About Michelle Lee and The Michelle Lee Legacy Scholarship

Michelle Soojee Lee was a quiet force on the Austin culinary scene. Originally from Seoul, South Korea, Michelle moved around the US landing in Austin after attending a year at NYU art school. She began working in Operations at Central Market on South Lamar and quickly fell into the role of a Foodie. Michelle wrote and orchestrated hundreds of recipes and food events, taught countless customers and friends about the joys of cooking, and always found new and exciting ways to connect with her customers and peers through food.  Michelle wasn't afraid of the hustle outside of her daily job, and was a personal chef and caterer, pastry chef, and entrepreneur working on bottling her own Korean hot sauce, and was always willing to lend a hand where needed with Les Dames d' Escoffier Austin Chapter. She was led by her huge heart and selfless nature, using her culinary talents to organize and donate to fundraisers for basic human rights, female empowerment, Black Lives Matter, and Austin Pets Alive, to name a few.  

The Michelle Lee Legacy scholarship is for the female candidate in the culinary/hospitality/grocery industry who is guided by the greater good and isn't afraid to hustle. She is an under-represented BIPOC culinarian or an advocate of the greater advancement of equality and human rights. 

My passion for food began in my godmother's restaurant, Delmonico's, in New Orleans. Since then, I have surpassed hurdles such as Hurricane Katrina as part of my journey. Graduating with a degree in political science, I did not feel fulfilled quickly realizing cooking is what I was called to do. I started a clean slate when moving to Austin, while working at James Beard nominated La Condesa I attended ACC culinary school on full ride scholarship with US Foods and the Tavel Bristol-Joseph Scholarship. Under Chef Tavel's mentorship, I got to intern at his James Beard nominated restaurant, Canje. In between working and going to school, the pandemic had different plans, where I began cooking as a private chef for high profile clients. I started creating my own charities where I would cook and donate all of the money to organizations such as Austin Justice Coalition, The Lilith Fund, and to victims of Hurricane Laura in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Since then, I have food-styled, shot commercials using my food, have done pop-ups, written recipes for a major food blog (The Kitchn), have created food videos for Tastemade, and have written an online cookbook.

My intermediate goal is to create pop-ups that showcase a subculture of food that is not spoken of outside of Louisiana. I aim to bring the fusion of New Orleans and Honduran food to Austin. I want my intermediate goal to eventually scale into my long-term goal and open a brick and mortar that would detail every missing part I may have within my pop-ups. I would like to start sharing with Austin, for example, the art of how every part of a po-boy is created and outsourced to get that perfect bite. French bread is the most crucial part of a po-boy but due to the altitude difference between New Orleans and Austin, baking French bread has been a problem that I have been obsessed with solving. All of this to say, this scholarship would allow me to go in depth and further study bread classes in France. I’d like to attend a 4-day French bread baking course in Lot- et-Garonne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine that would help me on this journey. My other goal is to visit author Michael Twitty and Chef Amethyst Ganaway (former Dame of the Charleston Chapter) to study more in depth roots of southern cooking. Both Twitty and Ganaway, are culinarian historians that would educate me more on the food I am wanting to share. To tie all food cultures together, I’d like to study Honduran cooking with locals and my family back athome but would further search a class that can teach me Honduran basics cooking. My aunt living in Honduras has been a culinary inspiration. With this scholarship it would allow me to connect with her to truly gain the knowledge I would need to further my career.

I attended Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, California, so I could stay closer to my mom and earned my Associate’s Degree in Culinary Arts at 19 years old. While I originally intended to follow a more savory path, my interest in precision and plating sent me toward a more pastry-driven route.

Following Le Cordon Bleu, I worked at a number of reputable eateries across California including A.O.C under Susan Goin, Michelin-starred restaurants Michael Mina, Masas, Campton Place, and opened Quince & Cotogna. In 2012, my husband and I made the move to Austin to plant our roots. I first started as the assistant pastry chef at Congress and Second Bar + Kitchen under Erica Waksmunski and then helped reopen Jeffreys. Exactly 1year later, I was honored to come back home as the Executive Pastry Chef for award-winning Executive Chef David Bull back at Congress and SBK. I then was given the opportunity to become the Executive Pastry Chef at the Archer Hotel. During my time working for La Corsha, I helped open properties with them such as ABIA Second Bar + Kitchen and Stage Coach Inn. During the pandemic, I was furloughed as many were in the industry. However, I was blessed to find my dream job where I currently reside in Austin as a Pastry Chef Instructor for Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, proudly teaching the next and upcoming generation of Pastry Chefs.

My long-term goal is to get my American Culinary Federation certification as an Executive Pastry Chef. With this scholarship, I would promise to invest it into my student’s education (and mine) by getting more modern tools and, if possible, getting my certification from ACF.