Carolyn Wang-Yong (Culinary ’01) with master sushi chef, Masa Takayama

“Just two years ago, I would've never thought that I’d be managing a 4-star restaurant,” confesses Carolyn Wang-Yong (Culinary ’01). But these days, that’s exactly what she’s doing, as business manager for Masa—New York City’s only 4-star sushi restaurant.

A typical day might find Carolyn reviewing the previous night’s sales, getting a recent hire comfortable on the POS system, tweaking the website with the designer, ordering supplies, and navigating the bureaucracies of customs and FDA regulations so that all that fish they fly in from the Sea of Japan make it.

While Carolyn learned a lot about operational efficiency while earning her BS in Engineering Management Systems and her Masters in Operations Research at Columbia University, she credits the Classic Culinary Arts program at The FCI for her ability to take the reins of this celebrated $300-a-plate sushi shrine in Manhattan’s swank Time Warner Center.

“The FCI gave me the culinary lingo. Before I went, I didn’t know what ‘86’ meant, I didn’t know what ‘SOS’ meant. I just thought it meant ‘HELP’! But it wasn’t just the lingo. I know what it’s like to work in a line, to fire an order, to get the job done. My dad taught me ‘you can’t manage something without ever doing it yourself and it’s true. I wouldn’t be comfortable telling somebody to do something that I’ve never done myself.”

Carolyn joined Masa when it opened in March 2004. In addition to handling the bookkeeping, payroll, HR, staff scheduling, POS system, vendor and regulatory issues, inventory and ordering, facilities maintenance, PR and marketing for Masa and Bar Masa, she works with Chef Masa Takayama on new business development. “He has a lot of vision for his business... all these creative ideas which just pop up randomly, and I help him develop them.”

In fact, Carolyn’s current function is not that far off from what she was doing before The FCI—wearing multiple hats as the Operations Manager at a small computer consulting firm—but Carolyn laments that it was the wrong industry. “I just didn't get excited waking up and going to work each day , which is why I enrolled at The FCI. I loved cooking, so I wanted to give food service a try.”

She chose The FCI’s 9-month Classic Culinary Arts evening program for the faculty (“domestic and international chefs with very impressive backgrounds”) and because she could relate to the student body (“it felt less like a trade school and more about passion and lifestyle”).

But even while soaking up Chef Candy’s classes, Carolyn knew in the back of her mind she would eventually return to the “administration side” and owes her ability to negotiate the in’s-and-out’s of restaurant culture and the conflicts that arise to her time at The FCI. “ The FCI was really my foundation for understanding the kitchen and cooking as a whole. I have the experience to make judgments. And my experience at L’Ecole—having worked both front-of-house and back-of-house—made me more sympathetic about everyone’s roles. It gave me an understanding that we’re all important.”

After graduation, Carolyn did two internships—staging at Daniel Boulud's 4-star restaurant, Daniel, and Jean-George’s Vong—and some private chef-ing. She had just finished a recipe translation project for Jean George’s 66 when she heard that Masa was looking for help.

“I feel really lucky. I didn't seek out this job—it found me. And, I’m really proud to be included in part of Chef Masa’s future vision. We get along well and I feel a connection with him, so that makes me want to come to work everyday.”