ENA FROST R

HER WORDS TO LIVE BY

Chef Rena Frost attributes her culinary training to her Korean mother who made her incredible traditional dishes with what was available for her in a city that had no Korean market. “I also learned how to garden and cook traditional West Texas food from my American father. My love of cooking grew, as did my passion for reading cookbooks, traveling and trying the dishes that sounded the most interesting,” Rena notes. After graduating from college and working in finance and accounting, she pursued a career in the restaurant business. She had worked for several different restaurants in high school at the front and back of the house. She took a leap of faith joining an established independent restaurant showing growth. “I signed on as the VP/Director of Operations in 1993 and did menu development along with my other duties. Leaning towards my travels and heritage I was able to add my own touch to our menu,” she recalls. After 18 years as a minority partner, she purchased the Arlington and Colleyville locations with her husband, Howard. In 2014, they opened the location in Grapevine. Rena says she’s usually in the kitchen creating new menu items or updating the wine list while “tasting” at the bar. Above all else, she says that, “Always giving back to the community you do business in should be at the core of your business model. The rewards of giving through your time, talent or financially cannot be measured.” In her spare time she’s created and published recipes for Food & Wine, Avocados from Mexico, American Heart Association, FLAVOR, PLATE, and other local magazines. But, she considers her greatest professional accomplishment being invited to cook at the 2022 World Expo in Dubai in the Australian pavilion for Aussie Meat & Lamb. No matter what she’s cooking, her husband (aka Official Recipe Tester), three adult children, and three grandchildren are waiting to take a bite!

Dragons Care Founder & President Chairman of the Board dragons-care.org

Awarded Volunteer of Year by the Southlake Chamber of Commerce

Carroll ISD Strategic Planning Committee Member

Southlake Public Library Board Member

Carroll Leadership for Supporting Success Graduate

Carroll Education Foundation (CEF)

Raises funds to support teacher salaries at Carroll ISD

Carroll ISD Communications Action Team

Carroll ISD Parent Teacher Organizations

Southlake Foundation

Southlake Chamber of Commerce

Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity

Development, Marketing, and Volunteer Coordination

Virginia Hinkle

Founder, President & Chairman of the Board for Dragons Care

Virginia Hinkle built Dragons Care from the ground up with a team of parent volunteers from Carroll ISD. Beginning fall 2020, she saw a need for helping when people became gravely ill with COVID. “At my kid’s elementary school, I started a group with nine families to provide two weeks worth of meals, paper goods, cleaning essentials, and groceries to help families recover. When my family moved to another Southlake school zone, that campus asked us to start the same group. I was getting requests from other Carroll ISD campuses asking us to help support staff. So, we turned our grassroots effort of helping one person at one elementary school campus into an official 501c3 charity that’s district-wide and helps all the staff in our public school system,” she notes. “I want to bring community together, rallying everyone to support the exceptional educators, staff members, School Resource Officers at Carroll ISD who are facing illnesses, injuries, or family tragedies. I envision us embracing a spirit of abundant affection, coming together and getting ‘Loud with Love.’ We boast an immensely generous community, as evidenced by the fact that, over two years, every need has been fulfilled within 48 hours. I aim to sustain this incredible support during their most challenging times.” Establishing and guiding Dragons Care has been her greatest achievement in her professional journey... despite the fact it’s the only position she’s had without monetary compensation. It represents her true vocation and the driving force behind her passion. “My faith has taught me to ‘hear, believe and obey’ and that guiding principle has brought me here with the incredible support of my loving husband, Roth, and our two children, Audrey and Charlotte.” At the end of a long day, Virginia cherishes cuddling up with family, including the dogs, to watch a funny movie, eat popcorn and read bedtime stories.

Walking on the Glass Floor Foundation

Supports and empowers women by sourcing, publishing and distributing educational materials for women in and aspiring to leadership positions and organizations that support women in leadership

No Kid Hungry

Connecting vulnerable kids in communities around the country with the nutritious food they need to grow and thrive

Hallie’s Heroes

Pigtails can change the world— working to get as many people as possible to join the bone marrow registry to save lives

Fearless Dallas

Helps women and gender minorities ages 18+ learn valuable life skills through full circle mentorship

Women Veterans Enterprise Center

Empower entrepreneur women associated with the military to scale for success

Author of 4 Books

Including “Selling in a Skirt”

“Walking on the Glass Floor”

Selling in a Skirt

If you want to connect with me, my website is... sellinginaskirt.com