My story starts at my own kitchen counter.
Hi! I’m Micole, The Counter founder…
Like most founders, my life led me here.
At the age of 14, my world was turned upside down when I lost my father suddenly to suicide. I was raised in a home where the realities of mental health, ADHD and disordered eating were not only present, but intimately felt.
Those early experiences may have instilled me with the values I lead with: compassion, warmth and radical acceptance. But it was your stories… the thousands of conversations I’ve had over the years, that ultimately led me to launch The Counter.
Like so many of you, I spent years stuck in exhausting cycles of disordered eating, overthinking and burnout. Unaware of how my anxiety, ADHD and CPTSD turned simple daily tasks into upbhill battles. I constantly carried the shame of falling short.
Here I was – a trained chef with a lifetime of professional and personal experience in the kitchen. And I was still struggling to nourish myself consistently.
The truth is, culinary school didn’t change my life for the reasons people imagine.
Culinary school was when I realized that no amount of expert technique can rescue you from yourself. Because food and mental health have been holding hands since childhood, right?
I created The Counter to be the space I needed.
The metaphorical table you feel safe walking up to, even though you’re in a room full of strangers.
At The Counter we acknowledge how our hearts impact our plate. We honor the complexity and nuance of food and well-being. We heal our bodies and our minds from a place far deeper than meal plans or macros. And at The Counter, there is room for every body, every heart, every story.
This isn’t just a membership. It’s a space for regenerative care. And I would love for you to be a part of our community.
