Meet Pamela Waitt | Curator of Delicious Experiences + President of the OC Restaurant Association, Inc.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Pamela Waitt and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Pamela, what habits do you feel play an important role in your life?
I think the top 5 habits that helped me succeed would be, resilience, self-care, time management, focus and passion. It is a fulfilling journey to achieve your goals, but you must be prepared for failure and bumps along the way. Many of my failures have taught me as much as my successes. I practice self-care, by getting enough sleep, exercise and being present in my personal life. Those self-care practices help power what I need to succeed and in my case that includes accomplishing a lot each day. I don’t think I could accomplish what I do without laser focus and obsessive time management.

What should our readers know about your business?
In 2007 I started the OC Restaurant Association, Inc. Orange County, California’s dining scene was not a focus in the culinary universe. As a county sandwiched in between LA and San Diego, Orange County often was overlooked. I created an advisory council of the some of the brightest in the restaurant business and launched the OC Restaurant Association, Inc. It took off quickly and has been growing ever since. With success always comes a few challenges, nay sayers, and even some copycats, you just overcome them. I remind myself that Warren Buffet once said, “it is when they don’t imitate you that you should worry”. Fortunately, they make up a very small percentage of people. Teamwork and the community at large over shadows all of that and creates a breeding ground for success!

Some of the draws of a robust and successful culinary landscape are the chefs, quality culinary events and independent restaurants. An association basically translates to community, we thrive and grow when we all succeed. An important business development strategy has been to create opportunities that each party benefit from, truly implementing win-wins in everything we do. Our association produces the largest and most celebrated culinary events in Orange County. The events are very inclusive and celebrate all cities that make up our county. Innovation is important to our success, our little slice of the US has some of the largest culinary event properties around, including TacoTuesday.com, BurgerWeek.com and MargaritaCrawl.com. These online properties create a big platform for us to showcase the talent we have here.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If I was vacationing in Orange County, I’d make sure my itinerary included visits to:

Old Town Orange for some great dining and small-town feel.
Laguna Beach for the shops, art and charm.
Disneyland because it’s a must!
San Juan Capistrano for the dining, Mission San Juan Capistrano and history.
Huntington Beach to see the official Surf City.
Costa Mesa for the night life and arts.
Newport Beach to experience Pacific Wine + Food Classic, shop at Fashion Island and Balboa Island.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Gratitude. I have so much of it. I am fortunate enough to be surrounded by supportive, kind, and intelligent people and honestly would not allow it to be any other way. So much of our lives is who we allow to be a part of it. My friends and family are my greatest cheerleaders. In addition I never stop learning from the greats, some of my favorite authors include Simon Sinek, Angela Duckworth, and Stephen Covey.

Website: www.TacoTuesday.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tacotuesday.official/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamelawaitt/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TacoTuesdayofficial

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2NcKjAewDRVxSCJg44u1zQ