Hi, I’m Olivia Chen-Williams, a professional chef, cooking instructor, and the founder of Turn Around At 50.
For nearly three decades, my life has revolved around kitchens. Not the quiet, romantic kind, but the real ones. Hot, loud, demanding, and deeply alive.
I began cooking professionally in my early twenties and spent the next 30 years working across restaurant
kitchens throughout the United States, moving through roles that taught me discipline, resilience, and respect for the craft. Cooking was never a phase for me. It was work. It was rhythm. It was how I understood the world.
A Life Built in Professional Kitchens
Over the years, I worked in family-run restaurants, busy service kitchens, and teaching kitchens, learning from every environment I stepped into. Each place sharpened my instincts and deepened my understanding of food as both technique and care.
I learned how to cook for volume and for precision. How to recover when things go wrong. How to lead calmly in the middle of chaos. Most importantly, I learned how to teach without ego, because every kitchen is a classroom if you pay attention.
Those decades shaped my cooking style today. Practical, grounded, and deeply respectful of ingredients. I believe good food doesn’t need to shout. It needs to be understood.
Why I Started Teaching
As the years passed, I found myself drawn less to the rush of service and more to the quiet satisfaction of guiding others. Teaching came naturally. I saw how many women, especially later in life, believed cooking well was something they had “missed the window” for.
I knew that wasn’t true.
Today, I own and run my own cooking classes, where I teach women of all ages, with a special focus on those starting fresh in midlife. My classes are rooted in professional technique but taught with patience and encouragement. No intimidation. No unnecessary rules. Just clear instruction, repetition, and confidence-building.
Every student who walks into my kitchen is capable. My job is simply to help them see it.
About Turn Around At 50
Turn Around At 50 is an extension of how I cook and how I teach.
This space holds the recipes I’ve developed, refined, and taught over years of professional work. They are meant for real kitchens and real lives. Food that works. Food that comforts. Food that makes you feel capable.
You’ll also find stories about second acts, reinvention, and what it looks like to keep choosing curiosity over fear.
My Philosophy
I believe cooking is a skill, not a talent.
I believe learning has no expiration date.
And I believe confidence grows every time you show up and try again.
This blog isn’t about perfection or trends. It’s about staying engaged with life, one meal at a time.
You’re Welcome Here
Whether you’re looking to cook better, learn properly, or finally give yourself permission to begin again, you’re in the right place.
Let’s keep learning. Let’s keep feeding people. Let’s keep turning life around, thoughtfully and deliberately, at any age.
