They’ve put their stamp on Utah over decades, weaving threads of economic impact, cultural influence, social change and compassion into our community tapestry. When we ski next to a double amputee, cheer at a Jazz game, enjoy cuisine prepared by a culinary-trained refugee, take in community theater, serve food at a homeless resource center, or see a 12-year-old sporting his very first pair of new shoes, there’s a good chance that Gail Miller, Lavanya Mahate, Celeste Edmunds or Meeche White were involved. Get to know these long-standing women of influence.
Lavanya Mahate
Founder, Saffron Valley and RISE Culinary Institute
When asked how she went from an immigrant with no work visa to Utah’s 2024 Businessperson of the Year, Lavanya Mahate replies with her credo: “Everything we want is on the other side of fear.”
It’s a message she clung to when she opened her first Saffron Valley restaurant and one she shares with women who come to this country in search of a better life. Partnering with the Utah Refugee Center to found RISE Culinary Institute, the successful restauranteur’s organization provides culinary training and paid internships to refugees and low-income immigrant women who are passionate about food—like she is.
“I like igniting that spark,” she says. “They finish the program with new possibilities of supporting themselves and their families—it reminds me of my younger self.”
At 23, Lavanya arrived in the United States from Chennai, India in an arranged marriage and with a master’s degree, but on a dependent visa—her (former) husband could enter the workforce, she could not. So, she got a second master’s degree from the University of Utah and volunteered with the Salt Lake Chamber—who, anxious to hire her, sponsored her visa. It didn’t take long before she’d worked her way from intern to program director of the Chamber’s Women’s Business Center, helping women realize their entrepreneurial dreams.
At 33, however, she decided it was time to trade her business suit for an apron, of all things.
“I’ve always loved to cook,” says Lavanya brightly. “My happiest childhood memories centered around food.” For someone so enterprising, one might view the decision to leave her successful career to create nostalgic meals from her childhood as…counterintuitive. But she had plans far beyond her own kitchen.
“In my culture, cooking is how you show people you love them,” she says, describing how she enjoyed preparing dishes like biryani and saag paneer for enthusiastic family and friends. But it was her love for Indian street food that gave her the idea to marry foods from various regions of India into one menu. “It took me years of soul searching to accept this was what I wanted to do
with my life.”
“My goal is to help women end suppression in their lives and tap into their potential. I want to empower and support them as much as i can. they think I’m transforming their lives, but truthfully they are transforming mine.”
Facing her fears after almost a decade of helping transform the lives of hundreds of women into successful business owners, it was time to take her own advice. Without experience in the restaurant industry or formal culinary training, Lavanya took out a loan and opened the first Saffron Valley restaurant in South Jordan in 2011, acting as head chef and creating a menu of diverse Indian dishes. Within a decade, she’s grown one award-winning restaurant into five throughout the Wasatch Front and also established Bix Bakery and Biscott’s Bakery.
“As much as I loved what I was doing, I missed being able to help women like I did at the Chamber,” she says, adding that RISE is a natural extension of her experience in the food industry, but also her passion for helping lift women.
“My goal is to help women end suppression in their lives and tap into their potential,” she says. “I want to empower and support them as much as I can. They think I’m transforming their lives, but truthfully they are transforming mine.”
Annual Impact
How it works…
RISE programming provides culinary training for refugees
- 4 Cohorts per year
- 12 Trainees per cohort
- 48 Members of the refugee community trained each year
- Provides 12-Week hands-on culinary programs
- Donates stipends for 6-Month paid internships at partner restaurants
- Convinced the Utah State Legislature to grant a $394,000 one-time appropriation to RISE from the 2024 General Fund
RISE Culinary Institute Community Events
RISE hosts culinary tasting events, allowing refugees to celebrate and share
their heritage and culture and helping to educate the wider community about what the various refugee cultures have to offer.
riseculinaryinstitute.org
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