41: Pursuing your passion at any age (Hispanic Heritage Month)

After she was laid off in her 50s, Argentine-born Mirta Rinaldi decided to follow her passion for cooking. Today, Mirta is in her 70s and teaches Argentine cuisine. She also owns her own business, Mendulcina, where she hosts cultural experiences and makes and sells delicacies from her home country. 

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Mirta shares how she made her career change and the rich ties her new career as a cooking instructor and entrepreneur has to her culture. It's more than just cooking for Mirta; it's about preserving her family's legacy and teaching others about Argentina. 

Check out Mirta's advice if you, too, are making your career switch after age 50! 

Episode Highlights:

• Getting laid off after age 50
• Learning a new career hands on
• Saving family recipes
• Focusing on your passion
• Reinventing yourself at any age
• Not being afraid to be yourself 
• Advice for a career change over 50
• Sharing your culture with others 

Find Mirta Rinaldi at:
Instagram: @rinaldi.mirta and @mendulcina 
Website: League of Kitchens

Learn more about the League of Kitchens at:
Website: www.leagueofkitchens.com
Instagram: @leagueofkitchens
Facebook: @LeagueOfKitchens
LinkedIn: @theleagueofkitchens

Watch Mirta's documentary, "From Grandma with Love: Mirta's Argentine Kitchen":
Amazon Prime
Apple TV+

More episodes for Hispanic Heritage Month:
Ep 33: Leaving corporate to lead a non-profit

More episodes for making a career change after age 50:
Ep 4: Aged out: Making a career switch at over 50
Ep 16: Breaking into a new industry in your 50
Ep 18: The pros and cons of being a full-time author
Ep 21: From side hustle to a new career
Ep 23: How being bilingual helps your new career
Ep 32: How to make a career change after 50

Music credit: TimMoor from Pixabay

Podcast info:
What's your career switch? What do you think about this episode and the show? Tell us at careerswitchpod.com. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Transcript

Lixandra: Hi, everyone. I'm Lixandra Urresta, and this is Career Switch Podcast. This show is here to encourage you to take action with whatever career change you're considering or working on. Maybe you're trying to switch industries or professions or break out on your own and start a business. In some episodes, I talk to people who've made their own career switch, whether by choice or circumstance. They share the good, the bad, and the truth about their journey, including what worked for them and what didn't. In other episodes, I speak with experts who offer their best career advice on challenges that can come up during the process of making a career change. After all, it takes guts to switch things up, and it's not easy. However, it is possible. 

So, I hope you hear something in this episode, an idea, a suggestion, a piece of advice that'll spur you into action with your own career switch, whether it's taking that first bold step or trying something new. Welcome. I'm glad you're here. 

Today, I speak with cooking instructor Mirta Rinaldi in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. Mirta is originally from Argentina and has lived in the U.S. for decades. For 12 years, she organized and managed elaborate fundraisers and star-studded events for her high-profile employer. In 2002, Mirta was laid off. She was in her 50s and she decided to pursue her passion, cooking. Today, at age 72, Mirta teaches Argentine cuisine through the organization League of Kitchens. She also owns her own business called Mendulcina, where she hosts private cultural events and makes and sells Argentine delicacies. In this episode, Mirta shares how she made her career change and the rich ties her new career has to her culture. It's more than just cooking for Mirta. It's about preserving her family's legacy and teaching others about her home country. 

Hi, Mirta, thanks for joining us today. So, you're from Argentina, you've lived in New York City for nearly five decades, and you're currently 72 years old. I'm so excited to have you here for Hispanic Heritage Month to share your story. Let's dive in. What were you doing in the 1990s before your career switch?

Mirta: I was the executive personal manager and event producer for a songwriter and philanthropist. With her, I worked 12 years producing many events of political fundraisings, high profile events, charity benefits. music and fashion events, advice about decor, menus, security, press, and everything involving high-profile events.

Lixandra: So you were in charge of organizing and managing the events?

Mirta: Correct. Correct. For many years.

Lixandra: And you also threw lavish dinner parties as part of your job. Oh, many.

Mirta: many dinner parties, you know, we hosted programming celebrations in the residence, political fundraisings with President Clinton several times, with President Gorbachev, with the music industry from Michael Jackson to Natalie Cole, to Patti LaBelle.

Lixandra: Wow. So the songwriter you were working for was very high profile.

Mirta: Very, very high profile.

Lixandra: And knew many people in the industry.

Mirta: Yes. Yes. And her charitable work was amazing, too.

Lixandra: So what eventually happened that led to your career switch?

Mirta: Well, we were all there in my early 50s. So, uh, from a very, very busy life inside this vortex and all of a sudden nothing. So it was a big change and, um, transformation in my life. So being that I was already 50, I decided to go for my passion, which it was food. and creating my own company in 2011. It's called Mendulcina. So I have gourmet products. I have a line of quince paste and jellies, chimichurri, and my signature cookie, alfajor de dulce de leche. It's a shortbread cookie stuffed with dulce de leche. So I teach basically Argentinian cuisine. But it was a big process.

Lixandra: Yes. Let's get into that. What did you do after your layoff in 2002?

Mirta: So I said, I'm going to change careers, but I'm going to learn as much as I can with my hands on. After I was laid off, I worked in big clubs where they hosted maybe four weddings at the same time. I mean, it was humongous. I was cooking whatever they asked me to do, just humongous trays of cold cuts or cheeses or, you know, arranging all these amazing trays for the for the weddings. And then for five years, I work at the executive kitchens of the U.S. Open. We cook for all the sponsors, American Express, Emirates. I wanted to learn also the different techniques. So I work in different kitchens every year. I started with condiments, then dressings, then cold food, then hot food. So I went through every kitchen that they have at the executive level. So many, many hours of hard work. So I did that for five years. And then I decided to go on my own. and focus on my cooking. And then a friend of mine sent me an email that says, I just emailed you something that it might have your name on it because the description, it suits you very well. So I read and it was the League of Kitchens.

Lixandra: What is the League of Kitchens?

Mirta: The League of Kitchens, it's a company where we are 14 instructors and we teach food and culture. I am the Argentinian instructor. We have different countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal. Iran, Mexico, Greece, Japan, Indonesia, Russia.

Lixandra: Wow, so it's a whole slew of international flavors.

Mirta: Yes, yes. We are a very, very interesting group of women.

Lixandra: Now, where does your love for cooking come from?

Mirta: The love for cooking comes from my family. I was born in Mendoza, Argentina. Mendoza is the land of Malbec. So the 85% of the wine from Argentina comes from my hometown. I was privileged to have an amazing group of great cooks, each one in their own specialty. we were always celebrating getting together and cooking in a family circle or even friends that is very Argentinian. Argentinians have this quality that weekends, especially Sundays, it's a family day. It's a day where you gather all together in one house and everyone chipped in with the food. If you're barbecuing, then you bring salads or, you know, in summertime, you bring tarts. It's all about food and we socialize around food. So I learned from my mom a lot. She was an amazing cook. And in my classes, I teach what I learned from her. because I always encourage my students and my people to save family recipes. Saving family recipes is so important. The recipes should not die with a person, should be kept within the family and passed through generations. And with that in mind, I have a daughter And when she turned 15, I asked my mom that the best gift was going to be a cookbook. And she did it. She did it. And she handwritten all the recipes, put some photos. And I'm based on that book that my mom wrote 35 years ago.

Lixandra: Wow. What are some of the recipes in that book?

Mirta: Gnocchi is one of the pastas that I teach online. And it's my mom's recipe. The best recipe in the world.

Lixandra: What a treasure. And what does it say on the front cover?

Mirta: It says, Cocinando con la abuela. Cooking with grandma.

Lixandra: Aww. Oh, because it was for your daughter. It was for my daughter. Right. Well, that's certainly a family heirloom right there. Going back to your career change, Mirta, what were some challenges you faced with making your career switch?

Mirta: Money was a big deal. It was very hard to start a new business on my own. So I had to survive the best I could. I have some savings. I have my own apartment, thank God. But I wanted to focus on my passion. I knew that was going to be hard. But when you do what you're passionate about, if you have a purpose You have to experiment. You have to leave your passion at some time in your life, especially changing careers.

Lixandra: Tell us more about that, Mirta. What kept you going to open your own business, especially in your 50s? I think we'd all love to hear what motivated you.

Mirta: Well, you have to reinvent yourself so many times in this life, and I'm not afraid of doing that at any age. You need the transformation. You need the evolution to keep going, especially in this city that is so demanding. But I like that. And that's why I live in New York. So it's not being afraid of being yourself and celebrating your passions.

Lixandra: So when your friend sent you that email from the League of Kitchens, what caught your eye?

Mirta: They were looking for instructors that can teach from their homes and that we can show our culture the best possible way.

Lixandra: And you like that idea of hosting in your home.

Mirta: I've been entertaining all my life. In Argentina, in Mendoza, I hosted parties with my friends who are foodies. And we started with 10 people and then we end up 20, 20 plus when they became so popular.

Lixandra: So that's why your friends sent you the email.

Mirta: That's why she wrote, it has your name on it in that email.

Lixandra: So what happened after you expressed interest? How did you join the League of Kitchens in 2014?

Mirta: I was called from the company and they told me, we're going to visit you and please cook everything that you can offer in your classes. So I cooked my heart out that day. They came, they tasted the food, they took notes and they left. Next week, the owner of the company called me and she says, I would love to live the experience, but this time we're going to pay for the ingredients. I said, OK, great. So they came again. She saw my presentation and my math ceremony and what I had to offer. She says, Mirta, you are hired. So I started to teach in person throughout seven years until the pandemic. But I believe that in my house, I had hosted around 600 people.

Lixandra: That's a lot of hosting.

Mirta: We're going to be celebrating our 10th anniversary, the beginning of 24. But I started with the company maybe four months after they opened. So I was the third instructor to be hired.

Lixandra: Congratulations. So Mirta, this new career sounds like it's right up your alley. Yes, it is. It combines your love of cooking, your love of hosting, and all the organizational skills that you used when you planned events for your former employer, the high-profile songwriter.

Mirta: Oh, yes. The experience that I got from this job helped me immensely in what I'm doing now.

Lixandra: Yeah, organizing events, that takes a lot of planning.

Mirta: Very much.

Lixandra: And not everyone can do it. No, no, it's a lot of work. ok, so tell us, what is a typical class like for the League of Kitchens?

Mirta: A typical class from home, in my case, I greet you with the mate ceremony. So mate is our national drink. Yerba mate is an infusion, it's a tea. But we have etiquettes to drink it, and it's very important in our culture. I have a big mate collection of over a hundred mates. So we teach how to make that.

Lixandra: Mate unites people.

Mirta: I compare the mate ceremony with the peace pipe because we drink it in a circle and you go one at a time drinking that mate. If you go to any house in Argentina, they invite you to have one mate. It's a gesture of friendship and welcoming. And I teach elements that we have for the Gauchos. Martín Fierro, which is part of Literatura Gauchesca, is the history of the Gauchos in Argentina. And it was written by José Hernández. It's a very important book for the Gaucho culture. Once we have that introduction, we jump in the kitchen and we cook. I have different menus of two and a half hours or five and a half hours.

Lixandra: Of cooking? Wow, that's a fully immersive experience.

Mirta: Yes, and it creates an amazing camaraderie. And after six hours chopping and sharing and cooking, it creates a beautiful community. After we cook, we all sit for dinner and then people take all the leftovers. So it's a very interesting concept of sharing a table of six strangers or a group of bachelorettes or a group of friends who celebrate their anniversary. There's so many events that you can celebrate in this private environment.

Lixandra: And what are some dishes your students can make in the two and a half hour classes and the five and a half hour classes?

Mirta: Well, I can make alfajores, the shortbread cookies. It takes a little time. We have to bake. I can make portobello mushroom stuffed with provolone and my chimichurri. I teach that recipe. And I teach skirt steak. I teach how to make gnocchis, pasta. I teach humitas, corn pudding. I teach croquettes. You can check in the League of Kitchens the different menus. You have all the countries and the menus according to the weeks that we're cooking.

Lixandra: OK, so for any listeners who are getting hungry and want to learn more about the League of Kitchens, they can go to LeagueofKitchens.com and look up both in-person and online classes.

Mirta: We cook for corporations as well. And sometimes we are two or three or four instructors cooking for a group of 50 people. You know, we cook for the executives of Uber. I've been cooking for Google people online, and there were 20-something people.

Lixandra: You and the League of Kitchens have gotten great press, too. You've been covered in Oprah Magazine, The New York Times, and Food & Wine magazine. You also had a documentary made about you called From Grandma with Love, and now the League of Kitchens is working on a book.

Mirta: We're starting to promote a cookbook. It will be featuring 14 instructors. So the book will be out in autumn 2024.

Lixandra: And how many of your recipes will be in the book?

Mirta: Five to 10, each instructor. I believe they want to achieve 100 recipes in the book. So we're very excited.

Lixandra: ok, Mirta, you also offer private cooking classes in your home as part of your own business.

Mirta: I have my own company where I host private dinners and the mate ceremony as well. And you have an amazing spread of goodies to eat while you serve mate and learn how to drink it. So it's a fun experience. So you can contact me through Instagram and my Instagram is rinaldi.mirta or mendulsina, which is my company's name.

Lixandra: So Mirta, some of the most popular episodes of Career Switch podcast are those with career changers 50 and up, like yourself. What advice do you have for our over 50 listeners who are working on their career switch?

Mirta: Don't be afraid to reinvent yourself. Transformations are needed in every age. So I always encourage women to go, and if you cannot make it, ask. Talk to people who have done that, because it helps to talk and to hear other stories. When in my life at 70, I was having a cooking show on TV. When in my life I thought of having that at that age. So don't be afraid and go with the flow. And do your passion. Don't go out of this life without making that happen in your life. Because we all have a passion.

Lixandra: And somehow there's a way to turn your passion into a career, right? whatever it is. That's right. That's right. When you encourage women to ask for help, did you do the same?

Mirta: Yes. I have a group of women that we are together for maybe 40 years, a little more. And we started nine women. Today, we are four left. And we meet at least once a month to talk. We don't judge, we just listen and suggest. So it's like talking to my sisters, in a way, with that openness that we create throughout all these years. We were all kinds of nationalities and careers, and today we're still meeting.

Lixandra: That's amazing. That could be a documentary in itself. Mirta, your career switch is so richly tied to your Argentine culture, and that's why I wanted to do your episode for Hispanic Heritage Month. Through your new career as a cooking instructor, you create these cultural experiences with the food and the mate ceremony and eating together as people do in Argentina.

Mirta: You know, being Latina, I was always focusing on my culture. and trying to teach where we came from. We are a country of immigrants like the states. I grew up with all kinds of nationalities. So in the state, I always celebrated my culture. And it's important because we are so many colors and traditions that it's so nice to share that.

Lixandra: Yes, with your new career, you're providing the Argentine culture to us here in the U.S.

Mirta: That's right. Thank you for doing this. This is very important for us.

Lixandra: Thanks to Mirta Renaldi for being our guest today. You can find Mirta on Instagram and through the League of Kitchens. A few weeks after this recording, I took one of Mirta's cooking classes and let me tell you, it was a one-of-a-kind experience. Her passion for her culture is evident from her home decor to the way she teaches. You are transported to Argentina during Mirtha's classes, so check them out either in person or online. 

You can find links to the resources mentioned in this episode and more helpful information in the show notes and on our website, careerswitchpod.com. So what's your career switch? Are you motivated to take action after listening to this episode? Tell us at careerswitchpod.com. We'd love to know, along with any feedback you have about the show. Let us know too, if you'd like to be a guest. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn at careerswitchpod. And please rate, review, and share with your friends and colleagues. It'll help get the show out there. Thanks for listening today. Till next time.