REBECCA C. BLACK

After graduating from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor’s degree in History, I decided to enter the restaurant business because of my passion for great food and wine. Basque friends of my parents helped secure me an apprenticeship in a restaurant in San Sebastian-Arzac, the first restaurant in Spain to receive a Michelin star. I worked in both Spain and in France, and in retrospect, some of that time was in violation of my visa status. I had never sought formal approval to do what I was doing there, although some of it was under cover of my dual Irish-American citizenship.