do some inner work and that I can handle it. Are you finding that it's easier?

to have these sessions with maybe, you know, younger men? I specifically focus on midlife men, so men who are 35 and up. And I really focus on, I mean, I wouldn't say the second half of your life because it's so young, but I really focus on 35 upwards. You know, I'm in that age group myself. And so the relatability is a lot obviously easier. I can't relate to a 15-year-old and what they're going through in this current time, but I can relate to and can under.

understand and support um you know a man who's 55 and gone through his whole life at the point where he's i've got everything i need financially i have a great career etc I'm just a little lost or I just don't know what I'm supposed to be doing anymore. So the Warriors course is very step by step. grounded in discipline, and the wisdom of the warriors' traditions. It's really broken down week by week into grounding techniques, toolkits.

So that when you walk away, every single session that you take, you have a skill that you can immediately implement. Is there a specific career with these men that you typically run into? Usually... The men that I've worked with are very senior men, men that have worked either extensively as executives, management directors, solo entrepreneurs.

Yeah, or honestly, just a man who's ready to grow and wants to learn something new about himself and just more discovery. It's really about when you're ready to do it.

that's when the work actually begins. And for me, with my course, there is an initiation. And if you don't pass the initiation, you can't do the one-on-one with me. An initiation? What would that look like? What is that? You know what? I'll tell you. For those that are listening, they can try it out. It's called a Shigong. And it's a form of meditation. And I take...

each client who is interested in doing the Warrior's Path, which is a 12-week course, on an initiation in the beginning. And if you pass the Qigong meditation, then I will accept you to do the course. And the reason that I do that is during this meditation, you actually experience in a short period of time. what you're going to go through during the course. So it might be uncomfortable. It might be frustrating. It might be exhilarating. You might hear things.

outside in the open etc that you haven't heard before you might be able to breathe and feel grounded for a moment that you haven't been able to do before so you go through all of these emotions in a very short period of time And when you come out of it, and some of my clients will tell you, I've taken CEOs into the middle of a park and told them to take their shoes and socks off.

in the middle of a path down a 30-minute Qigong, and they've come off and gone, wow. I've never thought that I would be able to do that. The frustration, the... noises of the birds, it was crazy. And then they would do the course and they would get so much value out of the course because they would be reminded of that.

short moments where they went to all of those things and they were ready to do this. I'm so torn on this issue because I'm fully aware and embrace that. The way things, a lot of the things that were done traditionally as men, you know, probably not the best, right? You know, when you're talking about holding things in or, you know. Not communicating with your spouse or your loved ones or whatever. I know that that's probably a little bit much. But I'm also a little old school where...

All right, I'm going to self-reflect. I have a buddy or two that I can bounce things off of, and maybe I'm going to figure it out. But I don't want to put it out there. You know, I don't want to share the, you know, I would never want to take my shoes and socks off like that. Honestly, I would never want to do that. And there's nothing wrong with me physically. I just, I don't know. That would be crazy for me. But I also recognize.

It would probably be ultra liberating. I can see that. Yeah. You know, I don't know. It's bizarre. It's bizarre for me. I think what I have found. is the conversations that I can have as a female with men is very different from a male coach to a male coach. It's a very different dynamic. And some of my clients who I've coached have said to me, you're non-threatening. So it's this form of like, here's a female and yes, you're...

You're making me do this meditation. Whether it's in my home or whether it's outside, there's a sense of trust in that moment. And even though I do feel silly while I'm doing it, you're also not pitying me. You're not giving me advice. You simply are taking me through. the path of a warrior and it's very important to go through this part it's very important to go through the dynamic of the hero's journey which starts like

Kids would do this initiation into from being a boy to being a man. They would do the departure, the there's something out there for me. I need to go and explore. And then they would go through the trials and tribulations. the initiation phase, and then they would return back to the village as a man, and having learned all of these tools and lessons, etc.

Yeah, for some men, you know, it is a case of this is a very new experience. And at the same time, all I am doing is giving you a toolkit. That's all. I'm taking you through week by week. I'm teaching you the exact code of the samurai warriors, the exact code that's been around for hundreds of years. And that's what I'm teaching you. And I'm inputting somatic work, grounding work, shadow work into that. So it's not this woo-woo, let's figure it out, get in touch with our emotions.

I'm giving you history and tools that you can then implement into your life. Chef Brett, you were shaking your head a few times during this dialogue. You grew up pretty rough New Jersey streets, and you've attained a position now over the years where you're running things. You're listening to Chef Janine. How do you see that? I can tell you're a manly man. We're all around the same age.

And I saw you shaking your head a lot, like in agreement. Talk to me. I mean, I'm a father. You know, I have two daughters. And I have a lot of females that work for me. And I always teach them that we're humans first. We should never have to work hard. We're exiting out the fact that we're human beings and we're making somebody work harder than us. And we're still equal. We're just two different genders. We should never put anybody through that.

And it's a passion that's driving him to be with you. So for me, I deal with my staff, you know, my pastry chef. I want her to be the best pastry chef. So I'm giving her every tool she needs. And I'm not, I'm not like holding her back from being the person that she didn't know she was because nobody gave her that opportunity. They just looked at her, oh, you're good at this, do that. And then they walked past him.

And then go to the next person and then focus on that person. So I'm never going to do that to them. And that happened to me as a male. You know, I've been in the industry 25 plus years. And because of my background, nobody thought I was good enough. That's what I felt because they never talked to me to tell me. So I felt I wasn't good enough to be taught to be a better chef. I didn't go to culinary school. I didn't have these dreams.

But then when one person that was a church chef, you know, a person that's full about God, he came to me and it was like, I'm going to give you every opportunity you need and you don't have to give it back. This is my duty to you. And then when I learned that from him is that was 2017 is 16 years after I started, somebody told me that, you know, and so to see women go through that and be raised by my mother.

I would just hate that my daughters went through that at work knowing how much they put through something and how much they care and then have to come home and then live in those moments of all of that through the day. Yeah, as a father, it bothers me a lot to hear it. You know, and as a chef, I think you're not a chef. Anybody can cook, you know, but not anybody can lead people.

And my mentor said, we're all followers until we're capable of leading. Just because you know how to cook well doesn't make you a leader. It's you hit the nail on the head because I've had some extremely beautiful chefs who have helped me become, you know, the pastry chef and the chef that I am today. Like they just really. just exactly what you said, helped me to figure out that I am actually a good chef. I can cook. You know, I have the ability. And even if I made the same mistake five times,

that on the sixth time I would get it right. So people to know that there are incredible chefs like yourself out there that are willing to do the work. And they are also the horrible ones. What I did know about the horrible ones doing this work is that the majority of the time they are just so burnt out and exhausted and underpaid and stressed.

that they really are on a last nerve themselves. Brett, you had a rough upbringing. Yeah. And Janine, you know, I'm speaking to Brett. But I want you listening to this because I feel like there's a tremendous story in it. You have a man who, and I'm not going to tell your story. You could tell your story. Troubled youth. Didn't look good. And then all of a sudden, he found the kitchen. Going from, you know, the gang life to Bib Gourmand Michelin.

What kind of journey is that? It's been a scary journey for me because it's been lonely. I've been doing this with so many different chefs for so long that I thought that... If I put in the work for them to be successful, then they would see that drive in me and in turn invest some of their time in me to make me.

be successful especially you know working with chefs that invite us to family functions and our kids are playing and you know a year later i realized i'm just a robot with a battery in his back and as long as they can keep that battery charged then I'm going to do great for them and never for myself and my family. And, you know, I just couldn't be a father to, you know, three kids and not showing them that, you know, even when we're knocked down, that we stay.

on that right path we're gonna get to something and if it's what we're like rooting for and trying to get to and we get there then we're gonna be prepared for whatever happens when we get there. It could be a great situation or a bad, but either way, we're going to be prepared when we reach that goal. So for me, it was like break away from everybody.

You know, it sucks because I had to leave my family, you know, and go and be something somewhere else and then come back and have to leave again because, you know, the city didn't believe in me. And so it's been a rough journey, you know, and it's the journey that I won't give up on. And I have a 29-year-old son that's watching me, so giving up would be...

you know, a failure as a parent, like not even as a chef, it'd be a failure as a parent. So I think of that and that keeps me grounded as a chef, like knowing that people are dependent on me. give them great food, and people are dependent on me at the same time to give them positive reinforcement and growth, whether it be my staff or my family. Janine, I feel like...

You would have something really interesting to say to this. I'm sitting here deciding whether for the first time I actually share with... with you and with the people outside of those that I chose to share this with about my history.

And Shepret, you've sort of given me the courage to share this because I've never shared this in 25 years. But I know of... struggle as well I don't know of your struggle and that sort of thing but I know struggle really deep down and I know how food and cooking and those memories of being in my grandmother's kitchen, being in my mom's kitchen, making cakes, my dad wandering in with a teaspoon and just going, mmm, tasting the food and then rushing out.

Yeah, I know that. So I'm going to share it, I think. I think if you guys are okay for me to share a little bit of history. Of course. Okay. Gosh, I'm nervous. Okay, so my family was murdered 25 years ago. And... And I went from having the most extraordinary childhood that anyone could ever ask for as a kid to having nothing. Nothing. Beyond zero. And then having, after that, just an onslaught of constant people trying to take advantage of me.

Whether it was family, whether it was people trying to deal with my parents' estate, I was constantly being taken advantage of. And I put myself through chef school because that was the very last thing that my mother and I had done together. We had a role involved in chef school. And I put myself through that just to be able to. to do this one final thing that we had done together. And this is the first time I experienced being harassed in a kitchen. I was working in a five-star hotel.

kept on being harassed by one of the executive chefs. He would follow me into the freezer all the time. And when you're 16, 17 years old, And you've just lost everything in your entire life. And you're so broken. And you're just trying to survive minute to minute. Having all these... constant ambushes every day, all day was brutal. And the struggle was really real. And many chefs will tell you stories of how cooking saves them.

I can honestly say that cooking saved me. It gave me those memories that kept them alive all of these years. And I think that's why, to this day, being a private chef is one of my... my favorite jobs in the whole world. And I would do it all day, every day, because it brings me back to those moments of family and joy. I appreciate you.

being so open and honest with your story you know and as you're saying it i'm looking at you like i you know through the lens of a like i have a 10 year old daughter and i just the idea The idea that if my wife and I weren't here and then this little girl is out there, I mean, I am angry right now listening, like thinking about this.

People need to understand. People have to understand that there's good in the world and there's evil in the world. And you have to choose a side. It isn't something that, there isn't a gray area. You have to pick a side. No. And people who are, people who are opportunistic. are disgusting. And they're out there. But you know, Carl, the thing I've got to say is that I made a choice from that very second it happened.

And I make this choice every single day that I choose to be kind. And I choose to be the sensitive girl that I was even back then at 16 years old. I have chosen kindness and love and self-respect every single day for the last 25 years. And this course that I created is... 25 years of absolute personal slug work and to be able to be the person that I am today and to be able to, you know,

survive in a world that is quite cruel to sensitive people. And as chefs, we are sensitive. We put our hearts on our sleeves every single day. And so... It's not just a course of, oh, cool, yeah, let's see if you can do this. It's built from not only my own personal journey and struggles, but just my constant obsession. with surviving not only what I went through, but wanting to be a good person. You're tough. At least, you know.

I'm not even going to say on the outside. You have to go through all of that to work in the food industry. You did, you know, car sales, exotic car sales. Like you've done a lot of different things. You've had your own businesses. You're a tough woman, but everybody inside... I mean, there's three men here sitting at this table and every one of us had watery eyes as you're telling your story. And it's the truth. And I liken it to the fact that...

You know, I know that chef is thinking of his kids. I was thinking of my kids and I'm just like, how do you, you know, and here you are and here he is both of, you know, both of you chefs, you know, had this, this, um, you know, uh,

Just call them struggles. You know, they're worse than just calling them struggles. But let's just say you went through your challenges and you're both winning. Like you've achieved something. And a lot of people don't actually get to experience that. You almost want to protect everyone else from what you went through. You want to be able to... put people in bubble wrap and just know that the horrificness that you've had to experience and the loneliness and the...

And people always ask me, why only men? Why do you do this for men? And I'll tell you, I relate to men on the basis of my pain, my struggle, my... or everything that I went through, I had to do it by myself. I had to do it all by myself, and I kept it in, and, you know, I would say to somebody, I'm having a really hard day.

And they'd be like, oh, but you're so strong. You're so tough. You're so et cetera. And I just would be like, oh, okay. So I'm not allowed to have a bad day. I'm not allowed to have. moment of confusion or weakness or not knowing really where I'm going and and so I just started to keep all inside because I was so sick and tired of people telling me how

how strong I was and how brave I was. And look what you've gone through. I just, and so I struggled a lot. It was a very lonely journey and a very lonely path. So I gathered all of these tools along the way. kept obsessively finding new things that somebody told me to go and go to the Himalayan mountains and talk to. you know, whoever on the side, I would. And I did. I did some crazy stuff to be able to learn the things that I've learned along the way. Look, Janine, you can sit there.

And you could say, you know, I was tired of hearing people say how tough I am. And the truth is, when you're in leadership, you don't have anybody to go to. You might have one or two people that you can confide in. The truth is you have to absorb all of that. I know I've been in that position when you have 10, 15, 20 people more than that who look up to you and you have to, you have to provide.

whatever leadership and guidance and, and shield them from the other side of things that they don't know about in that business or whatever, that situation, it's daunting. And who do you go to? You know, really, who do you go to? So you, you dealt with that. So I don't know, you know, you definitely, you look, man. This is that point that you exactly said at an executive level. One CEO that I spoke to, he said to me, at the level that I'm at, I have...

200 staff underneath me, at no point can I offload about certain things. Not to my staff, not to my senior management, not necessarily even to my wife. We interact with everyone's wives. And if she says something accidentally, you know. So I actually created a session, a single session. It's called the offload session where I have this.

confidential offloading session with CEOs where they will come on, we have an hour and they just talk about everything that they need to offload. They basically are talking to themselves out loud. And we do something called EFT tapping, which taps on all your meridian points or your pressure points whilst you're offloading this information.

And what that does is it helps you lower your cortisol. It helps you lower those pressure points and really helps you to just digest the information out loud to a sounding board. that has absolutely zero effect connotations. All you do is just relaying the information out loud. And some of the guys who have done it with me have really said, you know what, just the fact that there's...

A sounding board letting me offload this information, letting me work through all of these things out loud has been monumental in some of their decision making. That's a big step for somebody like me. That's a huge step. And it isn't that I'm the biggest executive or whatnot. I couldn't hold a candle to some of the people that you speak to. But nevertheless...

I mean, that's not an easy thing for a man to do, to open like that and do it. And, you know, when you have to hold, when you hold information that other people shouldn't have. whether it's your spouse or people in your, you know, in your company. I don't know. I die with that information. There's stuff I, I carry stuff around today that I've had in me for 20 years.

That I wouldn't, I still wouldn't share it. I'd die with it. I don't know. I think it's tremendous what you're saying. I think it's, I really, it's definitely needed. It's definitely needed.

I want to hear something from you. In light of what you shared, what propelled you to get into bodybuilding and even bikini fitness? I think that is a testament. to how tough you are because who the hell would do that confidence wise like you're you're a you're a machine in a good way i mean that like in the in the best way possible Okay, so I'll tell you. There's two very frank points about it. Number one was I honestly just needed to lift some heavy shit. I needed to do that. I needed to lift.

heavy stuff, and I needed to get all of this pent-up energy. Sometimes it was rage. Sometimes it was just all of the emotions that I felt, they needed to go somewhere. And I tried obviously a lot of things and, you know, therapy and all that sort of stuff. But honestly, sometimes you just need to go and lift some heavy shit.

I didn't understand that until I started doing it. And I just, I was naturally strong for some reason because I did sports my whole life. But when I got into the gym and I left... everything on that gym floor every single session. Not only did I start to feel better, but the confidence that I have never had, I started to gain it back. because there was no noise in my head all the time because I was leaving it on the gym floor.

That was the one thing I started. The second reason why was because I wanted to be able to go into any store, whether it was $5 or $5,000, put on a dress. and feel beautiful. And to this day, that is still my number one reason as to why I go to the gym, why I look after myself, why I look after my mental health is because I want to be able to

look in the mirror, put on a dress, and feel amazing for myself, for no one else, just me. I think that was the best answer that I've ever heard for anything ever.

I don't know of a better answer to any of that. I have to say, though. Thank you. You're choosing. If you're looking for... the douchiest of douchey people. Like you're going to all the best places for that. I don't know. But it's the truth. Seriously, I've got to just share the story with you because people don't, people will look at me and they will be like, oh, yeah, you know, you've been pretty all your life. What do you know? And I think, you know, it's so funny because.

I didn't wear a pair of shorts up until I was 30 years old. So 12 years ago was the first time I wore a pair of shorts because I was so self-conscious and I was so... So I was sitting in my car in the parking lot. I'll never forget this day. And I decided I was going to wear a crop top. I never wore a crop top. in my life and I thought you know it's shit today's the day and I have never been overweight it's all in my head but I thought today's the day I got out my car locked the car walked maybe

250 meters, went back to my car, got back in my car and locked the door. And I thought, I thought, okay, all right, guys, because I had this thing in my head where if I didn't have a six pack, I had no right. wearing a crop top. That was my thought pattern. So again, I was like, you know what you mean? This is stupid. Get out of this car. Got out the car.

Walked to the elevator, was like, absolutely no way. Went back to my car. I must have done this two or three times. And then eventually I was like, this is ridiculous. got out, went upstairs, went to train in a crop top for the first time. Two people complimented me and I looked at them as if they had just spoken like a new language to me.

And then the next day, I tried it with shorts. And I started to do that every single day so that I could build confidence in myself, build social awareness around the fact that I was wearing crop tops and shorts. And that's how I started the career. Then I did my first show. And I remember thinking, what am I about to do?

I just started wearing shorts and then a crop top, and now I'm on stage in front of hundreds of people in a bikini. I must be going, this is it. This is my final days. I've lost the plot. And then I carried on and I won the USA Championships and I went to the World and I did the UK and then I got offered... magazine covers and I was on the cover of Playboy at 38 and you know it's been all the while being a pastry chef I'll add okay wait a minute

So I had notes. Obviously, I have a whole list of all the questions are out the window. We've gone off the rails, but in the best way possible. You are full of confidence now. Yes. It's incredible. I mean, I feel like I sincerely like I feel and I'm going to talk for these two guys here. The feeling is we just experienced your story. From.

from tragedy to, to blossom. And it's really beautiful. Like really that I am congratulating. I, from my heart, congratulations to you because not everybody gets to.

finds the finish line. And not that you're at the finish line, but you're on path to that. And that's amazing. It really is amazing. There is something that Olympic athletes... And it's a saying that I've heard over and over and over again. And this is what I would say to every single person listening, is that you have to learn to embrace the suck. So those moments that are really difficult, those moments that challenge you past your breaking point, you have to lean in. Don't lean out.

Just lean in. Just be like, okay, we're in a storm. Amazing. Let's go. And you just have to lean in and you have to embrace the suckiness of that situation. Because as soon as you lean in, then you lean into yourself. Then you lean into your strengths. And you lean into the things that you don't know that you already have inside you. And you figure out stuff about yourself that you didn't even know were possible. That's a mic drop right there.

Janine, honestly, this is episode, I think, 174 for us. And I am... I don't even know what to say to you right now. And I don't mean that, like, there's nothing, like, not in a bad way. Like, I genuinely appreciate your openness on this program. And I speak for the gang here. I mean, we had watery eyes 10 minutes ago. Like, this is the truth. I know here I am sharing that to a whole audience too. Look at that. Janine, look what you did. Look what you did to me here in 45 minutes.

I'm crying on my podcast. I'm going to take off my shoes and socks. I'm going to walk outside. That's what I'm doing. I am going to do that.

We're going in the backyard. We're going to go do it now. Oh, Lord. Brett, what I think is really interesting about Palm Beach Meats is that you're the only Kobe certified organization in the States. You and your team decided that you're not going, you know, just meat. You're doing fillies and you're doing wontons and you're doing all this with the baddest meat on the planet.

How come? Because it already has a stigma that only rich people can eat it. And food isn't just for rich people. Culture is food. Food is culture. So I think if we make it able for everybody to eat it, then. We can eliminate that thought that, well, I'm not a millionaire. I can't sit and have a stake that people sell for $1,000 a stake, which could be outrageous because it shouldn't be sold like that. But, you know.

This is what it is and why we chose to choose the educational path of selling Wagyu to everybody versus just having a fancy restaurant that strictly sells Wagyu. A normal family can't walk in. to a regular Wagyu restaurant and have dinner. But they can walk in Palm Beach Meats and have a Frito pie with Frito chips and Wagyu chili for $10.

And then they can understand and taste it. And now they can relate to it and then go back to a friend or a family member and say, well, I had Wagyu and I didn't pay. 30 40 an ounce i actually got a full eight ounce burger for 20 and so for us it's more of educational because everybody's been lied to but you're also selling the meat from the store yep

So the truth is, truth is, yeah, you're giving it away a little bit on the low-key dollars, but you're bringing it back. They're buying... They're buying steaks. Yeah. In the case, yeah, we... Have everything from. Very smart. Zabutan, which is a Denver state cut, which would be like that meat is called Zabutan. So we, we sell that in the case we sell.

A filet mignon from Australia will sell a four or five, which is probably your lowest Marlin score in Australia. But it can go all the way to nine plus. We got whole briskets that we sell to people and they actually come in and buy the whole brisket. and then they go home and smoke it, or they'll buy whole pecanias and take back whole tomahawk racks. You know, like, we have them. We dry-age things. I have 71-day-old ribeye.

Bone in. Nobody's important bone in Japanese. We do everything that people don't do. Is that overkill? Hold on. Let me preface something. I am all about the wagyu. I am all about the dry aging. But is that too much? Is it too much to do both? No. That's what we thought at first until we started diving into it. We're aging Wagyu inside of its own tallow.

like making whole pots of tallow, dropping the Wagyu in it, put it in inside of the age of 40 days. And so from that, like me, I just, how do I create off of the pellicle? All right. So 71 days made sense for us because I need that funk. That funk is going to create a perfect oil for me to make popcorn. So I'm looking at certain things of the future. Of what it can be versus what it is today. Yeah, but that's got to be, that has to be ultra, ultra dollars.

Big money on that. Anything dry. If you took uppers and dry-aged uppers, it's going to be hella expensive anyway. Yeah, so the tomahawk, the steak's like $300 a steak when it's dry-aged. But... If you're a meat connoisseur and this is what you like, you know, one shot, one time, you know, it's like I wouldn't say I'm going to go out, you know, and buy a $300 steak. That's why I would.

The concept of us making everything so approachable to the average family is so important for us. I think what you're doing, what you just outlined is brilliant. And congratulations, too. Janine, do you hear this? I mean, how are you? You have your culinary chops. What are you thinking about this? All I know is that I want to book a flight and come have one of those immediately.

You're more than welcome, Chef. It's so good. I'm like jogging on Miss St. Dobbs with this conversation, okay? I mean, that's what we're, the main aim. is is to do that and i love getting little uh dms and texts about oh man you're blowing my diet man stop what you're doing i love that i love it a lot

Janine, what is up next for you? I know that you're on such a beautiful path for your life. Where are you headed to now? What's next? Quite a few things. really want to get into so today's conversation is probably one of the biggest fears that I've had in talking, in doing motivational talks, and in just sharing my story. And it's really a space that I want to get into. It's really a space that I...

I've been thinking about for, I could say, a decade. And I've done talks here and there in South Africa, but it's really a space that I'm super passionate about in doing corporate talks and in doing motivational talks. whilst weaving in some tools from the samurai. It's a real big space that I would love to get into. Secondly, I'm doing my course, which is available either...

You can go on the website. It's a remote course. You do it with me one-on-one. And there are other small sessions that you can do on there. And I just... started the research and development phase of a project that I'm working on within the hospitality space. I don't want to say too much because I'm still in the beginning phase of it, but it really is something that I'm very excited about with regards to the hospitality industry.

So if anyone is of your team or anyone that you know is listening, that can help me within the hospitality space, either being... in the hotel industry, operational, that sort of space is really where I'm just currently asking questions, learning, getting research for this project that I'm building. I'm sure that we have personnel that we can connect you with. You know, another thing that we could do, Janine, is to bring you into our trade show space.

you know, speaking and whatnot. We're very connected on the business to business side of things. So I think there's a lot to do. Listen, guys, let me just say something. You both are two spectacular people. And I sincerely appreciate both of you being on this program today and the capacities that you were. Thank you. You're very welcome. Ginny and your chef, you are amazing. Both of you chefs. All right.

Thank you. You're very welcome. Brett, how do we find you on the socials? My social is Ross BJ, the chef. Janine, how do we find you? JaninePizarro.com Spell the last name. The whole thing is J-A-N-I-N-E-P-E-Z-A-R-R-O dot com. Beautiful. John, as always. You're doing mad things with the camera. You guys, great episode. Love you all. We are out.

Let me tell you about my friends over at Citrus America and their amazing juicing equipment. They're revolutionizing the way you enjoy freshly squeezed juice. They're at the best hotels, restaurants, and markets. Their mission is simple. develop a unique consumer experience with on-premise juicing, deliver healthy taste options to clientele, and juice more faster. It's that easy. Citrus America supplies the highest quality juicing equipment and solutions in the industry.

So whether you're a small business owner or a large corporation, Citrus America has the right juicing equipment for you. Find out more at citrusamerica.com. Elevate your dining experience with Rack Porcelain USA. As the exclusive tableware brand for the Walk & Talk podcast, Rack combines exceptional craftsmanship with innovative design. Whether you're a chef, a restaurant owner, or a food enthusiast,

Rack's high-quality porcelain products will enhance every meal. Discover the artistry of food presentation and make every dining occasion special. Visit rackporcelain.com today and see how Rack can transform your table.