Chef Mekdes was exposed to pastry art at a very young age by her mother and grandmother, great bakers both. To this day, they are her greatest inspiration. Her grandmother went to a French school in the early 1900’s; she cooked, baked, crocheted, knitted, and more, and always presented the finished product with the word “C’est Voila”.

After pursuing her college education in financial management at University of Massachusetts in Boston, Chef Mekdes worked at a number of Boston’s major financial institutions, ascending the corporate ladder. However, after having her first child, she decided to leave the corporate world and stay at home to raise her three children.

It was at this time she rediscovered her first love – baking, which became her passion. This led her to take different cake decorating and sugar craft classes, not to mention reading countless baking books. Finally, to transform her passion into great pastry, Chef Mekdes attended the well-known Professional Pastry Art program at L’Academie De Cuisine.

As a mother, Chef Mekdes considers it essential to know what she serves her children. It should be a freshly made product from scratch using high quality natural ingredients. It is this same value she passes on to Voila Pastry & Café.