Behind the scenes at Culinary Concepts AB there are lots of people, professionals, and small businesses helping make big things happen. Way more than most of our friends, followers, and supporters may know, yet all of them play a vital role in our shared successes and all of them deserve our professional spotlight.
From digital designers and visual artists to content creators and marketing strategies to professional chefs and educators, we are blessed to have a strong “supporting cast” that make up our bigger tribe and help to ensure we best serve our students, small businesses, and local community. And perhaps no one gets more intimately involved in Culinary Concepts AB than the incomparable Kori Price. Why?
Well, she’s our “boots on the ground” photographer responsible for capturing all the memorable moments from every one of our training programs, popup restaurants, and ecosystem events. Nearly all pictures we have, whether it be on our website, marketing materials, social media, or more, are thanks to Kori’s tireless efforts and incredible talents.
Given how important Kori is to our team, our students and their families, and more importantly, what a wonderful human being she is, we wanted to take this opportunity to shine a spotlight on her and celebrate her creativity, small business, and unwavering support over the years. She’s one of our many incredible specialists who helps us in ways we simply cannot describe, but we will try anyways!
A Bit About Kori’s Business & Art
Photo credits from Kori Price
Kori, is a Central Virginia native who is an engineer by trade and true artist at heart. An uber-talented and accomplished local photographer, writer, candle-maker, and small business owner, Kori exemplifies what it means to be a gifted creative and engaged community member.
Anyone who knows Kori or has had the opportunity to work alongside her, can attest to her exceptional skills and talents as an artist. Whether it is shooting a once-in-a-lifetime wedding or taking top-notch professional headshots for students, her work speaks for itself, quite literally. One glance at the photos and writings on Kori’s website will leave one in awe and admiration.
Beyond her photography, writing, and business pursuits, Kori is also deeply involved in the local art scene here in Charlottesville, creating not just individual pieces, but entire art exhibitions that truly exude her passion and creativity. Oh yea, and in her spare time she makes some of the best-smelling, soy wax candles candles around, hand crafting unique, enchanting scents like her signature mandarin orange crush or starlight forest.
That’s just a bit about Kori’s background and the purposeful creative and professional life she leads. If you check out her website, enroll her services, or just get the opportunity to see her in action during one of our programs or popups, you will be glad you did, and you’ll certainly see the talent we are talking about.
Now, we are eager to share the story of how our partnership began, blossomed, and grew into a meaningful and lasting relationship years later – one that didn’t just benefit CCAB or our team, but our entire community of alumni, students, and partners.
From Side Project to Professional Pathway and Strong Partnership
Our professional partnership with Kori began when her business was just a side project. She was working to break into professional photography and build a meaningful business around her passions and gifts.
After hearing about Kori’s business and goals, Chef Antwon hired her to shoot one of our Go Cook Program’s in action. And, after seeing the work she did and the kind of person she was, Chef AB and CCAB committed to doing whatever we could to ensure her lasting professional success.
With our support, and with lots of dedication to her craft and business growth, Kori was able to propel that side gig into a full-blown operation. Her story is a perfect example of what happens when you support small businesses: you aren’t just supporting locals—you are investing in someone’s dream and helping turn aspirational goals into tangible reality.
And today, we’re lucky enough to call Kori our partner and have her ongoing expertise as our resident photographer. She has captured some of the most memorable and important moments in the CCAB kitchen during some of the busiest, noisiest, and stressful times. Anyone who has attended our programs or culmination events has most likely seen Kori, skillfully and gratefully moving about taking photos from every uncomfortable angle and position imaginable.
She also comes to every popup, every graduation, and every ecosystem celebration, documenting all the most inspiring, emotional, and meaningful events with a vividness and vibrancy in her photos that makes those precious moments feel timeless. Nearly our entire library of photos are thanks to Kori’s talents, and her work tells stories that a thousand words never could. Want to see what we mean?
Take a look at our website. Glance at our Instagram, Linked In, or Facebook. Browse through our marketing materials or sponsorship packets from over the years. 95% of every wildly colorful, powerful, and memorable image is thanks to Kori’s expertise. She has taken, quite literally, thousands of photos for CCAB’s Go Cook and EEP programs, workshops, cooking classes, and more over the past years.
It is thanks to Kori’s craft that we have been able to photograph our students in the middle of their most transformational moments and during truly unforgettable times in our kitchen, our programs, and beyond. Her photos really do tell stories with a richness, vibrancy, and depth that our words or videos never could, and for that we are very grateful.
Exemplifying Professionalism, Embodying Humanity
While we adore Kori’s work and love what she creates and captures with her professional lens, she is an even more exceptional human being. And, given our work at CCAB is focused on people first, we think it is important to speak a little more about Kori as a human-being and community member.
Let’s start with the fact that she has an infectious personality and general presence that makes everyone feel safe, seen, welcomed, and cared for. She’s super kind, incredibly humble, and always down for a good laugh. She’s got an enthralling intelligence and is wildly talented in ways that inspire, enchant, and empower. Kori leads with her heart, showing up to every shift smiling and always with a positive attitude, embracing whatever is thrown her way.
Although she is a professional photographer and her technical job is to snap photos of our programs in real time, Kori always exudes deep empathy for our students and team, with a willingness to adapt, help, and do whatever it takes to make sure we all succeed. She’s clearly committed to the CCAB mission and passionate about our programs, always prioritizing her relationships with our team, students, partners, and community. Her presence lights up the room and brings us all a big, refreshing breath of joy.
Oh yea, and can we remind you that she’s radically dedicated to her craft and a consummate professional in every way. She shows up early and stays late to ensure she tells the entire story of our programs, whether that be a team cook day in the kitchen, a popup restaurant, or a graduation event where she takes photos of all the families, students, and supporters celebrating the completion of another program.
For example, with one 7-week Go Cook cohort, we usually see Kori at least 5 days for a total of 20 plus hours, all while she wears two cameras and gear that weighs over 25 pounds, ducking, crouching, bending, and contorting her body into all sorts of crazy and uncomfortable positions just to get “the best shot possible.” She invests nearly as much time, energy, and intention to her work as our students and Chef Ami.
I guess what we’re trying to say here is not just that we love, value, and appreciate Kori for her personality and professional partnership, but we really admire the person she is. We honor and celebrate her professional excellence. And we continue to be so grateful for her partnership, serving as both an inspiration and exemplar for our students, our team, and our community of what it means to be a remarkable professional, wildly talented creative, and most important a wonderful human being.
Kori’s partnership, professionalism, and glowing presence in our training kitchen and at our events continues to remind us all what matters most at CCAB. People. Relationships. Partnerships. Professionals coming together to collaborate and co-create something far better than we could do on our own.
And, as we continue to support small businesses growth in our EEP and continue to enroll the expertise of incredible small businesses to provide their services, we are reminded why people are the heart and soul of our work, and small businesses are the backbone of our communities.
Want to see and read a whole lot more about Kori’s art, offerings, and happenings? Check out her website here: https://www.koripricephotography.com/
