158: How a Blind Chef Launched Her Kitchen Side Hustle
When a blind chef launched her kitchen side hustle, she set out to empower others. Here are practical lessons and inspiration to help you build your own purpose-driven side hustle, no matter your challenges.
Debra Erickson lost her vision — but definitely not her drive.
What started as a side hustle has blossomed into a full-time mission: The Blind Kitchen - a thriving business that sells adaptive kitchen tools and teaches blind and vision-impaired people how to cook safely, confidently, and independently.
Debra shares the inspiring journey of how she transitioned from student to teacher to entrepreneur, and how she built a business with impact, despite the obstacles.
From attending a regular culinary school as a blind student, to sourcing and testing dozens of tools, to launching an accessible e-commerce site, Debra has done what many only dream of.
But this isn’t just a story of perseverance, it’s packed with insights for anyone building a business. You’ll learn:
- Tips for juggling a side hustle alongside full-time work
- Why delegating and building a team can unlock growth
- How to market to a niche audience and build trust
- And how to stay motivated on the hard days
If you’re in the early stages of your side hustle or wondering if you have what it takes, this episode will leave you thinking: if she can do it, I can too.
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Need a little (and sometimes big) push to start and stay focused to grow your side hustle? Dive into my online Masterclass: How To Turn Your Thoughts Into Wanted Things.
Be sure to sign up to our Side Hustle Hero community to grab a copy of my 28-page guide, called, Smart Start: From Idea to It’s Live in 7 Steps. It walks you through the core things to focus on, including a checklist of 8 essentials you need to launch. The guide is free for now...but not forever.
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How This Blind Chef Launched a Kitchen Side Hustle That’s Changing Lives
When you hear the words “blind chef”, it might spark curiosity, surprise, or even skepticism. How does someone cook without sight, let alone launch a business teaching others how to do the same?
For Debra Erickson, vision loss didn’t stop her from creating a side hustle, it motivated her to start The Blind Kitchen, a now-thriving business dedicated to helping blind and visually impaired people cook safely and confidently in their own kitchens.
In this inspiring story, you'll discover how a blind chef launched her side hustle into a mission-driven brand, what lessons she learned along the way, and how her journey can help you build your own business... no matter what challenges you face.
From Vision Loss to Visionary
Debra wasn’t always blind. Her journey with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease, started gradually. Diagnosed in her late 20s, she didn’t lose most of her sight until her mid-50s, a transition that required major adjustments to nearly every part of her life, including how she worked, cooked, and navigated daily tasks.
But instead of retreating, she decided to move forward, by learning how to cook without sight.
She enrolled in a meal prep course at the Oregon Commission for the Blind and later attended a traditional culinary school — not a special program for the visually impaired, but a full professional course where she was the only blind student. Her determination to meet the same standards as her sighted peers, while learning new, adaptive techniques laid the foundation for what came next.
How The Blind Chef Launched Her Side Hustle
The idea for The Blind Kitchen was born not from ambition alone, but from necessity. As Debra began teaching cooking skills to other blind and vision-impaired students, she saw how deep the fear and hesitation ran. People worried about using knives, stovetops, or hot water. Cultural and personal barriers often made cooking feel completely out of reach.
That’s when the lightbulb went off.
Debra began organizing solutions, researching adaptive tools, and creating systems that allowed people with vision loss to cook independently. She realized there was no centralized resource — no one place where people could access trusted, tested, vision-loss-friendly kitchen tools. So she created one.
The Blind Kitchen was launched.
What started as a side hustle alongside her part-time teaching job quickly grew into a full-time business. Today, The Blind Kitchen offers over 100 adaptive kitchen tools, complete with audio-described video tutorials for each one. The business also includes an extensive free learning library, workshops, and accessible online education for individuals and organizations.
Challenges That Come With a Blind Chef Launched Business
Launching any product-based business takes courage and perseverance, especially when you’re managing it without sight.
Some of Debra’s biggest challenges included:
- Navigating inaccessible websites and online vendor forms
- Finding trustworthy, blind-friendly versions of commonly used tools
- Learning to delegate marketing, videography, and graphic design to a sighted team
- Educating customers and caregivers about what blind people can do
Her key to progress? Taking it one step at a time. Or as she puts it: “What’s the best way to eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
Key Takeaways: What You Can Learn From How This Blind Chef Launched Her Business
Whether or not you’re visually impaired, there’s a lot to learn from Debra’s journey as a blind entrepreneur.
1. Start Where You Are
Debra didn’t wait until everything was perfect. She started organizing knowledge, testing tools, and building her idea while still working full-time. You don’t need to have it all figured out — you just need to start.
2. Solve a Real Problem
The reason her business works is because it solves a real, painful problem: vision loss often sidelines people from something as essential as cooking. Her tools and tutorials restore independence and confidence.
3. Test and Iterate
Debra didn’t just pick random products. She ordered dozens of versions of the same tool, tested them herself, and chose only the most functional, safe, and blind-friendly options. Don’t skip this step because it's how you build trust.
4. Build the Right Team
Knowing her limits, Debra hired sighted professionals to handle design, social media, and video editing. Delegation allowed her to stay focused on the mission and let others shine in their areas of expertise.
5. Let Passion Drive You
The reason Debra’s core team has stayed with her since the beginning? They believe in the mission. When you build something that truly helps people, your energy becomes contagious — and others want to be part of it.
Why This Matters — Even If You’re Not Visually Impaired
At its core, this story isn’t just about how a blind chef launched a business. It’s about how resilience, resourcefulness, and purpose can help anyone turn a personal challenge into a business that makes a difference.
Maybe you’re juggling a full-time job and a budding side hustle. Maybe you’ve been sitting on an idea but haven’t taken action yet. Or maybe you’re unsure whether you have what it takes to build something meaningful.
If you take one thing from Debra’s story, let it be this:
You don’t have to wait for permission. You just have to start.
Final Thoughts On How This Blind Chef Launched
This doesn’t just describe a business... it describes a transformation.
Debra Erickson didn’t let fear, tech barriers, or societal assumptions stop her from building something important. And today, The Blind Kitchen is not only improving lives — it’s challenging the way we think about capability, accessibility, and entrepreneurship.
If you’re looking for inspiration to take the next step in your own side hustle journey, remember this:
If Debra can do it — you can too.
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