Andre is currently the private chef for Norman Powell (NBA Portland Trail Blazers professional basketball player). He was born in Colombia, South America where he got to experience the very best of farm to table eating. He moved to the United States at the age of sixteen where he started his career in the culinary business. At age 25 he got his first Executive Chef title at "Brix wine and tapas" restaurant in Huntsville, AL. While working in California he got to cook for multiple celebrities and NBA players. In Oregon he worked for Bon Appetit as Executive Chef of Intel Corporation and Executive Chef of Willamette University where he was in charge of feeding thousands of people daily. With this great responsibility, for the health and well being of our community as well as the sustainability of our local food business Andre created a model of commitment to buying local foods and supporting local farms and ranchers as his main philosophy of life.
He has been a public speaker and panelist at conferences such as GoGreen Portland 2015, Putting Down Roots 2017, Mid-Valley Food Summit 2018, Washington-Oregon Higher Education Sustainability Conference 2019, among others. He speaks about the importance of local farms, healthy eating habits, organic practices, the political impact of spending our money in the local economy and the growing power of local buyers investing in small family farms and producers who are deeply connected to the land and what they do.