Alumni Spotlight: Ciara Finley

Chef Ciara Finley was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. With a mom from Mississippi transplanted in New Orleans, Chef Ciara developed her love for cooking at a very young age, enjoying great down home recipes from her mom, and creole cuisine from family who were natives of the city. 

With over 15 years of management and leadership experience in the spa and hospitality industry, she developed a love for catering to others. She was able to utilize her networking prowess to start a small scale catering business in 2016. This business was birthed out of the necessity to provide fresh, clean, allergen free foods for her daughter who battles food and environmental allergies.

Searching for more growth and development in the food service industry, she decided to attend culinary school where she received degrees in Advanced Culinary Arts and Advanced Baking and Pastry from the Louisiana Culinary Institute.

Post graduation, in 2018, Chef Finley went all in with her catering business, Desiderata Kitchen, and grew it from the ground up focusing on alternative diets, meal prep, corporate catering and private chef services. She has spent years working with and understanding how different ingredients can be used to create dishes for anyone with alternative diets, needs or allergies without sacrificing flavor.

Chef Finley has worked at the Augusta National Golf Club for the 2017, 2018, and 2019 Master’s Tournaments where she received the prized Masters Culinary Team chef’s coat for her hard work.

Chef Finley is a Certified Culinarian and Certified Pastry Culinarian through the American Culinary Federation. She has received certifications in ServSafe Food Protection, Hospitality and Restaurant Management, and Nutrition. She has also won a bevy of prizes in many culinary competitions. Chef Finley was recently selected as one of ACF's Top 25 Best Chefs of LA for 2020.