After a fifteen-plus year career in financial services and attending the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago (CHIC) Lisa began her second career opening Southport Grocery and Café in Chicago in 2003. The grocery and café showcases made-from-scratch, high quality menu items. Ingredients from local producers are used whenever possible. The seasons are extended through their canning/preserving. Lisa believes in the tradition of food as a catalyst for bringing people together – she uses many family recipes and as well continuously builds her own food traditions at Southport Grocery. Lisa is on the Southport Neighbors Association board and through this board helped start the Southport Green Market.