Kirstin Boncher

Specializing in modern headshots + timeless business portraits. See my portfolios at www.kirstinbonchercreative.com

Photographer, editor, & creator of the website Our Gluten Free Family.

Contributing writer and photographer for Gluten Free & More and www.mylifewithfoodallergies.com

Worked in the art department managing the printmaking studio and worked as an assistant to the printmaking teacher.

Arcadia was a small restaurant owned by Chef Anne Rosenzweig. I made lobster club sandwiches, salads and desserts. Then I headed back to school to study art at Hunter College.

I worked in fish pass (passing fish and lobster to the cooks) and garde manger (making seviche and beautiful salads) and in pastry. I wanted to cook (I got tired of making caramel and plating desserts) and so I left for another position but Le Bernardin is still my favorite restaurant. Now I realize I was stuck in Pastry not because I was female--I was actually great at plating the desserts and making them look perfect.

My first job, when I was a freshman in college was for Ina Garten. Ina taught me to bake hundreds of loaves of bread by myself in the middle of the night. It was quite an amazing experience--and changed my life. Shortly after working for Ina, I left college and headed to the French Culinary Institute to attend cooking school. I still think of Ina when I make muffins. And it seems quite ironic that I can now not eat the bread that I loved to bake.