Watching Laura Martinez flambé mushrooms, it’s clear she is a great culinary professional. As the flame gets higher, the mushrooms move rhythmically around the pan. She listens to the sounds and takes in the scent of the mushrooms to know they are perfectly cooked. Along with being a great culinary professional, Laura also happens to be blind.

“I had to learn to feel the food or to smell or listen to the sound it made in the pan,” said Laura. “I can tell by feel whether the meat is raw, medium or well done. You just learn through time.”

Laura suffered from eye cancer when she was one years old and has been completely blind ever since. As a child, her mother treated her the same as her siblings, and Laura was unaware for years that she was different.

"I thought everyone saw the way I did," she said.

As a child, Laura and her brother would steal knifes from her mother’s kitchen and dissect leaves in the backyard. Laura’s love of knives grew, and she hoped to one day be a surgeon. When she realized her condition, she had to change her career aspirations.

"I eventually realized that being a culinary professional would be a little like being a surgeon. At least I'd be able to use my knives," she said.

At 25, Laura moved from Moline, Ill. to Chicago to enroll at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Chicago. With the help of supportive instructors and a classroom volunteer, Laura was able to learn the foundational skills of cooking along side her classmates. Laura recently graduated and accepted a position at Charlie Trotter’s restaurant.

Ultimately, Laura dreams of opening her own restaurant in Miami. She plans to serve dishes that blend Mexican and Italian cuisine. It will be called La Diosa, which translates to “the goddess.”