Heels and Kitchen: The World Is Your Oyster Says Vaiva From Lithuania
We love to feature entrepreneurial Europeans to the other Europeans and everyone else who shares our love for Europe, its culture and people. Chicago is one of the hubs that has a lot of Europeans.
However, you don’t meet so many Lithuanians – we were thrilled to learn about Vaiva’s business.
Who are you?
My name is Vaiva Grama ,I’m originally from Lithuania and I came to Chicago in 2002 .
What is the name of your business?
Heels And Kitchen
What type of business is that – a cool name?
It’s a Traveling Oyster Bar
What’s the reason for starting?
Well, I always enjoyed cooking from a young age and always looked for interesting ideas to cook and entertain people. I love oysters and most seafood so I thought who doesn’t like fresh oysters and champagne?!! It’s perfect for any occasion from a wedding cocktail hour to a birthday party or any other special occasion you might have or simply just to enjoy fresh oysters.
We also offer a few menus to choose from and we can decorate to suit your theme.
I didn’t want just to be another catering business who brings food and leaves, so we offer the whole experience from discussing the various kinds of oysters and best ways to eat them to having our Oyster Girls mingle around your party while shucking and serving your guest right on The spot. We also offer wonderful entertainment , including our most popular entertainer Noelle. She is an amazing violin player who can make your cocktail hour come to life! Noelle has worked with Jenifer Lopez, Andre Bocelli, Mark Anthony and many other celebrities.
It’s NOT your traditional catering , so if you are looking for something new and unique to wow your guests a Traveling Oyster bar is a way to go.
Where are you located?
We’ll travel anywhere in Chicago and surrounding areas.
Who is your role mode?
I’m trying to be my own role model, and every day try to be better than I was yesterday …. at the end of the day I’m the one who has to live with myself and like myself.
To become our best selves, we first have to be our worst selves. So make your mistakes, and take them in stride; they’re just part of the road map leading to the person you always wished you could be.
How do you define success?
Success is looking back at your life when you are in your last moments and possessing a great amount of pride of your creations, accomplishments and legacy, while having little to no regrets about what you didn’t do and what opportunities you missed out on. if I can die feeling this way, I believe this is success.
What do you miss the most about living in Europe?
I think what I missed the most about living in Europe is a time spent with family and friends. I simply miss those days where I was just baking a bread with my grandma or I was just walking in Old Town with my dad. When you can’t see them anytime you really appreciate the times when you get to.
What is the biggest disappointment in humanity?
My biggest disappointment in humanity is that we find the time to drive an hour to the mall for new shoes or across the country for a wedding dress but seem not to find time to go visit our loved ones who lives near by. We change our priorities and forget a true meaning of life.
What do you want people to know?
I just want say to everyone out there who might be struggling, who might just moved to a new country and don’t have any friends or family or don’t speak the language, I want to say that no matter where life is taking you, try to always look deep inside of your heart and tell yourself I’M GONNA BE OK.
THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER,IT’S UP TO YOU TO FIND A PEARL.
