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Successful Women of the South Hills
By Martin Schultz
Who are they, these female Olympians of the South Hills? What drives them to succeed, often against tough odds? How
do they define their own success? Over the course of 2008,
The South Fayette SourceTM will profile some of those
in the arts, in business and commerce, in local politics,
even in the day-to-day struggle to make ends meet and raise
families, who have made a success of their efforts.
Mirage of a Perfect Candlelit Dinner
Building a successful career by creating visions of the most
delectable food that can never be eaten
Surrounded by basket after basket of table cloths and silverware, stacks and stacks of dishes of every shade, and various pans and pots, and a fishing tackle box filled with small bottles, Kathleen Refosco surveys the kitchen
like a general the battlefield. They both strategize to deliver hoped-for solutions.
Refosco starts by washing and drying
the turkey. The next big step is deciding
on the skin color. In individual bottles are
small quantities of karo syrup, oil, molasses
and burned sugar. Each coloring agent
produces a specific roasted appearance
depending on how “cooked” the turkey is
meant to look for its final appearance.
At this point, the cavity is filled to the
brim with mashed potato “stuffing” (more
convenient and less messy than real stuffing),
the legs are tucked in, and the skin is pulled
back and pinned to keep it taut. A little
water is added to the pan, a foil tent is
wrapped around the bird and it goes into
the oven. A few minutes of steam cooking
and the bird is removed from the oven.
Now dishwashing liquid is mixed with the
coloring agent and spread over the skin.
This helps to break down the fat on the
surface and give the coloring agent, such as
the burnt sugar syrup, better adherence.
The turkey is returned to the oven, and
cooked to its desired color. It is deliberately
underdone to avoid the somewhat shriveled
skin texture, uneven roasted color and
somewhat less shapely form of a fully-cooked
turkey. In this exercise, appearance is
everything. With its artificially induced
cooked color and super-firm texture, this
turkey looks richly roasted, perfectly plump,
and delectably delicious. It looks ready for
the table, even though this turkey is not
intended to be eaten.
If gazing on this turkey induces consumers to start salivating over fantasies of
Thanksgiving dinner, then Kathleen Refosco
has done her job. Refosco is a food designer,
sometimes also referred to as a food stylist.
Food designers belong to a small fraternity of
professionals who are called upon to prepare
food items for photographic perfection. Most
are located in New York, Chicago and Los
Angeles, within reach of the major ad agencies
who count grocery chains and large food
manufacturers among their clients. These
agencies are commissioned to produce the
mouthwatering images of steaming soups and
charbroiled steaks and chocolate ice cream for
TV commercials, magazine advertisements (and
sometimes food-related feature stories), Internet
recipes and newspaper circulars.
There are few food stylists who have made
Pittsburgh their base work on assignments for
Heinz, Eat ’n Park and Giant Eagle, among
others. Every week, Refosco along with her
sister (and also her partner), Anne Marie, drive
to a photographic studio or a kitchen/studio of
a local grocery chain to shoot food items for
newspaper and store circulars. Refosco has been
doing this for years and knows the drill. With a
list of the items they want to shoot, she’ll walk
the aisles of the store searching for blueberries
or broccoli or a dozen other food products the
store wants to concentrate on this week.
Not just any blueberry or piece of broccoli.
But the most perfect blueberry or piece of
broccoli. The most unblemished blueberry with
the most perfect round shape, evenly blue
color — the one blueberry in an entire
case that emanates with “blueberryness.”
Or the broccoli with a deep green head and
absolutely no marks, dark patches, brown
spots or faded green stems. The one perfect
piece of broccoli that beckons all consumers,
even those who hate broccoli.
Refosco is good at this searching for
perfection because of her tireless attention
to detail. “We pick perfect things and those
we find we call ‘heroes,’” Refosco explains.
“‘Heroes’ are food items in their prime, the
ones that perfectly photograph, the best
choice,” she says. “If they need green beans
for a shot, we’ll go through entire cases
looking at every separate green bean until
we find the one we need. The same with pea soup,” Refosco notes. “We’ll hunt down every
flat in the store for the few immaculate peas
that can be shot alongside a can of pea soup.
And Refosco will set aside these
“Heroes,” until they are needed, using closeto-
ideal substitutes for the photographer to
perfect his camera angles, lighting and
product positioning. “We never place the real
thing until the last possible moment,”
Refosco says. “The heat from the lights
would make them look limp.”
“Some things we can freshen up, such as
spraying grapes with a matte finish. It’s a
crystal clear varnish.” (Remember, these
grapes were never intended to be eaten.)
These and many other tricks-of-thetrade
to make food items look delectable in
front of the camera are learned on the job.
What has to come fully developed is an eye
for detail and a strong ability to organize.
Refosco put these qualities to good use when
she left college, having majored in art and
communication. “I started assisting my sister
on her food shoot assignments, but then met
a photographer who needed an assistant and
studio manager,” Refosco remembers. “This
was a 50 to 90-hour week job.”
Each new assignment translated into
a new set of problems. In one, Refosco
had to work with Danny Marino in an
advertisement for cars. “I had no idea where
to get hold of a Lamborghini, a Corvette
and a Porsche, but one call from Mr. Marino
to a dealer friend, and, presto, the cars
turned up, prepped and ready to shoot.”
Refosco remembers another occasion
when she had to help with the props for a
magazine cover involving Mario Lemieux.
The props were a passel of penguins,
naturally. “I have Guardian angels watching
over me, because for the next two hours all
we had to do to keep the penguins happy
and docile was to constantly feed them.”
In each assignment, Refosco is called
upon to deliver organizing flair, quickness of
thinking, attention to detail and a creative
imagination. “Ultimately, what I am doing is
helping to create a pretty picture,” Refosco
acknowledges. “If it’s food, I am making
things look appetizing and desirable.”
Designing Woman
Kathleen Refosco had always wanted to be a
designer. At one time she tried her hand at
painting the backgrounds people request for
a portrait photograph. Then for a while she
did decorative painting (faux finishes) and
enjoyed the pleasure of transforming a room
and making the homeowners happy.
Working with her sister on the early food
product assignments was transforming. “As a
food stylist, I got very close to feeling things
were going perfectly. Career, husband,
children. Things changed a few years ago,
however, when her husband was diagnosed
with Lou Gehrig’s disease.“Working with my sister really helped,”
Refosco remembers. “She was so patient.
When I got to work late, she understood.
Taking care of her husband, handling her
children and continuing to work her
assignments became a balancing act. “I
prayed a lot.”
His passing left Kathleen with a lot of
mixed feelings. “To be honest, I don’t think
it has impacted my career much at all, but it
has influenced me as a person,
immeasurably. I was lucky enough
to have a job where I could
step out and take as much
time as I needed and step
right back in where I left
off when I was ready - I feel
very fortunate for that.
After dealing with her life’s
tragedy, Refosco didn’t worry as
much over photo
shoots or the more
stressful TV commercials. These
stresses in life had taken a
back seat to her “real” problems.
“I guess I just re-prioritized what was
worth stressing over. I think I've learned to let things go and roll with the punches. I
think we have to because so much is out of
our control.”
“What am I passionate about? I hate to
say it but I don’t feel overly passionate about
any one thing. It is clear to me what my
main job in life is: that is, to take care of my
children. I pray a lot about that
one. Everything else is secondary. Refosco
says she would like to do things that have a
positive environmental impact on our world.
“I like doing things of a creative nature
because that has always been something
positive for me. I am definitely influenced by
the financial potential of ideas because I have
to be, and besides, variety keeps things
interesting.”
“So, who has time to be passionate?
I have too many things to do. I'm just trying
to survive and do the best I can while
trying to enjoy every minute. But going
through my tragedy has made me realize
how important it is to try and enjoy it all,
and everyone in it. It truly is a gift, make
the most of it. As for my career, well, I’m
curious where life will lead me and plan on
figuring it out as I go!”
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Home Remodeling 2008
