Retiree finds second act with cooking company, AVC Kitchens

Vazilyn Poinsetta isn’t the stereotypical senior citizen. The Midtown resident retired from a mortgage company a few years ago and decided to do something different. She went back to school and eventually opened her own business.

“I might as well be 70 and get a degree in nutrition instead of waiting around saying woulda, coulda, shoulda,” Poinsetta says.

The lifelong Detroiter started classes at Wayne State University soon after retiring. In 2012, she started taking advantage of the entrepreneurial education classes at Blackstone LaunchPad on campus. That inspired her to start AVC Kitchens, which teaches cooking classes in the city.

“They (Blackstone LaunchPad’s staff and participants) are just wonderful,” Poinsetta says. “I’m not very tech savvy, but I can still ask anyone in the program and they will show me what to do.”

AVC Kitchens aims to combine education of cooking and healthy living. Poinsetta hosts cooking classes at Eastern Market and Focus: HOPE, teaching people how to create cost-effective meals with everyday ingredients — meals that are both affordable and nutritious using ingredients local people can find just about anywhere.

“Not anything that is super expensive,” Poinsetta says.

Source: Vazilyn Poinsetta, owner of AVC Kitchens
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.