Wanda Blake

Founder of Wanda’s Cooking

Wanda’s Cooking is a food pop-up that creates an intimate series of curated restaurant experiences around Southern cuisine with an updated flair. Additionally, she sells salt-less Creole Spice seasoning and a variety of Pepper ChowChows, which are a Southern pickled relish – flavors Sweet, Hot, Olive and Africa Hot. Her Pepper ChowChow has been featured in Edible East Bay, EaterSF, and Bon Appetit. Wanda’s pop-up restaurants serve as a way for her to take people on food adventures and connect with the community. She hopes her cooking can bring forth  a fond memory of people’s family meals, traditions and celebrations around food.

In 2021, Wanda participated in the People of Color Small Business Network pilot program. Wanda stayed in touch with the Navigation team at Alliance for years afterward, updating them on her progress. She is also still working closely with a referral made by her Navigator. Wanda shared with the Alliance team that in 2022 she was able to start pursuing additional recommendations made by her Navigator in 2021. Wanda’s business is a great example of the entrepreneur’s journey, demonstrating that often our work takes years to fully show an impact for a business.