‘Top Chef’ Season 5 open audition

Sybil Yang, 31

PhD candidate, Cornell University

Your background is non-traditional…
I used to be in banking, working as a venture capitalist in San Francisco, and in between waiting to start an MBA program at Cornell, I took a restaurant job and a bakery job—and ended up delaying for a year.

What do you bring to the table?
To be a wonderful executive chef you need to be well-rounded. You not only have to have the technical skills and flavor palate, but you also have to know how to manage people correctly and know how the restaurant works, not just front/back house, but back office as well.