Sophie Kitchen

Sophie Kitchen’s (’11) career as a recipe developer and how her Loreto schooling taught her to be resilient and to always aim high!

For our May Old Scholar Story, LOSA asked for Sophie Kitchen (’11) to share her unbelievable professional journey since leaving Loreto. From being an editorial coordinator to now a recipe developer for a global company living in Denmark, Sophie shares how her time at Loreto taught her to be resilient and to always aim high. Sophie also explains how during these unprecedented times, she finds herself reconnecting with Loreto Old Scholars and the Loreto Community through sharing her experiences as a food writer and recipe developer.

Sophie in her own words:

“Upon completing year 12 at Loreto, I enrolled in a Bachelor of Media at the University of Adelaide. The option to focus on a major in photographic imaging expanded my knowledge of the food world and gave me an appreciation for the power of photography and styling. During my last year I completed an ‘industry-based placement’. However, finding a suitable position in South Australia proved to be more difficult than expected. Almost every local newspaper, magazine or radio station I contacted was already inundated with like-minded students. I decided to step out of my comfort zone and I submitted my resume to some of Australia’s most popular food and lifestyle magazines. A week later, I received a call back from Australia’s top food magazine, delicious . and before I knew it I was commuting on a weekly basis to Sydney for a once in a lifetime internship. An experience which taught me to always reach for what you want, because if you don’t ask, then you’ll never know!

It was through this internship that I accepted my first professional job. I went on to work as the magazine’s editorial coordinator for two years. During which I was lucky enough to gain experience from some of the country’s top stylists, food writers and editors. I interviewed celebrity chefs such as Rick Stein and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, guided by the support of in-house editors Kate Gibbs and George Epaminondas and spent shoot days with industry-renowned photographers such as Petrina Tinslay and David Morgan. The memories and connections I made during my time at delicious. were truly life changing. Throughout my time at the magazine, I came to the conclusion that as much as I enjoyed writing about food, I wanted to be a part of the recipe development process. I made the tough decision to leave the editorial world behind for a while and completed my chef training. Alongside my training, I accepted a job at one Australia’s largest mealbox companies. It was here that I was able to really expand my cooking and recipe development knowledge. As a global company, it gave me the opportunity to assist when launching in New Zealand and most recently, a career move to Denmark to focus on a Nordics-based culinary team.

My overseas move happened to coincide with the recent Covid-19 lockdown, which made for a challenging and interesting start to Danish life. However, during this time I have focused on using my Instagram account (@sophiekitchen) as a creative platform to share simple recipes inspired by my experiences as a food writer and now recipe developer. It is through this, that I have found myself reconnecting with many Loreto old scholars. I love that no matter how far you travel, you will never find yourself that far from the Loreto community. My time at Loreto taught me to be resilient and always aim high, for you never know where the path may lead you. My education is something I will never take for granted and the encouragement and support I received from my teachers and friends helped form me into the woman I am today.”