Some are born with a silver spoon in their mouth – Lisa Slater arrived with a spatula. Although Lisa believes she started cooking at the ageof three months, family lore says her baking career began with a pineapple upside-down cake at the age of nine.

Lisa started her first restaurant in New York City in 1979, when she was 28. After moving to Canada, she ran a countrywide coffee businessand opened a 200-seat restaurant and bakery in Toronto. Lisa’s many years in the restaurant and food business have included stints as achef, pastry chef, coffee connoisseur, bagel and bread baker, and gourmet food sleuth. She has even squeezed in time to complete a stage in a Parisian patisserie and an apprenticeship in a traditional Jewish bakery. Today, she’s a manager at Whole Foods Market in Toronto, where the brownies, made from one of her recipes, are a best seller.

Despite her family’s advice to take a cold shower, anytime she thinks about starting a new food business, she is wedded to the crazy hours,demanding customers, and constant variety. She has been nominated threetimes for outstanding entrepreneur awards, but her greatest reward is pleasing her family, friends, and customers with a new recipe.

When not testing recipes, Lisa travels around the world with her husband to obscure bakeries, hard-to-find restaurants, andearly-morning food markets. “Sharing my brownie recipes with a wider audience is a great thrill for me,” she says. “Life’s too short not to enjoy a few gooey pleasures.”