Ariella Amshalem­ — A Full-Circle Moment

Long before Ariella Amshalem joined Pine Street Inn as a culinary instructor, the organization was already part of her life. “I remember learning about Pine Street through school,” she shares. “I even had one of their pins that was shaped like a house and kept it on my dresser my whole childhood.”

Before Pine Street, Ariella built a career in restaurants and culinary classrooms. After working at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, she began exploring new ways to share her passion of teaching. “I earned a yoga teacher certification and wanted to use that skill for something good,” she says.

That led her to a men’s prison, where she taught restorative justice yoga. The weekly sessions combined movement with conversations about mindfulness, emotions and personal experiences. “We would do some yoga and then talk about the theme of the week,” recalls Ariella. “I got to build a more conscious relationship with them.”

That same focus on relationships now shapes her work as an instructor for iCater, Pine Street’s food services job training program. “I thrive on relationship building,” Ariella says. “I love working with trainees, meeting them where they are and then seeing where we can go.”

Ariella encourages trainees to bring their own experiences, culture and recipes into the kitchen, emphasizing that there is more than one way to learn how to cook. “Whether it’s a special juice recipe or cooking plantains, I want trainees to see their knowledge as something valuable,” she explains.

Ariella couldn’t have known as a child what that house-shaped pin would come to represent. Decades later, she finds herself at Pine Street helping others build a new beginning. “It’s a full-circle moment,” she smiles.