Ayulieth D. Reyes Corral has been named Chef of the Year for 2023. 

The Chef of the Year Award was given at the February 2024 Presidents Awards Dinner. For more info on the dinner, pictures and other rewards given, click here…

Ayulieth D. Reyes Corral Bio

Born in Mexico, Ayulieth came to the U.S. when she was 11 years of age. While in her teenage years, she fell in love with hospitality. She heard a senior server say, ‘’Who does not live to serve, is not useful to live.” After she heard this phrase, she wanted to dedicate her life to service. Her mother let her run a little cafe where she cooked and served for fun, but she had always had dreams of becoming a chef. After she married, Ayulieth and her husband made a promise that in the future she would return to school to become a chef. It took a long 12 years during which she worked from being a busser all the way to the front of the house and bar manager. The day finally came when she found an advertisement for free culinary training at Goodwill Enterprises. Ayulieth stopped serving tables and mixing drinks to begin as a freshman at Goodwill. It is at Goodwill that she met her mentor Jeff Pratt, who helped her get her first Job at El Gaucho preparing pastries and then working her way up to becoming the pastry chef. Jesus Boites, Executive Chef of El Gaucho, and Jeff Pratt supported her during her apprenticeship program through the Washington State Chefs Association with Diana Prine as her chef instructor. After 5 years at El Gaucho, she joined Gayle Orth Catering as a partnering chef to Gayle Orth for 2 and a half years. Upon graduating from the apprentice program, she opened her own business, “Raices,” as a Personal Chef. Now, she is a business owner and Dietary IV at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, where she helps prepare nutritious meals to assist with the recovery of patients. She is also currently a board member and fundraising chair for the Washington State Chefs Association. Serving along with her husband Giovanni and children, Franco and Ernesto, at the St Andrew Catholic Church, she and her entire family often help to provide meals to the Youth Program every first Friday of the month.