Lindon Hibbert A Passion for Cooking G rowing up with five brothers and five


sisters, Lindon Hibbert’s life adventure in the northwest parish of St. James on the tropical Caribbean island of Jamaica began with a passion to be a cook. He didn’t want to do anything else.


In Jamaica, that means embracing flavors from the Arawak and Taino tribes along with Spanish, British, African, East Indian, and Chinese influences. In pursuit of his dream, Lindon spent much of his youth watching the technique of jerking, which is a method of slow cooking marinated meats and poultry over low flame smoke pits filled with pimento wood. Lindon spent time frequenting restaurants and hotel kitchens to observe the cooks.


In the early 90s, Lindon searched for a better economic future and left his native land, traveling to Brooklyn, New York, to follow his dream of attending culinary school. After seven years studying and working in New York, he moved to Florida still in pursuit of better opportunities.


Once in Florida, Lindon found Express. He walked into an Express Employment Professionals office in Port Charlotte, Florida,


absolutely determined he would get a job. They provided him with several part-time positions which he accepted, all the while keeping an eye out for his perfect job. Then one day, Lindon learned of an opportunity that could be the gateway to fulfilling his life-long dream of becoming a cook. There was a job opening for a food service manager. But Lindon didn’t meet the essential job requirements. He didn’t have the computer skills.


Encouraged by the staff at Express, Lindon decided that he hadn’t come this far to give up on his dream. He would develop the computer skills necessary to obtain the job. “Whatever my situation in life, I am prepared to deal with it,” he said. “So I began to study.”


Every day, after working his part-time job, Lindon went to the Express office to learn the required computer skills for the job. Lindon got the job and has served as the food service manager for three and a half years.


As for the future, Lindon said, “In whatever I do, the sky is the limit. That is what I reach for in my life.”


In whatever I do, the sky is the limit. That is what I reach for in my life.


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