Cybille St.Aude-Tate is a chef, children's book author, social entrepreneur, and rising star in the Philadelphia culinary world.
But it's her connection to her native Haiti that's getting the most attention.
In an interview with Better Homes & Gardens, St.Aude-Tate explains that when she was growing up in Port-au-Prince, she didn't know much about the country's history or culture.
"I didn't know that the majority of the people were white," she says.
"I didn't know that the majority of the people in Haiti were black.
I didn't know that the majority of the people in Haiti were poor.
I didn't know that the majority of the people in Haiti were poor until I was in Haiti."
St.Aude-Tate, who has a degree in African American studies from the University of Maryland, went on to study cooking in Haiti for a year and a half in the late 1990s.
She returned to the US in 2000 and opened her own restaurant in Philadelphia, called Honeysuckle Provisions.
She tells Better Homes & Gardens that in the years since, she's learned a lot about Haiti and its people.
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