Blake Gardner has worked at Living Light for a relatively short time, but we are ever so grateful to have him here on staff as our demo coordinator. He has been a tremendous asset, not just because he is a hard worker and an extremely caring person, but because he’s someone very special, who is committing his time, energy, and talent to making our students feel welcome and supported. We’ve been extremely lucky to find someone like Blake. After twelve years as a very successful celebrity and portrait photographer (he followed in the footsteps of his photographer father Floyd Gardner, a professional portrait, wedding, and Vietnam war photographer), Blake decided it was time to explore some new avenues in life, so he sold his house and put his business on hold, bought an RV and traveled up here to the Mendocino coast to become part of the Living Light family.
Blake fits right in here. Lunch finds him sitting with a group of students, finding out all about them and what makes them tick, why they’re interested in raw foods, and how we can help them stay on the path they’ve chosen when they decided to enroll. Blake is one of the reasons our school is special. Certainly we have a great curriculum – we’ve developed it for nearly two decades now. Yet, we always feel like it’s the people who make the experience of coming to the school so life-changing. The friendships made here, the love the students feel (and learn how to put into their food – no wonder it tastes so good!), the discipline of doing something they really care about, and learning how to do it well. That’s what this type of education is about, and we definitely want to educate our students as whole people, who make a commitment not only to learning about healthy raw vegan cuisine, but a commitment to themselves to follow their dreams. Nobody could be a better example of that than Blake. He’s the embodiment of someone who follows his dreams, and we’re awfully glad those dreams led him here. He brought his long time canine companion Bodhi along with him to help keep life in balance.
Photo by James Sant
Blake is one of the interesting people you’ll meet here as a student at Living Light. He’s fun-loving, whimsical, entertaining, and intelligent. No wonder our students love him! And did I mention talented? As an artistic person, of course he has picked up on how to make food not only taste good but look beautiful, and he’s a natural taking photos and videos of the food. Just another reason to be grateful for having Blake on staff.
If you’d like to know more about Living Light Culinary Institute and the wonderful people you’ll meet here, visit our website, RawFoodChef.com where you’ll find a live chat button, or call 707-964-2420. Stay tuned to learn about our extraordinary teachers like Martine Lussier, our culinary programs manager (and rockin’ ZUMBA® instructor), and James Sant, lead instructor, amazing food photographer, and visual chronicler of all things Living Light!
