Her career began in the kitchen. She trained at NYIT, graduating in its first culinary class and winning the Salon of Culinary Arts Felicitations of the Jury, an international award. From there she became an entrepreneur, co-founding Candelabra Caterers on Long Island with her husband Bruce, before moving into culinary staffing. That path led her into corporate HR leadership roles at Compass Group and a large healthcare company, where she spent years building teams and shaping people strategy at scale. In 2022, she founded UpTalent Consulting & Search, where she now works as a solo practitioner offering fractional HR consulting, executive search, handbook and policy development, compensation design, and HR systems support to companies and nonprofits. She also offers private career coaching and workshops.

Louise holds a bachelor’s degree from Empire State University and a master’s in IT management from UNC Greensboro, both earned while working full time, alongside raising five children, four sons and a daughter, including a set of triplets.

She’s also deeply rooted in her community. At the Rotary Club of Asheville, she chairs the Public Image Committee and serves on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, the Fundraising Committee, and the Tennent Scholarship Committee. She’s also VP of the Mountain Tribe BNI chapter, a founding member of the WNC Leadership Alliance, and an active member of the WNC National Speakers Association. She is currently taking part in Vision Cohort 2026-2027, a Henderson County leadership program. She and Bruce live at Stony Brook Farms, where they raise horses, donkeys, and a Zebu named Oscar.

Don’t Follow the Recipe draws on this full arc, from professional kitchens to corporate boardrooms to raising a big family while building a career, as the narrative backbone for a business book about building a life without a fixed formula. She built this workshop from the same ten chapters that carry the book, and facilitates it as a working conversation rather than a lecture.