As part of our Passion Economy series, we're sitting down with entrepreneurs to talk about the key moments that led them to starting their own businesses, unexpected difficulties they faced, and words of advice for people trying to go out on their own.

In part one of this podcast, we sat down with Reem Assil, an award-winning chef based in the Bay Area, who owns Arab bakery, Reem's. She shared her story of how she went from not wanting to be in the kitchen at all as a kid to owning a food business that grosses over $2M a year, and how through all of it, she remained focused on what was most important to her about food-bringing people together and giving back to the community.