—Robert “R.J.” Yoakum,
Culinary Arts
Major: Bachelor’s Degree in Food Business Management
Campus: Hyde Park, NY
Hometown: Mission Viejo, CA
In the Kitchen or Gym, It’s All About Team
For Robert “R.J.” Yoakum, it doesn’t matter if he’s on the line in a restaurant or at the line on the basketball court—he’s driven to be the best he can be. Basketball and cooking are clearly two things R.J. is very passionate about, and he often relates what happens on the court to the goings-on in the kitchen.
“Your mindset needs to be the same in both,” he explains. “You can’t just run and play like a robot in basketball. You have to see what works, to create, to take what’s given to you. It’s the same with cooking.”
And when it comes to basketball, R.J. should know. He’s spent 12 years of his life playing the sport. “I was playing travel ball by the time I was 9, and in my four years playing high school ball, the team was 115-17, went to the regionals three times, and made it all the way to the states once,” he recalls. “When I got to the CIA, it was icing on the cake to play ball here.”
R.J.’s path to the CIA started at an early age when he was the self-professed “pickiest eater” in his family. Seeing that, his aunt decided to get him into cooking so he could turn something he didn’t like into something he did. The “I always thought culinary school was in my back pocket,” he says. “And when I worked at Hanna’s Prime Steak under CIA alum and Executive Chef Sean Reynolds ’08, he referred me to the college.”
Now that he’s here, R.J. makes sure to keep his schedule—and That consistency helped R.J. twice earn Rookie of the Week honors in the ” href=”https://www.ciachef.edu/athletics-teams/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>the CIA team get out to a 6-2 start to the season.
R.J. is ever-mindful of the words of his high school coach. “He said, ‘Know your role; don’t try to do something you can’t. If you’re a shooter, shoot. If you’re a big, stay down low. Do what you do best to help the team.’ That’s something that has stayed with me.”
Whether that team is on the basketball court or in the kitchen, R.J. Yoakum is definitely doing what he does best—and loving every minute of it.