A Day in the Life Externing for CIA Grad Kwame Onwauchi
Tina M. Cortez ’26 is a Food Business Management major.
An internship (or “externship,” as we like to call it in this industry) is probably one of the most nerve-racking yet exciting things a CIA student will experience. One student, Katchy Nnonyelu ’26, is currently on externship at Tatiana by Kwama Onwauchi ’13. Katchy was ecstatic when he landed this externship—Kwame has been his role model, and this location was his dream location to extern at.
Katchy is originally from Valley Cottage, NY. The main reason why he decided that CIA was for him was because he wanted to pursue a career where he could never stop improving. This means he’s that much closer to becoming the best!
Explain your responsibilities and how long a typical shift is.
Right now, my responsibilities are prep work (e.g. cutting ingredients or portioning out proteins), and also setting up the Plating Pass station. The Plating Pass station is basically the station that garnishes and completes dishes. During service, I am on Plating Pass station, and service is from 5–10 p.m. After service, I break down my station and clean up so I can go home.
What three words best describe your externship and why?
Cutthroat: With Tatiana being the number one spot in New York City we have busy services quite literally every single day. We do an average of around 230 covers in a 5–6-hour interval. I have been advised countless times to move faster, but my speed is improving by the day!
Fun: All of the chefs at Tatiana are very chill. Even though it is a high-profile restaurant, we still joke around and make it an enjoyable experience. It is a very lively kitchen with carefully chosen and capable chefs. Everyone there also wants to help me get better, so I enjoy learning from everyone.
Surreal: There are times when I forget just how popular our restaurant is. We have the honor of cooking for many famous people that come to our restaurant! So far, I have been gracious enough to have met Steve Carell and Usher! I saw Brent Faiyaz eating in our restaurant a couple of weeks ago. We also cooked for the famous basketball player, Carmelo Anthony (though it was on my day off.) Whenever we get a famous person who wants to take a picture, the chefs say “Chefs, we got a G in the B!” (G in the building), we hype them up, and they take a picture with us.
In what way do you think this externship is helping you in your career?
I think this externship is definitely helping me in more ways than one. I think the main one is my speed in the kitchen; a heightened sense of urgency is something that I had lacked before but have gained recently. But also, I think this externship is great because of the connections I have from here. I have met multiple graduates from CIA, as well as other culinary schools. On top of that, I am working under Chef Kwame Onwuachi, a CIA grad who is receiving recognitions left and right for his restaurant. He knows many well-known chefs in the industry, and it’s something I hope to be able to take advantage of someday.
What advice would you give to future students going on their externship?
The best advice I can give for future students going on their externship is to pick a place that they can be proud of that they won’t regret in a month. If you cannot see yourself learning or growing from the environment, then you should consider other options. But keep an open mind, just because you might not like something at first doesn’t mean that you still won’t in a few weeks or months. Give everything multiple chances before deciding that you hate it. Something might surprise you if you stay long enough. Don’t ever give up!
Why did you choose this location? What factors did you consider when searching for your externship?
I chose this location for several reasons. It first caught my attention in my Intro to Hospitality class, when our professor showed us a video of her interviewing Chef Kwame Onwuachi. As a person of Nigerian descent, seeing someone of the same culture as me being recognized in the culinary world was inspiring on another level. Since it seemed like he was in a similar boat to me (a Nigerian who was born and raised in New York), I made it my goal to learn from this man and spent the next few months trying to secure my spot at this restaurant.
Another reason was because it was in the city. Though I am from New York, I grew up in Rockland County, which is about a 45-minute drive from the city. I was never able to visit the city very much growing up, so it felt like I knew very little about my home even though I’ve lived here for 19 years. New York City is one of the most popular tourist locations for people in the U.S. and people from abroad. I wanted to learn more about this vast city; the ins and outs of what makes it so beautiful.
My final reason for choosing Tatiana is because of its increasing popularity. Though the restaurant is only open for 5–6 hours every night, we average over 230 covers within those 5–6 hours. It’s very fast paced and requires us to lock in and think on our feet. I wanted to familiarize myself with a stressful environment so that I would be ready for anything that is thrown at me in the future. I am a person with little to no culinary background, and someone who only started cooking barely a year ago. Everything that I’ve learned in school was completely new information to me, and I didn’t have many of the basic foundations or upbringings that a lot of my peers had. That’s precisely why I felt I needed a place that would elevate me and whip me into shape; a place that would remind me that the path I’ve chosen is not an easy one. If I can conquer those challenges, I’ll emerge stronger than ever, and I’ll have learned so much that will help me for what’s to come in my future!
