Solon Woman is Business Owner and Personal Chef

Remember that blackout in the summer of 2003, when the power went out across a large swath of the east coast?

Eileen Pickus remembers. She was the chef for a high-end party featuring 60 guests in Shaker Heights.

Problem: The kosher food they were serving was ruined when the refrigerators lost power.

"We lost everything," Pickus said.

Solution: Pickus wouldn't let anything get in the way of serving her customers.

So she went to work. She sent someone to Pittsburgh to pick up more food. They worked around the clock and churned food using their hands.

"We pulled it off and got a standing ovation," Pickus said.

Pickus has an interesting dual career, the kind that can only be found if you follow your heart: She is both a personal chef who has worked with some of cooking's biggest stars and also owns People Express Worldwide Transportation, a limo and transportation business in Solon.

"I follow my passion," Pickus said. "I feel very lucky I can do two jobs that I love."

Pickus is a trained gourmet chef, a passion she took up about 15 years when she went to culinary school. Right out of school she was hired as a personal chef. 

She defines her job as a chef as giving her clients exactly what they ask for. Everyone has different tastes and needs, Pickus said.

Right now she has three clients. She goes to their homes and prepares their meals based on what their needs are. Most of her clients now are in the Cleveland area, but she has also worked in Los Angelos, New York City and elsewhere.

She also hosts a handful of high-end parties each year.

"I'm big into beautiful presentation," she said. "I like to be creative. If it looks good, it's going to taste good."

Pickus has also rubbed elbows with some of cooking's biggest stars. She completed an externship at Spago, Wolfgang Puck's restaurant.

"It was a great experience working with him," Pickus said about working with Puck. "You pick up alot of techniques."

As for People Express, her transportation company, that got started decades ago when her husband started giving people rides to the airport.

"He just kept getting calls," Pickus said.

Now the company, which also includes Jaime Pickus, Eileen's son, has thousands of clients each year.

The goal of the company is to meet their clients' every need, no matter what, where and when.

"We build our business on good customer service," Pickus said.