Women We Love: Becky Calvert

Launching a business is never easy, but when an employer downsized that’s what Becky Calvert decided to do. She started Dinnaah, her home-based home-cooked meals-to-go business, and has enjoyed watching it take off.

“I like the kitchen. A friend suggested that I make my next job cooking dinner for her family, as well as for other friends,” Calvert said. “It ties together my love of cooking and sourcing local food, with a need to be creative. The meals I serve for others are the same sort of meals I serve my family—seasonal, local, healthy and mostly vegetarian.”

While she stays pretty busy getting this business off the ground, Calvert also writes the blog Chicken Wire and Paper Flowers and a monthly wine column called “Beneath the Cork” with “In The Kitchen” magazine.

“I lead a girl scout troop,” she adds. “I’m currently a member of the PTO board of my daughter’s elementary school. I have a weekly volunteer gig in my daughter’s classroom at school and I also helped organize an event recently with Cville Swaps. I stay busy.”

Calvert says her daughter, Edie, 9, enjoys that her mom can be home when she is. For Calvert the best thing is “being able to do things on my own terms.”

Her biggest business challenge right now is growing her business. “As I am still just starting out, I am currently in the process of looking into commercial space to use. Friends have been supportive and the meals must be OK as orders are increasing simploy by word of mouth,” she says. “I have so many ideas about how I want this business to grow and I want to ensure that I execute them well.”
The secret to living a balanced life is simple to Calvert: “My family comes first, period.”

She takes care of herself by working out and finding time for friends. “Working out, whether it be hitting the gym, taking a long walk or working in my garden,” Calvert says. “I’m a firm believer in ‘digging therapy.’ I also make time for my girlfriends. Working from home means I spend the chunk of my day alone, so getting out and talking to friends is essential.”

One of the best pieces of advice she’s ever received came from her husband, Pat: “Just be Becky.” Her friend Martha Stafford also told her: “Just start cooking.” Those are two pieces of advice she’s taken to heart.

If she were to offer advice to someone thinking of starting out on a similar career path, she’d say, “Do what you love. And do your home work.”

8 Things You Might Not Know About Becky Calvert…

1.  Who is your favorite author and why? I can’t say I have a favorite author or one favorite book, although my husband likes to point out that in all the years he’s known me, “Franny and Zooey” by J.D. Salinger has left my bedside table only a few times. I am in a constant state of re-reading it.

2.  Favorite thing about Charlottesville? It seems to attract kindred spirits.

3.  What is your favorite hobby/pastime? Cooking and gardening. Both relax me.  I also seem to be drawn to pickling things—I recently pickled radishes, just to see what they were like. I’m not a fan of pickles per se, but I am fascinated by the process of pickling. I also have been known to sew and knit.

4.  What is one of your hidden talents/skills? I am a master improviser. I work beautifully just under deadline.

5.  What is your guilty pleasure? Fresh, warm cotton candy. I love how it melts when it hits your tongue.

6.  What is your favorite movie and why? While I quote “Steel Magnolias” quite liberally on an almost daily basis, “Goodfellas” is probably my favorite movie. I’ve been known to cancel dinner reservations because it was on and I got sucked into it, yet again. The story, the style, the soundtrack … it’s just a flawless movie. I also love “The Godfather.” I have a fondness for mob movies.

7.  Where did you grow up? Most of my childhood was spent in Pennsylvania, with a good bit of my summers at my grandparents in Baltimore and the mountains of North Carolina.

8.  What is the greatest invention of your lifetime and why? The iPod. It’s revolutionized music.