Isis Prieto

Representing the United States at WorldSkills in Cooking

WorldSkills competitor Isis Prieto says the upcoming 2022 Cooking competition will allow her to “visit a new place, meet new people, learn about new cultures, eat new food and just simply experience everything that is new.” Prieto represented the state of Florida at the SkillsUSA Championships and won a national gold medal in Culinary Arts in 2018. She trained at Sheridan Technical College in Hollywood, Fla., and she is a few steps away from completing a bachelor’s degree at The Culinary Institute of America in New York while training with her expert, Greg Beachey and with the support of her employers at Blackberry Mountain and the J.C. Holdway Restaurant in Knoxville Tenn.

Prieto has a future career goal of cooking all around the world. “I want to learn the many ways in which people enjoy flavors and textures,” she says. “I enjoy the amount of focus required to create outstanding food, and I realize the importance of giving 100% to anything I do.”

Prieto’s advice to other’s wanting to learn her skill is to be passionate. She says, “Food service is a hard industry, both physically and mentally. If your love for food rules a major part of your life, then you will not regret one second of working for it.”