My story begins in Arizona soil, carried through the hands of two grandfathers who shaped my DNA long before I held a chef's knife. Hubert Alfred "Chile" Doten, born in Yuma in 1923, lived a life of service and stewardship. For 37 years, he worked for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, helping farmers grow food and embracing innovations that strengthened the community. In 1960, when Immaculate Church burned down, he rallied neighbors and friends to rebuild the church. With faith first - and wood, hammers, and nails, they raised the walls again on Avenue B in Yuma in 1963. That moment taught me that leadership means standing with your community when they need you most. A gentleman citrus farmer, he was my first grandfather, and I helped him as a boy all the way to his last days irrigating his citrus ranch.
My other grandfather, Ben Valencia, embodied hospitality and grit. In the late 1950s, he ran Los Amigos Cafe in Phoenix—where his presence behind the counter was a ritual of welcome. Between grove and grill, I found my rhythm, later sharpened under mentors like Chef Ernie Mejia, cofounder of the Arizona Taco Company in Minnesota. He showed me what fearless leadership looks like when I first started cooking at Pappadeaux's Seafood Kitchen. I also learned from Susana Thrilling during a focused month at Sierra Bonita Grille before it opened, where she taught me the essence of chiles and how to work with the molcajete and comal—lessons that deepened my craft and grounded my leadership. These early influences shaped not only how I cook, but how I would later approach innovation and independence in my work.
At Roka Akor, I mastered Robata cooking, learning how to apply char with flavor -where clay held memory and iron channeled precision - creating restaurant-quality recipes that resonate with tradition and innovation.
