Deon Sterling, known as Queen D, developed a love for the culinary arts at a very early age. She was born in the rural parish of St. James, in Jamaica, into a large family of cooks. Her grandmother was a farmer and butcher; so every meal consisted of fresh, organic herbs, vegetables, ground provisions (i.e. yams, green bananas etc.,) and fresh meat. Processed food was a luxury her family could not afford and therefore, rarely ate. As a child, Deon was always in the kitchen, watching closely as her grandmother and aunts cooked, glad to be near them and be their resident food taster. Of course, she was absorbing their authentic technique and style without knowing it.

When she went to live with her mom in the original capital of Jamaica, Spanish Town, her abilities as a cook only grew. Her mom had moved to the city to find work and better provide for her and her other siblings. Her mother was, and still is a phenomenal cook so Deon would watch her as she prepared her gourmet Jamaican meals complete with attention to presentation details. When mom got busy due to work, as the eldest girl, Deon took over the cooking in the family.

It’s no surprise that Queen D developed a deep love and competence in the culinary arts. As a result, she specialized in Home Economics in high school. After graduating, she studied at Saunders Culinary School, where she received a degree in restaurant management and local and international cuisine.

 

Armed with the rich cooking heritage of great cooks in her family, along with a top notch education that trained her in the art of preparing international cuisine from scratch, Deon went on to use her skills in noted restaurants, in Jamaica including Ocean Restaurant and was also hired at the Waterfront, a restaurant which specialized in cooking sea food and was also dominated by men. A believer in continuous growth, she decided to leverage her leadership education and abilities and became the manager of a local restaurant; however, since creating delicious dishes was simply a part of her, her abilities as a chef continued to be in demand.

 

Deon migrated to the US and since then, has expanded her portfolio of experience and worked in hotels, resorts and a top residential country club. Due to her creativity as a chef, she has been called on to create menu items at one of South Florida’s top country clubs, and has also trained many new hires in the art of delivering 5 star service to international clients. She gained the name Queen D from her work colleagues due to her confidence, competence as a food and hospitality professional, her work ethic, professionalism, commitment to excellence, vivacious laughter and elegant locks.

 

Deon’s mission at Queen D’s, LLC, is for people to taste the love, joy and laughter in every bite of their food again. She wants people to be able to say, “I taste the love in this.”