Staff Profile: Shaunna Miller – Kitchen Supervisor, YC Café

How long have you worked at the Young Centre and tell us a little bit about what your job consists of lately.

I started at the Young Centre February of 2014 as a part time evening cook, by Jan 2015 I was the full time day cook and that summer I began managing the café. Bit of a Cinderella story feel J. My job consist of leading an amazing team of people! My pride and joy is our menu/ lunch specials: I’m a firm believer in the power of comfort food, so I love to reinvent the classics with inspiration from different cultural cuisines, and covering it in cheese! Also spreading the gospel  that is  our dark  roast.

What kinds of projects are you been involved in outside of work?

I guess you could say my passion project in regards to culinary arts is making dinner, my boyfriend is my test market! There  I can make things a  lot spicier than at  the café 😉

When you’re not at work, what are you doing?

I’m huge into the Toronto music scene, I love  live music so I try and see tons of local talent (shout out Toronto band suggestion: The Auras)

On the flipside I love staying in and watching movies/documentaries. My fave genre is horror.  Fave horror movie suggestion: Funny Games.

What is something we would be surprised to know about you?

I’ve been an avid doodler since  I  was a small girl so I always have paper and pens in my purse if the urge strikes, over the past few years I’ve experimented with  different mediums like acrylic paint and have gotten pretty comfortable. My recent arts hobby is something I like to  call an “art remix” I find vintage landscape paintings at garage sales or second-hand stores and paint something weird into the scene.  The most recent one  was an alien invasion  I painted into a farm landscape.

 What do you love about working at Young Centre?

Being in a service oriented department of the Young Centre, I interact with all sorts of people every day. This environment makes for  such an interesting array of people and  I  truly love it. A creative vibe hangs in the air here, it really feels like a space for people to be as imaginative as possible, I thrive on that energy.