Enterprising Brooklynite Nick Suarez has two feet firmly planted in the food world.  By day, he coordinates tastings at Wine Spectator magazine, but his continued appetite for new and exciting flavors has spurred a series of side gigs.  He currently attends night classes at the French Culinary Institute and co-hosts the Brooklyn Food Experiments - a series of amateur cooking competitions - on the weekends.  Here's his gutsy tale of culinary glory.

What attracted you to a good food job?

Life is full of trial and error. I think learning what you don't want to do with your life is just as important as finding your true
passion. For me, attending business school here in NYC was a wake up call, in that it immediately became obvious to me that my path would diverge from my fellow students. Instead of interning at a Wall Street firm before graduation like many others, I traveled to Europe and South America in search of myself and ultimately good food. There, I fell in love with new flavors and the communal nature that wine encourages.

It was only a matter of time after I returned, that I started knocking on wine store doors looking for a job. Wine came easy to me and frequent tastings helped to improve my wine palate enormously. But most important of all was that I enjoyed every second of it and still do. Now I have the opportunity of working at Wine Spectator, the world's most widely-read wine publication. Tasting a broad range of classic and emerging wines, and researching their backgrounds, has helped me advance my wine knowledge. And my education doesn't stop there. I'm currently attending the French Culinary
Institute to refine my cooking techniques. Food and wine go hand in hand, so it was an easy decision for me to go back to school.

Another niche of the food sector I've made my mark on, is my personal project as co-organizer of the Food Experiments cookoff series. They allow my inner competitive side to showcase my food to others and also create a forum for other home chefs to critique each other. Hopefully, my curated events show that you don't need a large, expensive kitchen to succeed, just drive, passion and intuition.

How did your previous work or life experiences prepare you for a good food job?

My parents were instrumental in nurturing my passions for food, wine and bringing people together. My mother was a professional chef before I was born, and I ate extremely well growing up. Yorkshire pudding, soufflés, escargot and raw oysters aren't the foods typical American children grow up craving, yet these were the dishes my parents were
feeding my brothers and me from the time we could sit in booster chairs at restaurants. It was that familiarity with unique and exotic ingredients from an early age that was the catalyst for where I am today. My father is a table-top food director and always allowed us to work on his sets prepping and helping create visually stunning food on his productions during our summer vacations.

What advice do you have for others in search of a good food job?

Don't ever compromise your dreams or passions. You have to be proactive in meeting new people, opening up new opportunities and pushing yourself to always do better. I think Nike's corporate slogan sums up everything pretty well. "Just do it."

If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?

That's an easy one?..wine.