Diona Green was in the customer service field for 15 years when she suddenly became unemployed, but with the help of CareerSource Northeast Florida (CareerSource NEFL), she was sent on the path to transition to become an entrepreneur in the work she really loved: cooking.
When she lost her job, Green reached out to the CareerSource NEFL Career Center on Beach Boulevard to help her get on the right path toward employment. CareerSource NEFL Workforce Services Representative Marina Hirshfield was assigned to work with her.
“While I had been working in customer service, I had been cooking forever, so I was looking to shift my career to my passion,” she said. “Even before I came to CareerSource, I was borderline on how to move forward…do I look for a cook position for my main career, or do I stay in customer service? When I met Marina, one of her very first questions was, ‘what do you WANT to do?’ At that moment, I shared my dream of cooking as a career. Marina said, “if that’s what you want, my job is to help you do that.”
Green shared that she had been trying to get a side catering business off the ground for many years while she worked in customer service.
“In 2005, me and my sister tried, and it just failed, and I wondered if I was cut out for it, but all I wanted to do was make people happy through food,” she said. “But Marina just started writing down everything, and we made a list of goals to jump-start that process for me. She connected me with some referrals she had from people who did the same thing that I did in the food industry, so I had some what I would call ‘homework assignments’ to do.”
Green says it took time, and she got discouraged at times, but Hirshfield continued to share connections with people who might help her.
Green finally connected with a temporary hospitality staffing agency, where she interviewed and filled out the required paperwork.
“They saw what I could do, rather than my recorded experience, they put in for me to go to Mayo Clinic, which was huge,” she said
While at Mayo, Green was assigned to the executive chef and ended up there permanently cooking for patients in their room.
“I learned so much…they were able to show me the technical side of things, and also the state’s rules and regulations when it comes to cooking for the public. I learned so much.”
In 2019, Green launched her new catering business: Djaiscatering (Djais, a combination of her name and that of her daughter, Jaiona). Djaiscatering specializes in private events, private chefs, birthday parties, family reunions, and other special events.
Green says she wouldn’t have achieved her dream without her experience at CareerSource NEFL.
“CareerSource was a very great source of motivation,” Green said. “Marina wasn’t in the kitchen with me, but she was important in that she pushed and motivated me to be great and do what I was passionate about. Marina’s voice sticks in my head when I say, ‘I can’t do that,’ she says, ‘yes, you can do that.’”
Green wants people to know that when it comes to CareerSource NEFL, they can really believe in the name.
“CareerSource is a huge source for your career and can help you find the job that you choose to do and not just settle for any job,” she said.