Visakha

What does it take to get to the top -- without losing your center? Our “Making It Work” series profiles successful, dynamic women who are standouts in their fields, peeling back the "hows" of their work and their life, taking away lessons we can all apply to our own.

Jamie Malone, chef de cuisine at Minneapolis restaurant Sea Change, was named one of Food & Wine's "Best New Chefs" this year, but she only got her position because she fought for it. "When [chef Erik Anderson] left, I was the sous-chef and they were looking to hire another chef, so I was running the kitchen in the interim," Malone, 30, says. "I kept asking for the job, and they kept saying no. I didn't have any experience as a head chef, only as sous. After three months, they gave me the job. I just acted like the kitchen was mine until it finally was."