Overcoming Obstacles can be challenging, especially as a young professional. Williamson, Inc. is inviting and encouraging young professionals to hear Brett Swayn, Executive Director The Cookery, as he shares his story and experience with the topic of “Overcoming Obstacles.”
The Lunch meeting will be held on Wednesday, August 12, 2015 from 11:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. at the Mars Innovation Center located at 4530 Columbia Pike, Thompson’s Station, TN 37179.
Brett Swayn was born in Perth, Western Australia. He came to the U.S. in 1991, settling in Austin, Texas, to pursue a promising music career. His search for God began in earnest many years later, and he understood he was called to go to Nashville. On March 19, 2002, he left the life in Texas for the call in Tennessee.
What wasn’t foreseen was that Brett was to spend the next four months living on the streets of Nashville, experiencing the heartache, alienation and desperation of homelessness. He calls this period “the hardest, most beautiful time of my life,” because he experienced a closer walk with God and came to understand the sufferings of a marginalized people of America.
Through a series of what he calls “miracles,” he was offered a job at Fleming’s restaurant, where he worked his way to sous chef and traveled around the country training others in the culinary arts. At the same time, he felt called to address the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the homeless community. Over time he felt drawn to a life of simplicity.
Swayn left his position at Fleming’s to devote his life to those in need. His three-year dream of opening The Cookery is now here. In addition to serving coffee and luncheon/dinner foods, The Cookery is a training facility. Swayn and his associates instill culinary crafts to select homeless individuals in order to prepare them for employment in the food industry. “Through all of this, God has taught us perseverance, resilience, patience and trust,” Swayn says.
