Meet

Huyen Nguyen, pronounced "when," is a lifelong veteran of the food industry who got her start as a child working in her parents' restaurant in Chicago after the family emigrated from Vietnam. She spent 20 years bartending and serving, including running a busy catering division for a popular eatery in Pasadena, until someone told her she was too old to keep bartending and pushed her to bet on herself instead. Say Huyen Catering started with a single client willing to take a chance on her, and grew into a business that handles everything from intimate parties of 12 to gatherings of 250, with menus she customizes sweet or savory to match each occasion. Trained in what she calls the school of life rather than any culinary institute, Huyen is now working toward opening a brick and mortar where people can taste her cooking any day of the week, not just on special occasions.