Mashama Bailey was born to David and Catherine Bailey in the Bronx.[3] She was the eldest of three with one sister and one brother.[4] Bailey moved to Waynesboro, Georgia at the age of 2, Savannah, Georgia at 5, and then to Queens, New York when she was 11.[5] Bailey learned to cook from her mother and grandmother.[4]
Bailey, interested in exploring the wider range of careers available in the culinary arts, took a break from the restaurant industry, during which time she worked as a personal chef on the Upper East Side.[8] This left some of her family concerned with the racial and class dynamics, as it seemed a return to how her grandmother migrated from Georgia to Manhattan and worked as a maid. Bailey's grandmother worked within several households, one of the more famous beings that of Art Carney. [3]
Working as a personal chef didn't inspire Bailey as she had hoped, and during this time she applied for a work-study program that led her to Château du Fey in Burgundy, France.[4] There she was mentored by Anne Willan who advised her to continue cooking in restaurants instead of exploring a culinary writing career. [9]
Career
Bailey started her career as an intern at Aquagrill in 2001, and also worked at David Burke and Donatella, and the Oak Room in the Plaza Hotel.[10] In 2010, Bailey was hired at Prune, where she was quickly promoted to sous-chef and worked for four years.[11]
On October 15, 2018, Morisano and Bailey opened The Grey Market in Savannah inspired by Southernlunch counters and New York City bodegas.[16] Since 2017, Bailey has served as chairwoman of the Edna Lewis Foundation, which works to "revive, preserve, and celebrate the rich history of African-American cookery by cultivating a deeper understanding of Southern food and culture in America."[11][17]
Awards
The Grey was named one of Food & Wine's best restaurants of 2019.[18]
Winner of the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Southeast in 2019.[1]
In 2018, she was nominated for the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef in the Southeast.[19]
^ abcBailey, Mashama (2018). "It's Not All Fried Chicken and Greasy Greens". In Franklin, Sara B. (ed.). Edna Lewis: At the Table with an American Original. UNC Press.