Some people know early in life just what they want to do when they grow up. Jan Harding isn’t one of them, but she’s always loved being in the kitchen and trying new foods. Her earliest cooking memory is making Pixie Delights (an oven version of S’mores) with her mother when she was 5 or 6 years old in Salt Lake City. Working in the kitchen of a Girl Scout camp was her first summer job.

With no clear career goal, Jan graduated with a degree in history and worked as a job counselor for the Utah State Employment Service for several years. Then her husband’s career took the family to Reston, Virginia, near Washington, DC, where she joined a gourmet group that expanded her culinary horizons and helped her develop new cooking skills. She discovered how much she enjoyed creating meals that made other people smile and ask for her recipes!

Jan and her family moved to Marietta, Georgia, and she found herself working as a trainer for a bank after earning a Master of Education degree. It wasn’t her dream job, but an unofficial perk was an office near a huge international market where she found a multitude of fascinating ingredients to experiment with in her kitchen. Twelve years in the corporate world and two downsizings later, Jan still had no idea what she want to do when she "grew up." She was saved from sorting it all out when bit of good luck landed her a part-time job as a career management consultant.

One day a magazine ad for a personal chef organization caught her eye, but she set aside the information she received because her career consulting work was in high gear during the "dot com" bust years. Eventually, though, Jan took a serious look at the information she’d stashed away. Then she made the first deliberate career decision in her life - she decided to become a personal chef, whether or not she ever finished growing up!

A month after joining the Personal Chefs Network, Jan was in Portland, Oregon at its 2004 convention and opened Jantastic Meals in December 2004. According to Jan, "It’s my personal mission to promote healthy eating through my service, whether a client has medical issues or just doesn’t have the time or inclination to cook for themselves." Jantastic Meals offers traditional in-home cheffing services and is branching out into cooking lessons and a "secret chef" dinner party service.

Jan operates Jantastic Meals as a part-time business so she can have time with her recently retired husband and 3 young grandchildren. She enjoys traveling with her husband and claims that she travels on her taste buds because a top priority at each destination is checking out the local food scene and sampling the local specialties. One of her favorite Grandma Jan activities is cooking with her six year old grandson, who seems to have a foodie gene and loves trying foods that most kids have never heard of.

Jan finds special satisfaction in passing forward some of the support and knowledge that many PCN colleagues have extended to her. She says, "I wouldn’t have had the courage to launch Jantastic Meals without all the tools PCN provides to each member. And the never-ending supply of ideas, information, and support - both professional and personal - helps keep me going. Although I’m alone in my clients’ kitchens, it feels like I’m part of a big team because I can connect with my colleagues all over the country any time. I love the collaborative approach that PCN fosters."

Jantastic Meals is located in Marietta, Georgia and serves several nearby communities. You can find Jantastic Meals online at www.JantasticMeals.com.