Private Chef
Skyler Dees has always loved cooking. He started helping in the kitchen when he was just two years old. At age three, he nearly burned the house down trying to recreate some baked apples his Grandma had made. Skyler survived the mishap, continued cooking and realized as he got older that it was his passion. Recognizing he also had a gift for it, he decided to pursue it professionally.
In 2014, Skyler took part in the culinary training program at A Safe Haven, a North Lawndale nonprofit. He did well enough to get a job at the organization and worked there for two years, starting out as a cook and working his way up to kitchen manager.
In September 2016, Skyler became an instructor at Inspiration Kitchens, an East Garfield Park nonprofit that teaches culinary skills to the under-employed and under-resourced in order to help them get jobs. Around the same time, he was taking classes at North Lawndale's New Covenant Community Development Corporation's entrepreneurship center.
Skyler would eventually leverage the skills he gained during those years to strike out on his own. In September 2016, he quit his job to start his own catering company and hasn't looked back.
Skyler joined Moxe in 2018 for business coaching and assistance in business plan development. Skyler wants to create something "that's impactful for the community, a place where kids can walk in, can feel good about being there, and can have the chance to see a black business owner making it." He uses his culinary skills to draw people together around the table partly because he wants to encourage people to look inside their community "and see the assets ... to see Black women, men and youth as assets."
For information about his private chef/catering services, see www.skylerdees.com or contact: skyler@skylerdees.com | 773-340-1619 
