Brooke Siem: What This Famous Chopped Winner Is Doing Now
Brooke Siem burst into the public sphere after competing on the Food Network's hit show Chopped. The show features four talented chefs facing off against one another to create a spectacular three-course meal (via IMBb). In each round one contestant is eliminated, and the only one left standing at the end takes home a cash prize. In 2017, that winner was Siem. Great as that might sound, though, she said being on the hit show was a mixed bag of emotions.
"The experience, I think, was the most acutely stressful and emotional day of my entire life," Siem wrote on Medium. "I know that seems like a ridiculous statement — it was only one day, after all — but I've never been in a situation that managed to bring out so many different emotions in constant, unending succession." Despite her success on the show and being named one of Zagat's 30 Under 30, Siem has shifted her focus (via New York Daily News).
Brooke Siem has changed her career direction
In addition to being a chef, Siem is now a mental health and wellness writer and does public speaking engagements. According to her website, her articles have been featured by The Washington Post, Food Network, EatingWell, and more.
She often writes and speaks about her experience with antidepressants as a teen. As an adult she received an opportunity to travel abroad to Malaysia and decided to stop using the medication she had been prescribed most of her life. "Unfurled against a global backdrop, my work chronicles explosive and terrifying antidepressant withdrawal and the fight to manage the modern mental health system, all while demanding hope and forgiveness in the name of healing," she wrote on her website.
But don't worry, Siem hasn't hung up her chef hat completely. She is currently a freelance recipe developer and food photographer. She told Foodie Pleasure she's in a phase of redirection in her life. "For the first time in my life, I don't know where I'll be or what I'll be doing in the next week... month... six months," Siem explained. "I'm trying not to melt down about that too often, and working on following the good things."