Cheffin’ It Up: Mona Bronson-Fuqua Connects Students With Their ‘Cultural Inheritance’ at La Soupe and Beyond
Chef Mona Bronson-Fuqua, one of La Soupe’s contract instructors, shows a student how to properly hold a knife.
The Cheffin’ It Up series showcases La Soupe’s in-house cooks, contract instructors, and volunteers, exploring the core ingredients that make up their distinct character in the kitchen.
Even as a young girl, Mona Bronson-Fuqua knew she wanted to be a chef. But making that dream come true took time, patience, and a little push from those closest to her.
In 2026, Bronson-Fuqua lives the delicious life she always imagined. She owns her own culinary company, Je Ne Sais Fuqua LLC, that offers cooking classes and catering services. She also lends her passion to La Soupe as a contract educator.
Life at La Soupe
When it comes to La Soupe, Bronson-Fuqua said she enjoys forming brief but meaningful connections with her students. She sees food as a “cultural inheritance” that too many people have been robbed of, so helping them find a sense of belonging in the kitchen is her main focus as an educator.
Bronson-Fuqua confessed that Cooking Improv classes “have her heart,” as the format permits a greater sense of spontaneity. However, she appreciates how La Soupe’s other courses serve as pivotal building blocks for beginners, likening them to the standard notes young singers must learn before making beautiful music.
“Give a Crock™ and Cooking for the Family are the ‘do-re-mi’ that allow you to then improvise and either be able to scat like Ella [Fitzgerald], or climb the hills and make the hills alive with the sound of music,” Bronson-Fuqua said. “Whichever the case may be, you have to have the foundation in order to be able to move to the next step.”
Chef Mona Bronson-Fuqua embraces a participant during a Culinary Education class.
Once, while teaching at a local school, Bronson-Fuqua said she encountered a girl who wanted to become a lawyer. Because her sister is an attorney, Bronson-Fuqua happened to know about a specific program called Summer Work Experience in Law—also known as SWEL—that connects many minority high school and college students with law internships across Ohio.
Bronson-Fuqua said she immediately put SWEL on the student’s radar, marching her to the counselor’s office to ensure school officials were also aware of this opportunity.
Some years later, while attending a University of Cincinnati event with her husband, Bronson-Fuqua was unexpectedly tackled with a hug. It was her former student, who excitedly explained she was following her dream after all. And in a small but powerful way, Bronson-Fuqua and La Soupe had given her the encouragement she needed to get there.
“You can’t ask for more than that: to have what you do for a living be a through line that allows people to build a ground-level confidence that sometimes takes them forward to what their mission is supposed to be.”
More About Mona
Bronson-Fuqua learned how to cook at her grandmother’s right hand, absorbing techniques and recipes through familial “osmosis.” Though she wanted to pursue a culinary education after graduating from Walnut Hills High School, she set aside her ambition to please her parents, who worried about their daughter’s level of job security.
Down the line, when Bronson-Fuqua’s son wanted to become an actor, she decided to send him to culinary school first. That way, she could rest easy knowing that he could always feed himself.
Through her own child, Bronson-Fuqua saw a tantalizing glimmer of the future she almost had. But then an epiphany struck: The future was still unwritten.
“When he was graduating, he had a classmate that was the same age as me,” she said. “And I said, ‘Oh, I always wanted to go to culinary school.’ And my child turned and looked at me and said, ‘You told me that anything I wanted bad enough to work for it, I can have, and if it’s true for me, it’s true for you.’”
Shortly after, Bronson-Fuqua decided to finally take the plunge and become a professional chef. When she told her grandmother that she was casting aside others’ expectations to finally embrace her lifelong goal, she found the support she needed to charge ahead.
“It was the last time I saw her stand up on her feet,” Bronson-Fuqua said. “She stood up and clapped her hands, and she said, ‘I’m glad I lived long enough to hear you say that.’”
Bronson-Fuqua went on to receive culinary training at Cincinnati COOKS!, and the rest is history.
Chef Mona Bronson-Fuqua poses with some of her students following a Culinary Education class at La Soupe’s Walnut Hills kitchen.
What Comes Next?
The more La Soupe can expand its culinary education offerings, the happier Bronson-Fuqua will be. In her ideal world, learning how to cook wholesome meals with limited resources would be as easy as walking through the nonprofit’s doors.
“Ultimately, I would love to be in a position where people show up at the door and say, ‘I want to learn how to cook today,’ and I can say, ‘Come on in the door. Let’s do it! Let’s talk about it. What is it that you know how to cook? What don’t you know how to cook? What would you like to learn?’” Bronson-Fuqua said.
Want to sign up for a class with Mona or pursue volunteer opportunities at La Soupe? Visit our website for all the details.
Rapid-Fire Revelations
Ultimate comfort meal: Greens, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, and chicken tetrazzini
Underrated ingredient(s) of choice: Nutritional yeast, okra, and smoked paprika
Culinary inspiration(s): Her elders and ancestors, who look over her shoulder “always and forever”
Defining trait as an educator: Spontaneity as a self-described “freestyling foodie”
Best piece(s) of advice for beginners: “Don’t be afraid to fail, because the mistake that you made today may become the meal that you love tomorrow.”