Solidarity Hour... The One With Camilla Marcus

From receiving a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, to completing culinary school, to then receiving a JD and MBA from NYU, to shortly after opening up her own restaurant, Camilla Marcus is not your traditional restaurant owner. And she operates her restaurant far from traditional ways - ways that other hospitality leaders thought would never work.

Camilla is the owner of west~bourne in SoHo, New York, and the first zero-waste certified restaurant in Manhattan. She is also a founding member of ROAR, a coalition of NYC-based restaurateurs that has formed to fight for governmental relief for independent restaurants. 

She shared with us her insightful model to find raw talent in an industry that is typically personified by a top-down approach, where everyone has the one job that they do. Her approach to interviewing, hiring, and providing career paths for her employees is not only non-traditional as well, but brilliant and awe-inspiring.

Camilla’s explanations of the systemic challenges we face with a dis-aggregated industry employing so many were powerful, and what she is doing to unify voices and create a platform for change of an industry that is often overlooked is influential.

It’s hard not to hear Camilla’s eloquent way of describing her business, what she’s a strong advocate for (including taking a full maternity leave despite not having a business partner), and her hopes and dreams for the industry in the years to come.