ATHENS — Angela Garner Wilson is a nurturer. A mom, grandmother, and friend to many, she says her calling is to serve others. And she means that … literally.
After raising her two daughters and seeing them start families of their own, Wilson has taken her heart for service to the public with a catering business and Facebook cooking show – both called In the Mix.
“My love for people was instilled in me by my parents, James and Amy, and my older sister, Diane,” said Wilson, who grew up in Town Creek. “I am the baby of six kids and we’ve always been a close-knit family, loving and kind, and that’s a gift from God.
“He made me who I am and to be genuine.”
Wilson said while sitting at her job at a local manufacturing plant during the pandemic, “It just came to me out of the blue that I should start a cooking show on Facebook. So I got back on Facebook just to start ‘In the Mix,’ the show.”
After doing a few cooking videos on Facebook Live, Wilson began getting requests to prepare food for friends’ baby showers, graduation dinners, and weddings, leading her to start her In the Mix full-service catering business to go along with the cooking show.
“While we were in lockdown, people started sharing my pictures and videos, so I just went for it,” she said.
Wilson’s first meal on her “In the Mix” show was a 30-minute pasta dish, all done in real time, as are all of her cooking videos. If the pan gets too hot, you see her fix it. If the taco meat isn’t quite ready, you see her add a little cooking time.
And all the while, Wilson is sharing family stories, her love of God, and stories of small-town friends growing up to do good things. She is real and relatable.
“What you see is what you get. I’m doing all the cooking as everyone is watching. And sometimes it doesn’t always go smoothly,” she said with a laugh. “But we keep it moving and make it work.”
Some of the things she makes work include fried fish, taco salad, loaded baked potato salad, fried chicken, mac and cheese, baked pork chops, sweet potato casserole, and a variety of desserts, including peach cobbler and a fruit cake – literal slices of fruit put together like a cake.
“I like to try different recipes,” Wilson said. “There is no limit on what I cook. Ask me for what you want and I will do it and I will do it right.”
Wilson’s first big event was her longtime friend’s wedding for 300. The rehearsal dinner menu?
“Fried fish, slaw, hush puppies, baked chicken with sauce, rice, green beans, and mashed potatoes,” she said.
With that much food to prepare, she and her assistants must have taken a couple of days to get it all together, right? Nope. Wilson does all the prepping and cooking herself.
“I will stay up all night long to ensure that the food is the freshest it can be,” she said. “I always want it to be right.”
She does have family and friends help with set-up and display, though.
Where does she want to take In the Mix next?
“My fan club, which is my family, thinks I should do a cookbook. I want my Facebook Live show to go viral and make it big,” she said, grinning. “I would like to turn ‘In the Mix’ into a family business with a food truck and, eventually, a restaurant. And I want that restaurant to be everyone’s first stop whenever they come to town.
“Cooking is my passion. Being in the kitchen eases my mind. When I first started this, I did not realize the talents I had, and I will always try. I’m grateful for all the support so far.”
To contact Wilson, email to [email protected]; on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100075870182960&mibextid=LQQJ4d; Instagram: https://instagram.com/angelawilson__42; and TikTok: angelaw48
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