Stacey Russell has always wanted to be a chef.  Her whole life she has enjoyed working in a kitchen surrounded by hot
ovens and tantalizing aromas.  She enlisted in the United States Coast Guard at the young age of 18, just three months
after graduating High School. She joined for two reasons; to do something for the good of the country, and too cook.

Stacey remembers her High School English teacher asking all of the students what they wanted to be.  She told the teacher
she wanted to be a chef. He asked “what is your favorite thing to cook?” Stacey said “Chicken Cordon Bleu, with
Hollandaise.” He asked “what wine would you serve with this dish?” She had no clue but responded with the correct answer
“white wine.”  

A few years later Stacy Russell was named the 2006 Food Service Specialist of the Year for the whole Coast Guard.  Due to
her culinary talents she has appeared as a food network guest on both Cooking with Bobby Flay and Emril Live.

“Food equals morale, especially in the Coast Guard. There is nothing like taking fresh from the oven baking products to the
bridge or the engine room. Nothing else on a ship is appreciated more (except maybe liberty).  Cooking has always come
natural to me. It’s something I know I will never fail at. It’s something I was born to do. Picasso was born to paint I was born
to cook.  Cooking for me is about making people happy. I live for the moment when people taste my food for the first time
and they say “wow, this is really good.” Or when junior cooks try to emulate something I have created allowing me to hone
their skills and show them the feeling of delight in knowing that people enjoy their food.”

-Stacey Russell
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