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Meet Chef Rene
Chef. Founder. Author. Mentor. Community builder.
Chef Rene Johnson knows what it means to build something from scratch.
As an entrepreneur for over 35 years and the founder of Blackberry Soul Fine Catering, she transformed a lifelong love of food into a thriving Bay Area business known for deeply flavorful cuisine, thoughtful hospitality, and memorable experiences. Along the way, she learned that talent and hard work are only part of what it takes to grow.
Building a sustainable business also requires visibility, trusted relationships, strong systems, and a community that understands the journey.
Those lessons inspired Chef Rene to create Link & Thrive a space where women entrepreneurs can connect, learn, share resources, and help one another move forward.
From the kitchen to entrepreneurship
Chef Rene’s relationship with food began in her grandmother’s kitchen.
Her grandmother cooked from scratch using family recipes, fresh ingredients, and knowledge that rarely came with written measurements. Chef Rene remembers the garden, the peaches and blackberries, and the feeling of being surrounded by family while food came together with love. Those memories later inspired the name Blackberry Soul.
But Chef Rene did not take a traditional path into the culinary world.
She spent years working in finance and the mortgage industry, often bringing homemade desserts to her clients. When the mortgage crisis changed the direction of her career, she returned to the food, creativity, and connection that had always felt like home.
In 2008, she founded Blackberry Soul Fine Catering.
She built the company through relationships, persistence, hard lessons, and a willingness to learn every part of the business—not just the craft she loved.
Today, Blackberry Soul creates culinary and hospitality experiences for intimate dinners, corporate events, fundraisers, cultural celebrations, and gatherings of more than 2,500 guests. Chef Rene’s work has been featured by Forbes, Business Insider, EBONY, HuffPost, KRON 4, and other media outlets. In 2025, she was named Powerful Women of the Bay Entrepreneur of the Year.
See Chef Rene’s media coverage →
The lessons behind Link & Thrive
Chef Rene learned firsthand that being excellent at your craft does not automatically make a business grow.
She had spent years perfecting her food, but Blackberry Soul could only go so far while she carried everything herself—and while too few people knew the company existed. She had to learn how to build a dependable team, introduce herself in unfamiliar rooms, communicate her value, and create relationships that could open new doors.
She also learned that keeping something good to yourself can prevent it from reaching the people who need it.
Link & Thrive is the community Chef Rene wishes she had while learning those lessons.
It brings together women at every stage of entrepreneurship, from those developing their first business idea to established founders preparing for their next level of growth. Members gain practical knowledge, meaningful connections, and the opportunity to learn from women who understand both the challenges and possibilities of building a business.
Chef Rene has shared her entrepreneurial journey at Google and in rooms throughout the Bay Area. Wherever she speaks, her message is grounded in lived experience: you do not have to build alone, and the right relationships can change the direction of your business.
Leadership rooted in care
Chef Rene is warm, funny, charming, sharp, demanding, and direct.
People close to her sometimes describe her as a chef who “cusses and kisses.” She will tell someone exactly what needs to improve, explain why it matters, and then remind them of what they are capable of becoming.
Her directness comes from care.
She believes standards protect the work, the people doing it, and the communities they serve. She leads with the perspective of a seasoned business owner and the imagination of an artist who can see the finished experience before anyone else enters the room.
That same combination of honesty, encouragement, and accountability shapes Link & Thrive.
Community is at the heart of the work
For Chef Rene, bringing people together has never been limited to business.
She created the Soul Food Stroll as a celebration of food, music, history, and Black culture. The experience welcomes people of different races, generations, and backgrounds to eat, dance, laugh, and connect. Guests often leave feeling as though they have joined a wider circle of family and friends.
Chef Rene also uses food to serve her community. She has opened her kitchen to organizations preparing meals for people experiencing homelessness, partnered with her granddaughter’s Girl Scout troop to cook for families staying at Ronald McDonald House, and taught cooking classes for teenage mothers.
That work carries personal meaning because Chef Rene became a mother as a teenager. She understands what it takes to care for a child while still growing into yourself. She teaches young mothers without judgment, giving them practical skills they can use immediately.
Her cookbook, From My Heart to Your Table, continues that tradition of sharing. It brings together traditional and plant-based soul food recipes inspired by her grandmothers, including recipes that have been part of her family for generations.
Explore Chef Rene’s cookbook →
Bringing women together to grow
Chef Rene Johnson has built her life around creating experiences people remember.
Sometimes she does it through a beautifully prepared meal. Sometimes it happens on a crowded dance floor, during an honest conversation, or inside a room filled with women helping one another grow.
Link & Thrive is an extension of that life’s work: a place where women entrepreneurs can be seen, supported, challenged, and connected to opportunities larger than the ones they could create alone.
Because when women link, they thrive.
