Professional chefs love Sheri Mann's kitchen— the butcher-block counters, the gas range, the everything-accessible shelves of cookware and serving pieces. But they're not there to cook. They're there to learn to "present well."
"Chefs these days are celebrities. They need to be able to meet people who come to their restaurants, to go on TV or radio and sell their cookbooks or foods, to talk across the cooking island, if need be," Mann, an exuberant and merry blonde, said recently.
"This isn't a fluffy matter. If they can communicate well, it will make all the difference in their careers. It will increase the profits of their restaurants and other projects."
To that end, Mann, a veteran acting coach, began a series of workshops called Open New Doors Now aimed specifically at successful chefs and other hospitality industry professionals. The workshops have been a breakthrough for a number of Santa Fe chefs. Now she's hoping to spread her influence to Albuquerque.
"I learned so much, it is impossible to single out any one thing," Sylvia Johnson, owner/chef at Celebrations, said of her workshop experience. "But one thing I know: after taking Sheri Mann's workshop, I will never say, 'I can't do that' again.' ''
"Absolutely right," Mann commented. "Not in my vocabulary. People come to me saying, 'Oh, I've got to do this— speak at this conference, whatever— 'and I can't, I just can't.' And I tell them, 'Forget can't. That word won't get you anywhere.' ''
Behavioral psychology
Mann trained as an actress and began her theatrical career on the London stage and at the Edinburgh Festival of Scotland. She performed in European films and on the BBC and SBC television networks, before returning to Hollywood and founding "Actor's Place," a coaching studio.
Early on, she realized that acting is really about "behavior within imaginary circumstances," an epiphany that led to considerable study of behavioral psychology at Pepperdine University. She used that knowledge raising three children, working as a literary agent and as an acting and dialogue coach. She still uses it in acting workshops and presentation workshops in Santa Fe, she said.
"I've lived a while. I've learned a lot. And I can usually figure out what someone's block is very rapidly," she said. "The most rewarding thing in the world to me is coaching someone to open himself or herself to full potential."
Mann has lived in Santa Fe about 15 years. It was the place she and her late husband, the distinguished film director Daniel Mann— whose credits include "Our Man Flint" with James Coburn, "Butterfield 8" with Liz Taylor and the original "Willard," featuring an army of rats— planned to retire, she said. "But then he had the unmitigated gall to die!"
After soldiering on for a while in Hollywood, Mann decided to fulfill one dream he'd had and move to Santa Fe. "I'd had enough of L.A.— the pollution, the traffic, the rat race," she said.
Renovating a warehouse-like space on West Alameda, she created a cozy apartment with a bedroom, office, bath, that lavish kitchen and a small but functional theater space for her acting classes.
She has been both happy and busy, holding limited-enrollment acting classes, running a one-woman public relations firm (Mariposa Group) and taking on the occasional sales jobs for magazines and periodicals like Local Flavor, a food journal published in Santa Fe. It was the latter job that led her to Open New Doors Now, for herself and local chefs.
Satisfaction and success
Thanks to her PR work, Mann knew a lot of local chefs. Because she loves to cook and eat ("I feed myself well, even when it's just me"), she and the chefs had what might be called a community of interest.
It was at the annual Wine and Chile Festival that she saw Kelly Rogers, then the executive chef at La Casa Sena."I need your help," he whispered to her.
After the crowd left, he explained his problem. Rogers, known to be an extremely shy man, had written a cookbook featuring some of La Casa Sena's most popular recipes and now, to his dismay, he was being touted to do book signings, press interviews and radio and TV shows promoting the tome, and to hold special cooking classes.
"I turn red and go cotton-mouthed if I have to talk to strangers," Rogers said to Mann. "What am I going to do?"
Intrigued, Mann told Rogers to line up a few other chefs or professionals to attend with him and she'd establish a presentation workshop just for them. She realized that the same skills she'd been guiding actors to develop were the ones the new celebrity chefs needed.
Rounding up her friend Doranne Candelaria to do the camera work, she put together a curriculum that started with chatting around the table, breathing exercises, relaxation exercises, articulation exercises ("Slo-o-ow down. Pronounce the whole word. Keep the breath going") and then a lot of role playing. Each chef took his or her turn demonstrating a recipe, with other workshop participants asking questions.
The chefs learned to stop worrying about making fools of themselves when Mann asked her ice-breaker question: "What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you as a chef?"
Telling those war stories had everyone laughing, she said— and relaxing.
"They bonded and had fun together. I got so much satisfaction seeing them gain confidence. We worked on everyone's questions."
"Kelly was completely tongue-tied at first. 'What do I say to people in the restaurant?' he asked. I said, 'Welcome to my restaurant; I hope you are enjoying yourself.' Then he said, 'What if I need to get back to the kitchen?' I said, 'How about— I need to get back to the kitchen'? It was funny at first. But now, he's so full of confidence. He's opened his own restaurant in Fredricksburg, Texas, Kelly's Cafe. And people tell me he's all over the place. I am so proud, I can't tell you!"
"I now can relax in front of a camera, and I can 'tell' a recipe and prepare it at the same time," Rogers said. "Most important, Sheri's workshop gave me a whole new vision of where I can take my career."
Branching out
Mann is registering for new hospitality industry workshops all the time. She's also working individually with other professionals, including a real estate agent who wants to improve his telephone and other presentational skills. She helped a college president unblock a sudden speaking fear. She is planning a presentational-skills workshop for small vintners in Pasa Robles, Calif. in October. She also is the administrative director for Santa Fe's inaugural Metaphysical Film Festival on Sept. 18-21.
Discovering her skill at coaching others to communicate well is a thrill for her, she said. "I feel so comfortable with this. I can figure it out really fast. From my maturity, from what I've learned, I can do it," she said.
"I think what I'm doing can be copied by other people, but they're not me," she said.
Open New Doors Now
WHAT: Experiential workshops for chefs and other hospitality industry professionals
PHONE: 989-1214
ONLINE: www.opennewdoorsnow.com
