FACES of Louisville: Brooke Vaughn
Brooke Vaughn is the FACE behind Please & Thank You, a combination coffee shop, restaurant and music store located in NuLu on Market Street.
Brooke Vaughn is the FACE behind Please & Thank You, a combination coffee shop, restaurant and music store located in NuLu on Market Street. This coffee shop owner only drinks a few sips of coffee a day, focusing instead on her main passion: cooking, baking to be specific. One taste of her chocolate chip cookies and you know why.
What do you do for a living?
I hustle legal stimulants and sell vinyl records.
Do you drink coffee all day?
No, but my husband does. I drink maybe a 1/2 cup of coffee a day, but I pour myself at least 3 cups. Iβm pretty wasteful with it. I drink ice water allllll day.
When did you discover that you have a talent for baking?
Iβm actually not sure that I have a talent for baking. Iβve always had a strong will, a fair amount of ambition and high standards. I feel like I can do a good job at anything I feel passionate about. And I feel stupidly passionate about chocolate chip cookies.
What is your specialty in the kitchen?
Chocolate Chip Cookies, DUH!
What do you take in your coffee?
I drink it black.
Where is your favorite cup of coffee other than P&TY?
I think Tommie at Cafe Classico has the best Americano in town.
What is your special talent?
I have a wicked spider sense. Its creepy and curious.
How do you balance your job and your personal life?
Oh, Iβm spoiled. My life balance and sanity is completely a nod to my husband, Jason Pierce. There is nothing he canβt and wonβt do. Heβs the most incredible human Iβve yet to meet. He is the breakfast maker, the champagne pourer, the flower giver, the dish washer, the dog walker, the bread winner, the listener, the navigator and on and on. And itβs not like heβs a stay-at-home Dad; he also owns and operates his own design firm, Mperfect Design. We are equal parts. And we are super creative together, even 10 years deep into this affair.
What is the biggest life lesson you have ever learned?
Let go and be loving.
Who is your mentor?
Funny, Iβve had mentors without ever knowing it. And I think that is the keyβyou donβt know youβre being schooled until youβve learned the lesson, right? I try to surround myself with and employ people who inspire me: painters, restauranteurs, athletes, designers, bikers, writers, actors, rock nβ rollers and such.
What is best advice you have received in business?
Never enter a business partnership with someone you do not know and/or trust.
If you were not in your current job, what would you secretly love to do?
Itβs no secret. I want to run an urban B&B!
What is something people would be surprised to know about you?
I own a gun.
Where is your favorite place to go for dinner?
Itβs almost March Madness and we are a NCAA Basketball family. Naturally, Sportstime Pizza across the river is my place right now. The Breadsticks with Beer Cheese have to be my favorite weekly regret.
Where do you like to shop?
I adore Cargo. And I always seem to have luck at The Flea Off Market.
What is a treat or a luxury you allow yourself?
Sundays are my luxury! I spend Sunday afternoons working out to Jillian MIchaelβs DVDβs, drinking bubbly and cooking with my BFF Alicia.
What is your favorite thing to do in Louisville?
Work.
Three things you cannot live without (besides God, family and friends):
Bathtubs, Miles DavisβΒ Kind of Blue, and enjoying beating hot sun rays outside.
What are you reading right now?
The Refinery 29 Blog, Twitter,Β Food & Wine, Eat Good Food, the Bi-Rite Market book, The Joy of Cooking, and Baked Elements: Our Ten Favorite Ingredients.
What are three of your βfavoriteβ things right now (can be anything).
1.Everyseed Bagels with Roasted Cauliflower Cream Cheese from Little Goat in Chicago.
2. Blowdrying my daughterβs short hair.
3. Listening to REM and thinking about 90210.
Thank you to Brooke Vaughn for taking time out of her busy chocolate chip cookie baking to meet with us.Β For more information on Please & Thank You, click here.
A huge thanks to Adele Reding and her beautiful photography for our FACES of Louisville.Β For more information on Adele, please click here.
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