ML - Michigan Avenue

2015 - Issue 3 - May/June

Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!

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OPPOSITE PAGE: Dress, Cushnie et Ochs ($1,400). Neiman Marcus, 737 N. Michigan Ave., 312-642-5900; neimanmarcus.com. 5.06-carat white round diamond earrings, 19.65-carat white multi-shape diamond butterfly necklace, and 9.71-carat white diamond butterfly-motif watch (all price on request), Graff. 103 E. Oak St., 312-604-1000; graffdiamonds.com. Rockstud heels, Valentino ($1,075). Saks Fifth Avenue, 700 N. Michigan Ave., 312-944-6500; saks.com THIS PAGE: Clothing and accessories, Dey's own The Restaurateur ROHINI DEY While working for McKinsey & Company, a job that often had her on the road and dining out, Rohini Dey decided she'd had enough of the buffet-quality Indian food typically available in the States. In 2003, the India native and lifelong foodie opened her first restaurant, Vermilion, in River North, opening a second outpost in New York five years later. "My family was taken aback," says the PhD and former economist. "Even I'm still baff led by the turn my life has taken." Yet Vermilion, with its distinctive Indian-Latin fusions, picked up a slew of "best new restaurant" accolades. The 46 -year-old mother of two young daughters has also emerged as a vocal advocate for women in her industry. In addition to being a member of a range of organiz- ations that support women in business, from The Chicago Network to the International Women's Forum, Dey also founded the James Beard Foundation Vermilion Women in Culinary Leadership mentorship program, which cultivates women leaders in the dining industry. THE GENDER GAP: "It's very rare to find stand-alone women executive chefs, meaning not part of a family business, and even rarer to come across women restaurateurs. It's a Catch-22: The paucity of women leads to the paucity of women." STRONGEST INFLUENCE: "My husband, Sajal Kohli. He has a very positive, can-do attitude, and I've gotten a lot of my sense of persistence and doggedness from him." BIGGEST CHALLENGE: "When I opened Vermilion in Chicago, it didn't help that I was pregnant and that my baby came two weeks before the opening." DOWNTIME: "My source of renewal is working out. I climbed Kilimanjaro to celebrate my 40th—physically by far the most difficult thing I've done." MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 111

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