“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

Bring worlds together through food. Create brands that brighten lunch boxes and delight grocery aisles. Produce advertising and labels that tell the truth. Balance the delicate recipe for raising children with one Catholic and one Jewish parent. Pass on the traditions: the Italian cheesecake, the matzah ball soup, the noisy, opinionated dinner tables on which both were served.

HBS helped prepare me for a career in food marketing. I'll bring households joy through the Milanos and Goldfish I sell, but I'll put my own family first. Ice the birthday cakes; make time for a cheese course; keep spice in my marriage.

Growing up, my grandmother stuffed me with food and Yiddish praises. Her kitchen was my haven where I used to play in the overstocked pantry for hours. As an adult, I watched my grandfather nurse her through terminal cancer and learn to cook for the first time to feed his wife. They both knew how to love through food.

I don't have children yet but I know that becoming a mother will be my greatest achievement. I hope the dishes my husband and I make our kids will inspire them to develop tastes and minds of their own.

— Molli Hourihan