VALDOSTA, Ga. (WALB) — Most people can point to one place where their love of food was born, a warm kitchen, a familiar smell, a person who made it all feel like home. For Sachem Lane, that place was her grandmother’s kitchen.

“It’s always that feeling, you know, when you’re in your grandma’s kitchen,” Lane said. “It’s something about the cooking, the aromatic smell that you get. And you’re like, okay, I want to know a little more about it.”

That curiosity never left her. When her grandmother passed away in 2010, Lane made a promise to herself to keep cooking, if only to hold onto those memories.

“I was like, you know what, I’m going to make it something that I do just for a hobby,” she said.

But a hobby wasn’t enough to contain what she had. Lane soon realized the culinary world was far bigger than she had imagined.

“That hobby became a little more bigger when I realized it’s much more to just cooking. It’s other career fields in the culinary industry,” she said. “So I was like, I’m going to take chances and get into culinary school.”

She did exactly that. Lane enrolled in culinary school around 2018 and graduated in 2020 with her associate’s degree, right in the middle of a pandemic that would reshape her path in ways she never expected.

Lane had been competing in SkillsUSA, an organization where technical students showcase their skills at the state and national level. She was set to compete in culinary arts her final semester until COVID shut it all down.

“Sometimes God does a turnaround for you,” she said. “And He did that for me.”

That turnaround came in the form of a new role. Lane went from competitor to judge, becoming a state and national judge for SkillsUSA. That position put her in front of a new generation of culinary students who saw something in her they hadn’t seen before.

“I remember in my first year of judging, I had a Mohawk, and my hair was purple, blue, and black,” she recalled with a laugh. “The students waited so patiently after the competition just to talk to me. It felt amazing.”

For many of those students, Lane was the first African-American woman judge they had ever seen at a SkillsUSA event. She didn’t take that lightly.

“It took me out of my comfort zone, and I took it, and I ran with it,” she said.

Lane wears many hats. She is a trained chef, a culinary arts adjunct instructor at Wiregrass Technical College, a senior at Valdosta State University studying workforce education development, and a judge for SkillsUSA. Now, she can add Favorite Chef competitor to that list.

“Yes, I have a busy schedule, but I make time for what’s important to me and what can be a big give back to the community,” she said.

Lane discovered the Favorite Chef Challenge through chefs she admired, including a former boss and a fellow culinary school alumni. She decided it was time to step out on faith once more.

“I was super excited when I got chosen to be a part of it, because I actually stepped out of my comfort zone,” she said. “I was like, this is different to do it online versus in person. So I said, you know what, let’s take some chances.”

Those chances are paying off. As of her last check, Lane was sitting in first place in her group — with the top 5 cutoff approaching fast.

The Favorite Chef Challenge gives one culinary creator the opportunity to appear in Taste of Home Magazine, take home $25,000, and cook alongside celebrity chef Carla Hall on an episode of Chewed Up.

For Lane, the competition is about more than a prize. It’s about honoring where she came from and inspiring others to find their own path. She is currently the only family member who can make chicken and rice just like her grandmother, a recipe that lives on through every dish she creates.

Her message to anyone still searching for their dream is simple.

“I will tell anybody, always follow your heart. If you know something’s missing, and it’s nothing that you’re doing, find something that’s going on, speak loud, and make a statement,” she said. “I’m pretty sure if I would have given up, I wouldn’t be here today with my passion and what I love to do.”

Want to help Sachem Lane make it to the next round? Voting for the top 5 is open now through Thursday, July 2 at 7 pm PST/10 PM EST— and voting continues even after the cutoff.

👉 Cast your vote here: favchef.com/2026/sachem-lane

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