You don't have to start at the top to become a leader.

Chachi started in the dish pit with no grand career plan—just a willingness to work, learn, and take every opportunity that came her way. Over the years, those lessons carried her through different areas of food service and eventually into management.

From the Dish Pit to Management: What Food Service Taught Me About Work, People & Leadership is a candid, funny, and practical look at what working in food service can teach you about leadership, confidence, communication, accountability, and people.

From dealing with difficult customers and bad managers to learning how to lead a team without forgetting what it's like to be the person doing the work, Chachi shares the lessons she learned the way she actually learned them—on the job.

This isn't a corporate leadership manual. It's for the dishwasher wondering if their job matters, the employee trying to move up, the first-time manager figuring things out, and anybody who has ever learned some of life's best lessons while clocked in.

Your starting position doesn't have to be your final position.

Learn everything you can. Give yourself a damn chance. And when the opportunity comes, do the damn thing.