Geoff Blackwell - I Know This to Be True: Ayesha Curry

I know this to be true

Dedicated to the legacy
and memory of
Nelson Mandela

First published in the United States of America in 2021 by Chronicle Books LLC.

Produced and originated by
Blackwell and Ruth Limited
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Publisher: Geoff Blackwell
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Images copyright 2021 Geoff Blackwell
Layout and design copyright 2021 Blackwell and Ruth Limited
Introduction by Nikki Addison

Acknowledgements for permission to reprint previously published and unpublished material can be found on page 79. All other text
copyright 2021 Blackwell and Ruth Limited.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

ISBN 978-1-7972-0768-1 (epub, mobi)
ISBN 978-1-7972-0023-1 (hardcover)

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Ive always been the girl who put things out into the air and put in the work to make them come to fruition. So I feel like you can hope and dream and wish, but until you do, nothing is going to happen. So whatever youre passionate about, whatever your hopes and dreams are, you have to go full-steam ahead.

When we approached Ayesha Curry to be part of the I Know This to Be True series, we were warmly invited to her office and studio in Oakland, California, USA. In a first act of generosity and trust, despite knowing there would be nobody there, we were given the buildings entry code and told to go in as early as we like before the interview, take our time to set up, and make ourselves at home.

This initial kindness manifested in a dozen other ways. When she and her husband, Stephen, arrived, Ayesha immediately put us at ease with her relaxed, unaffected manner and natural warmth. All of us were seen, regardless of our role in the crew, and it seemed to us that this thoughtfulness is at the heart of who Ayesha Curry is.

The kindness continued when, after the interview, she worried whether we had somewhere to eat for dinner. Learning that we planned to dine at her San Francisco restaurant, International Smoke, she took the time to call the restaurant and ask them to bring us special desserts.

After our interviews, the Currys recorded a public service announcement for ESPN, before leaving to offer their support for an inspiring leader in the community who runs a boxing training facility for local underserved children. All part of the service before self ethos that seems to come naturally to Ayesha Curry.

Food was a central part of her childhood while growing up in Toronto, Canada. An instrument that brought the family together, it gave them a chance to sit and connect. And it was exciting simple, nutritious home cooking with vibrant flavour. My mom is Jamaican and Chinese, and my dad is Polish and African American, so I grew up in a kitchen full of all kinds of interesting flavour combinations, she explains. With four siblings, she was expected to help around the house, and she chose cooking as her chore. It was the beginning of a long-lasting love affair with food.

After moving to the United States as a teenager, then-Ayesha Alexander met Stephen Curry at a church youth group. Banned from dating at the time, she took to sharing Canadian candy with Stephen to express her interest. When she graduated high school and moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career appearing in several shows, including Hannah Montana and Good Luck Charlie the budding relationship ended.

Several years later, however, they reconnected. Stephen was in town for basketball camp and reached out to Ayesha, who initially turned him down. Eventually they went on their first date, exploring the sites of Hollywood Boulevard and enjoying chai tea lattes. It was a success; in 2008 she made the move from Los Angeles to Charlotte, North Carolina, and two years later Stephen proposed.

It was only after leaving Los Angeles that Curry realized her true calling, and set her sights on a career in the food industry. It made sense; cooking was where her true passion lay. In a fast-paced world where eating-in and slow dining is a rarity, she wanted to share the experience shed had as a child with others. Its becoming a lost art people gathering at home, having fun, building memories. Growing up, thats all we did on the weekends. We werent out at restaurants we were at home in the comfort of our own space. I wanted to keep that alive.

The belief that you work hard no matter what is key to Currys philosophy. Equally important is a relentless positivity and a concern for the welfare of others. These elements combined inspired the launch of Eat. Learn. Play., the foundation she and Stephen co-founded in 2019. With two daughters and a son of their own, they wanted to ensure a better life for disadvantaged children. Eat. Learn. Play. provides support for youth by helping them access healthy food, quality exercise and education.

She leads without motivational speeches or grand gestures, but with an unfaltering commitment to service, kindness and authenticity. She uses her platform to create good, whether by helping children in need or bringing people joy and togetherness through cooking. Ultimately, in all aspects of her life, she highlights the importance of benevolence and care.

As a woman of colour, its important to me that media reflects real, relatable women.

I dont come from a traditional culinary background; Im self-taught. Ive found great mentors along the way, but I did not take the path of going to traditional culinary school. Do I wish I had? Sometimes, yes, some days, no. I think everythings turned out okay. But you work with what you have, and you do the best with what youve got, and you build on that.

Ive been in entertainment doing commercial work since the age of three. My first official job when I was three I played the bubble elf in the movie The Santa Claus with Tim Allen. You cant see me in it, Im nowhere to be found, but that was my first job. My first real job I actually had three jobs at once I worked at Abercrombie & Fitch, I worked at a frozen yoghurt shop, and then on weekends, I worked at a vegan food stand at a farmers market. And Im not vegan.

Ive always had a passion for theatre, but I graduated high school a year early and moved out to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. Everything was going great. I always had a job, I was always working, but it got to the point where I had dreams of being a Disney Channel star. Just after I moved out here [to the United States], I turned eighteen, and the stuff that was coming in was a little bit different and I wasnt prepared for it. I was a very sheltered child, and so everything was new to me. It got to the point where I just didnt want to have to sacrifice my morals; I was getting stuck in roles that I didnt want to do. And I looked at myself, because I had been doing it for so long, and I thought, I dont really know who I am. Im so used to trying to be somebody else that I dont even know what I like; I dont know who I am. And so I stopped, and then I got a really bad case of laryngitis, and I realized, I have got nobody out here. No family, barely any friends. Nobody wanted to take me to the doctor. I called my parents, crying, and I said, I just want to come home. So I went home, regrouped myself, and enrolled in online college. I did that for a little while, and then life came at me fast. I got married, had my first child at twenty-two, and have been pushing ever since. So for a while there I was lost, and didnt know what the heck I wanted to do with my life.