It was Friday. It was dinner time. James Beard-nominated chef Angela Dimayuga was in the kitchen of her restaurant, Mission Chinese in New York City.
Her phone buzzed with an alert. The Instagram message was from a writer who had admired the chef and businesswoman's "pioneering work in the culinary field," and wanted to write profile of Dimayuga for "a nonpolitical platform of empowerment for modern women."
That platform? IvankaTrump.com.
"I couldn't really react because (we were) in the middle of a really busy service. But I just couldn't believe it,” Dimayuga says.
Dimayuga is a Filipina American chef at a Chinese-fusion restaurant. She took part in January's Women's March on Washington. She opposes much of President Donald Trump’s political platform, like the visa and travel ban for people from certain mostly Muslim countries, and efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. Ivanka Trump isn’t just the president's daughter, she's a key member of his administration with a formal position in the West Wing.
Dimayuga spent the weekend considering exactly what she wanted to do.
She made her response public on instagram, and the post went viral.
Food is a central expression of identity for the chef, just as her note to to Ivanka Trump was. And she seems satisfied with her role in leading the way. "I think what I see is that people are looking for ambassadors and appointing them. And I feel like in a way I've been appointed," Dimayuga says.
The morning Dimayuga saw that her message was going viral, she noticed a new Instagram follower, Ivanka Trump.
Angela Dimayuga's instagram is full of artists and creative types. So is Ivanka Trump's.
Angela Dimayuga (@swimsuit_issue)/ Insagram
It's disconcerting for her that she can disagree so strongly with what the Trump brand stands for, and have so much in common with Ivanka Trump.
You can listen to the full episode of this episode of the Otherhood podcast on iTunes here, or however you gobble up your favorite podcasts.
From PRI's The World ©2017 PRI
