Yolonda James: My Journey To Here

The first job that I started was a silk-screening operation when I was 17. I sold a silk-screening job, knew nothing about it, so I educated myself completed the job and received high praise for the work that I did. This turned out to be a part-time summer job between my junior and senior year in high school.
Joined the navy in January 1974.
After my enlistment in the Navy was up I joined a church and offered my services as a caterer. One of the first catering jobs was for a French style wedding celebration. I then went on to do a number of fundraisers and catered for about 200 people a five course meal.
In 1986 I worked with my brother and helping to develop the very first wide format vinyl cutter which revolutionized the whole sign industry. Now every sign shop is a vinyl cutter.
In 1993 I was granted another patent that changed the sign industry forever. I remember, at an international sign making convention in the early 1990’s put on by signs of the times, I was taken up to the mezzanine by the then technical editor who looked at me waving his arm over the convention and said. “See Patrick this is what you’ve done. http://laser_info.blogspot.com”. As this time, 1990, I founded Edgewise Tool, Inc to manufacture my version of a large format vinyl cutter which lead to the development of US 526-2612 – computer-controlled laser cutter was just beginning to change the sign and textile industries like the first wide format vinyl cutter I worked on with my brother. This patent was ultimately used, and I heard mandated, by major-league baseball for kiss cutting multiple colored team uniform names. Now every American professional sport industry, and probably the international ones also, uses this patent to create their logos. EdgeWise Tools ultimately turned into a custom laser manufacturing corporation. In 2003 I was granted a US patent number US6563078, Gore cutter and flatbed single direction cutter. This was designed and developed for NASA’s ULDB (ultra long-duration balloon) program. After 17 years EdgeWise Tools, Inc. was sold and I was now free to pursue my true passion which is cooking.
I began cooking when I was 10 years old, taught by my German grandmother

OMA

while being raised on the American hospital base at Landstuhl. My German mother

My Mother

was also very instrumental in my pursuit of food preparation. I also have extensive training in French cooking and became an accomplished sous chef. My chosen area of cooking was barbecue. I began, again, by learning everything I could about barbecuing by building from scratch my own smoker. I then began to incorporate all my previous training into developing a cuisine that would make other people happy. I developed my own techniques, my own sauces and rubs. These all afforded me the opportunity to enter and win competitions. After gaining the knowledge and confidence that I could make people happy. I pursued catering to our wounded troops overseas. This came about approximately six weeks after my Army veteran father passed away and I had a burning desire to return to Landstuhl,Germany to barbecue for the wounded troops at the hospital. I did this beginning in 2008, twice a year, around Christmas and the Fourth of July, until 2011. What I found to be my greatest accomplishment was that these barbecues were just about a cuisine they were about an event. An event that brought healing to these wounded troops. I did not know that I would have this type of effect on these young men and women until a major general and the commanding chaplain told me that these barbecues brought back happy memories to these wounded. And the blessings from the barbecues went on for months after I left.
In December 2016 my brother approached me with a revolutionary way to grill that stems back hundreds of years and from our German heritage. We have worked tirelessly to perfect this tool that will turn grilling into an event. Barbecue as changed for me as it is no longer a cuisine but an event. This is the passion that drives me to create the TurboGrill and it’s supporting website, to pass on my unique understanding, technology and passion I have been absorbing for over 50 years.