Page 10 - OCT 2020 Barbecue News Magazine

bbq life
BBQ PROFILES:
Michelle Dang
T. Michael Garrison
The Flying BBQ Judge mgarrison8@sbcglobal.net
BBQ Profiles has presented many of
the elements necessary to deliver an
excellent competition contest. Each
of these roles is very important to
the success of any event. This month
we will be presenting an exceptional
representative with some very im-
pressive credentials and a world wide
base of experience. She has always
had a focused interest in food and
food preparation since she was a
child. She mainly followed the ad-
ventures of Anthony Bourdain. Her
favorite quote comes from him,
“WHEN SOMEONE COOKS FOR
YOU, THEY ARE SAYING SOME-
THING, THEY ARE TELLING YOU
ABOUT THEMSELVES: WHERE THEY COME FROM, WHO THEY ARE, WHAT MAKES THEM HAPPY.”
Michelle’s first judging experience was with KCBS, in Texas, in 2014. She took the SCA Judge Class in 2015 and judged her first steak contest in 2016 was the Opossum Kingdom Lakes Winter Wonderland in Graham, Texas, administered by the SCA. She was hooked on competition steak and BBQ, particularly the SCA family. Early on, she was recognized
by the two founders of SCA, Brett Galloway and Ken Phillips, who iden- tified her talents and how she could contribute to SCA's success. They in- sisted on training her to be a rep. Michelle began contributing early on in the development of their contest base, and she continues to be a cru- cial part of the expansion of the SCA. The day I interviewed her for this profile, she had just returned from Salem, Oregon. She was developing a new event there. She hails from Texas, so she has been instrumental in much of that growth. However, she has traveled to Maryland, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Oregon, and other states.
She has had two trips to Australia and New Zealand. She received a very warm welcome from a kangaroo there. Our profile this month is none other than Michelle Dang, SCA’s top rep for the past two years. While maintaining this full travel schedule and repping contests, she still serves her as an Operating Room Nurse.
Michelle was born in Vietnam, and her mother brought her to Richardson, Texas, when she was one year old. She wanted her to experience the quality of life available in Texas. So she practically has been raised from infancy in the United States. Her passions in life are mission work around the World. She has followed this love to Laos, Viet- nam, India, Africa, and the Dominican Republic. She loves to meet new people and not only her mission work, but her affiliation with SCA certainly fulfills that passion. Serving people in her profession as a nurse further supports those desires. She has a deep love for food, loves cooking shows, and her travels and SCA certainly help passion. And very uppermost in her life is SCA and the SCA Family. In high school, she played tennis, so she has some sporting inter- ests. She particularly loved her cooking classes. She lived in New Jersey for a couple of years, a time in Honolulu, at the other extreme in Fairbanks, spent a month in Paris, and
BarbecueNews.com - 10
OCTOBER 2020