Why [me]: Claudia's Story

A young girl from Peru fell in love with the restaurant world as a teenager. Over ten years later, she had taken on every role from hostess to manager to director of catering. How did Claudia Smith go from seasoned restaurant pro to our skilled vendor outreach representative? How did bumping into a pizza place at a job fair turn into a 10+ year culinary career? And what’s the story behind her winning a Motorola flip phone in Kindergarten? Keep reading to find out.

Claudia was born in Miraflores, Peru. She recalls having a huge family, some 25 to 30 cousins, and lots of aunts and uncles. When she was six, her mother and two brothers moved to the US in pursuit of a better life. “My mother came to the US and basically sacrificed her career and gave up everything she had in Peru.” They first moved to Boston, where her mother started working, and then relocated to South Carolina after she met Claudia's stepfather. It was in South Carolina, at a hibachi restaurant, that Claudia first fell in love with restaurants. 

At 16, Claudia worked as a cashier at Miyami Japanese Steakhouse in Florence, South Carolina. “I’d be there until like 12 am,” she recalled. Despite long nights and late hours, a few things made it all worth it. One of those things was family dinner. “I remember the chefs would cook up family dinner like every night. The hibachi chefs would all cook on the teppan yaki for us when the doors closed. They would put on a show for the staff, and it never got old! Everyone would sit around chatting about how the shift went.” What started as a gig to make some extra money had quickly become a community. 

One day, about a year into working there, Claudia’s stepbrother asked if she’d join him at a local job fair. He was interested in a pizza place called Mellow Mushroom that was hiring. “I was waiting there for four hours with him while he went through the interview process and I was like, 'Hey, why not apply?’ So I applied for a job at Mellow Mushroom and got it on the spot.” 

Claudia began as a hostess and went on to work at Mellow Mushroom for 11 years. “I was eager to learn. I was hungry. I definitely wanted to work hard. I think I learned that from my mom, honestly, because she's always been a hard worker. And so, I moved up to server, to bartender, to manager, and eventually I was director of catering. So everything I've learned has been from Mellow Mushroom. I kind of grew up there.” 

When Claudia was still a server, she met a corporate trainer for Mellow Mushroom named Justin. The two would eventually get married, and both snagged jobs as managers at the Mellow Mushroom in Chantilly, Virginia. At this point, Claudia had been in the restaurant industry for years and knew most of the ins and outs, including building relationships with the regulars.

One of those regulars was Patrick Brooks, who worked for MarginEdge. “He was talking to me about MarginEdge and I was like, ‘Sign me up. This company sounds amazing.’ The culture sounds amazing. The people sound great. The job itself sounds amazing,” she shared.

So, she applied for a client services position and was offered the job. “Then, I waited two years. I was working part-time in client services. I waited two years to basically have a perfect opportunity to go full-time because I loved it. So eventually, I interviewed for a vendor enrollment position. And now, I use the customer service skills I gained from being a hostess, a server, a bartender and a manager, to help vendors.” She also appreciates how many [me] features she now works with that would have been helpful during her time in restaurants. Her husband soon followed suit and joined MarginEdge on the sales team. 

When asked about her favorite thing about working in vendor enrollment, she had a few. “We’re a small but mighty team. I like being able to streamline vendor payments. It helps get them paid quicker. I love the culture as well. That’s the most important thing.” 

In her free time, Claudia loves spending time with her three dogs, Jar Jar Binks, Chewbarka and R2-D2 (can you tell they’re Star Wars fans?). If you’re lucky, you might catch one of her dogs at a [me] happy hour.

She also loves being creative. Party planning, photography and painting are just a few of her hobbies. In fact, she’s been an artist for a long time. When she was five, still living in Peru, she drew her dad as Elvis for a Father’s Day contest and won one of the first Motorola flip phones, not that we're jealous (okay, maybe a little). 

Claudia had no idea that a job fair with her brother would kick off a decade-plus-long culinary career, work her way up through impressive positions, meet her husband and then find her place at [me]. But life is a lot like cooking, often what you didn’t plan is far better than anything you could have.

An artist, a culinary expert and our skilled Vendor Services representative, Claudia makes what took a lot of hard work and patience look as easy as (pizza) pie. We’re so excited that she chose [me] as the next stop on her journey.