Before she was shaping the next generation of chefs at Houston Community College, before the title of Houston’s Chef of the Year or the national TV spotlight, Mariah Scott was 35,000 feet in the air, working as a globe-trotting flight attendant with a growing obsession for what was on her plate.
“I realized I was traveling just to eat,” she says. “The passion wasn’t in flying anymore, it was in food, culture and the stories that came with every bite.”
Born and raised in California, Mariah Scott’s early years were grounded in modest means, strong family ties and big dreams.
“I come from humble beginnings,” she says. “I was raised by a single mother. We didn’t have a lot, but we had love. We had soul. And food was how we expressed both.”
Her culinary spark ignited at home, watching her grandparents from the South cook with patience and purpose. Her older brother also worked as a professional chef, offering a glimpse into an industry that seemed almost unreachable at the time.
After years of traveling as a flight attendant and soaking up global food cultures in over 30 countries, Scott took a leap of faith. She left her airline job, enrolled in culinary school in Houston and worked multiple jobs while training.
“I wasn’t just switching careers. I was starting over,” she says. “And I was doing it in a field where very few people looked like me.”
That awareness was sobering and motivating.
“I didn’t see Black women in culinary schools, especially not in leadership or executive chef roles. I had to fight to be taken seriously,” she said. “And I had to figure out how to make my voice and my food stand out.”
Scott describes her culinary style as globally inspired soul food an expression of her Southern roots layered with international techniques and ingredients. Her signature lamb meatballs with shakshuka and saffron rice, for example, is a nod to her priority for affordability and an elevation of cultures.
As her reputation grew, Scott became a sought-after private chef for elite clientele. She cooked for Oprah Winfrey and Megan Merkle and worked events like the Oscars and NFL Draft. Eventually, she landed on Gordon Ramsay’s Next Level Chef, where her calm, strategic cooking earned her praise from Ramsay himself.
But even at the top, she was often alone.
“There were times I was the only Black woman, or the only Black person in the entire kitchen brigade,” Scott said. “And that’s in places like Miami, where you wouldn’t expect it.”
That isolation fueled her next mission.
Teaching the next generation
Today, Scott leads the A La Carte program at HCC, a student-run public fine dining restaurant that gives aspiring chefs hands-on experience.
A la carte is a weekly course, where Scott creates the recipes and menus. The restaurant serves five to six courses, starting with an appetizer, soup, salad, entree and dessert. Students work in the kitchen and front of house, serving a designated manager.
The event includes full bread service with oil, fresh herbs, ice tea with lemon, simple syrup and ice water. The experience is complete with fine dining tablecloths, music, and full service.
“I never planned on teaching,” she says. “But then I realized that students at HCC didn’t have professors who looked like them, or understood the foods they grew up eating. I needed to be that person and now, I am.”
One of them, Rachel Lee, knows firsthand the life-changing impact of Scott’s mentorship.
Lee graduated in May 2025 with degrees in Culinary and Pastry Arts. She entered the program after becoming legally blind due to retinal detachment in both eyes. She found new life through the culinary arts and Scott.
“Chef Mariah is the chef Black women want to be,” Lee says. “She saw me, not just my disability. She pushed me, supported me, and made me feel like I belonged in that kitchen.”
Through A La Carte, Lee learned how to command a kitchen, plate with precision and serve six-course meals with elegance and efficiency. Now she’s working on launching her own food truck or cigar lounge with full-service dining.
“She was there when I had emotional breakdowns, So by me being visually impaired, there are certain things that I’m not able to do with the vision that I have,” Lee said. “Chef Mariah came in bubbly every day. If she can do it, I can do it. She told me not to let anything deter me from doing what I wanted to do.”
Scott is only getting started with a cookbook in the works and ambitions for a broader platform, possibly a cooking show. But no matter how far she rises, her message remains grounded in where she began:
“My legacy,” she says, “Is about visibility and access. I want to inspire not just culinary students, but entire communities.”
