Combine high-octane fuel with double-strength caffeine and a spurt of typhoon-level winds and you end up with Allison Sosna, the 25-year-old contract foods executive chef for DC Central Kitchen’s catering business, Fresh Start. Unlike most catering companies, Fresh Start provides farm-to-table catering to the public, to seven District public schools, one charter school, one day care center and one private middle school for low-income boys. It must take that amount of energy to handle it all.

A native of New Jersey (but born in Brooklyn), Sosna concedes to having two overarching passions in life: sports and cooking.