Entrepreneurship was not on Chef Nadege Fleurimond’s career menu early in life. However, once she set her mind on launching Fleurimond Catering, Nadege refused to let obstacles derail her from achieving that goal.
Nadege was born in Haiti and raised in Brooklyn by a single father she describes to Inside Brooklyn Podcast as “a phenomenal chef” at home. Parents wanted the best for their children. For him, that meant Nadege becoming a professional, such as a doctor or lawyer.
Complying with her father’s roadmap, Nadege went to college with the goal of becoming an attorney.
As a Columbia University undergraduate, majoring in political science, Nadege was known around campus for whipping up tasty dishes. Everyone loved her cooking—from the people in the political science department and campus clubs to the university’s football players.
After graduating, she found a nine-to-five, but cooking was her side hustle. It wasn’t long before her entrepreneurial spirit pushed her to launch a catering business. The friendships she developed in college were instrumental in helping her to get Fleurimond Catering off to a great start.
She recalls in the podcast how the college experience helped her to clear the startup hurdle.
Today, Nadege receives worldwide praise for her culinary method of infusing Haitian-inspired dishes with Asian, Latin American and European cuisines. Her resume includes catering for the White House and for large corporate clients like Anheuser-Busch and BET.
Nadege is a restless entrepreneur—always looking for the next challenge. Not only is she an amazing chef but also an author and business coach.
The trials and tribulations of building a business taught her important skills. She packages those lessons and teaches them to her entrepreneurship trainees. They know her as the RoariorCoach, a name inspired by Columbia’s mascot Roar-ee the lion.
Part motivational speaker and part strategist, Nadege teaches her clients how to “live their passions through the ROAR (Reach, Organize, Act and Realize) method.” They learn not only how to live purposefully, but also how to build a successful business.
