Ep: 03: How being fired as a lawyer led Erin Wade to become a widely successful restauranteur

Lessons from a Quitter

Erin received her law degree from UC Berkeley in 2008 and worked as a lawyer for one year before she was fired. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Erin decided to take a leap of faith and pour her life savings into creating a restaurant dedicated to the best food on earth: mac and cheese. Erin is the Founder and CEO of Homeroom. Homeroom has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, Food Network, Travel Channel, Cooking Channel, and other national media outlets. Homeroom now has over 100 employees and has also received numerous awards for its people-first business practices. Erin authored the best-selling “Mac and Cheese Cookbook,” and business articles for Conscious Company Magazine and the Washington Post.

Here is what we chat about in this episode:

• Why Erin went to law school even though she had wanted to open a cupcake shop
• What happened after Erin was fired from her firm
• How she used her entire life saving to open up a restaurant with virtually no experience in this field.
• How she found herself unhappy after 5 years in her dream job and what she did to fix it.
• What Homeroom is doing now to create more female partners in the restaurant industry and how they’re sharing their successful anti-harassment training policy.

Resources Mentioned in the Podcast

• Clayton M. Christensen, “How Will You Measure Your Life”
• Erin Wade, I’m a female chef. Here’s how my restaurant dealt with harassment from customers. The Washington Post.

Where to find Erin

• https://homeroom510.com/