Hello and welcome to Man Beard Food! My name is Corey and I’m the man and writer behind the scenes of this blog. I want to share a little bit more about myself so you can get to know the person behind the words you read.
I grew up in San Diego, although I never got any good at being a Californian. My parents divorced when I was six and I spent my early childhood as a bit of an outcast because I moved and changed schools so often. In many ways, this led to me learning how to take care of myself. I pulled good lessons from the people around me, even if I did learn it a little slow in the beginning.
I do a lot of cooking during my free time – I love to bake and use my smoker. I’m also heavily invested in physical fitness, having circled back to it after largely ignoring it in my younger days. I enjoy a rather wide range of activities, from board games to camping.
I’ve worn many hats and took my sweet time deciding what I wanted to do with my life. When I finally graduated from San Diego State University in 2008 with an undergraduate degree in Psychology, I immediately took off to culinary school in Indianapolis. Why? I had a friend there and it wasn’t the west coast; I wanted something different. After ten years in that world I changed careers, but I still cook like I work in a restaurant. I miss the camaraderie, the heat, the sweat, and working with my hands to do something difficult.
These days I am a software engineer. Crazy shift, right? I took the arduous steps necessary first to teach myself coding, then to shift into an actual job. It’s a long story, but… I took a step backwards in life, then took ten forward. I still get to do hard things, it’s just now, those things involve my brain more and my hands less.
I started this blog because I have realized that, in many ways, I took the long road to get where I am and didn’t have a lot of guidance from anyone in my life along the way. I don’t think that there is a common, positive message out there for men right now and I hope that I can help others by sharing my experience. Maybe you can use something from my toolkit and get there a little faster than I did. Wherever ‘here’ may be for you.
You’ll find that I post mostly about approach and mindset and I truly believe that this is the most important thing for men who want to change their lives in any way. I’ve always ascribed to the idea “in order to get something you’ve never had, you’ve got to do something you’ve never done.” If you’re facing change, adversity, or uncertainty in your life, I invite you to read what I have to share. See if it resonates with you.
I’m so grateful you’ve taken the time to read this far. One of the best ways a person can find meaning in life is through serving others. I hope my experiences and thoughts can do that for you. If you find that to be true, share this space with others and maybe we can see it grow.
Man. Beard. Food. 