By Elisabeth Costanzo Stewart
After spending nearly two decades working in some of the finest restaurants in the nation, Alexandra Bouillon opted to trade in fine wine and Michelin-level dining rooms for a computer and an engineering lab. So, how does a successful hospitality professional retool for a second career in the high-demand industry of electrical engineering? That’s easy — come to SUNY Broome!
Born in Paris, Bouillon spent her toddler years in France before moving with her parents to New York City. After a brief stint in Florida, Bouillon relocated to Endicott just before middle school.
The descendant of hospitality royalty, Bouillon’s grandfather, Olivier Coquelin, was the creator of the American discotheque, and her father was a respected restaurateur, operating the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Plaza before opening Le Chalet, a French restaurant in Vestal. Following her genetic predisposition for all things culinary, Bouillon graduated from Union-Endicott High School and headed straight to Johnson & Wales University to begin her formal training.
Like most students at Johnson & Wales, Bouillon supplemented her studies with on-premise training in Providence’s vibrant food scene. After rising through the ranks at the James Beard Award-winning restaurant Al Forno, she was tapped to assume the role of front-house manager at Bacaro, a newly opened Italian bistro. Feeling that her on-the-job experiences were surpassing her education, Bouillon decided to pause her studies.
“I promised myself that I would come back to college when the time was right, but at that moment, my day job in the industry far outweighed what I was learning in the classroom,” Bouillon explained. “I had no idea then that ‘the time would be right’ decades later and that I would be studying engineering instead of restaurant management.”
After helping shape Bacaro from a fledgling eatery to a Providence favorite, Bouillon decided to cut her fine-dining teeth in New York City. She joined the team of the iconic La Grenouille (the Frog), while privately studying to become a certified sommelier. Next, California called. In just four years at San Francisco’s renowned Quince, Bouillon helped elevate the contemporary Californian kitchen from a one Michelin Star establishment to an impressive three Michelin Stars powerhouse while serving as their in-house sommelier. Her commitment to excellence caught the attention of many, but most notably, Silicon Valley.
“Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon were all vying for the same top tech talent,” Bouillon explained. “They all offered essentially the same salaries and benefits packages, so each company would woo potential employees through niche experiences. Dropbox decided to recruit talent by being the ‘foodie’ employer, offering 11 different dining options that were never repeated. Ultimately, they thought, ‘If we feed them well, they won’t want to leave.’ So I was brought in to be Dropbox’s Silicon Valley lunch lady.”
Inspired by Alexandra’s story? Consider earning a FREE associate degree in high-demand programs like Engineering Science: A.S. through the SUNY Reconnect program! Photo Credit: Matt Ebbers
As a naturally analytical and creative thinker, Bouillon felt at home amongst a dining room full of coders and programmers. During her days as a soon-to-be sommelier, she developed a blind-tasting algorithm that helped her fellow students identify and code thousands of fine wines. She began toying with the idea that she could keep the architecture of her algorithm, but replace wine with different data structures or problems. Using her diners, who had become colleagues and friends, as a sounding board, Bouillon began to imagine a different type of career.
“I had the opportunity to build such great relationships with the programmers at Dropbox that everyone was not only excited to hear my thoughts and ideas, but they wanted to jump in and help,” Bouillon reflected. “The creator of Python, Guido van Rossum, was just one of the many people who offered me their support and encouragement.”
Cut to 2020. When the COVID-19 pandemic shifted the nation’s workforce to work from home, workplace services like Bouillon’s Michelin-level dining offerings ceased to exist. Seeing her newfound lack of employment as an opportunity for change, she enrolled in App Academy, a Silicon Valley boot camp for up-and-coming programmers. After surviving App Academy’s grueling 100-hour-per-week coding sessions, Bouillon was skilled, but lonely.
For Bouillon, “coming home” to be near family just happened to mean returning to the original Silicon Valley – Endicott, NY.
“There’s something almost poetic about leaving Silicon Valley to come home to the birthplace of IBM,” Bouillon reflected. “I felt like it was time to finally earn my degree, and SUNY Broome was a perfect place for me to start. It was accessible, affordable, and right down the road.”
Bouillon initially enrolled in SUNY Broome’s Computer Science: A.S. program, but given her boot camp background, she was encouraged to consider the broad, challenging opportunities within the world of engineering. Professor Robert Lofthouse, Chairperson of Engineering Science & Physics, excitedly welcomed Bouillon to transfer into the Engineering Science: A.S. program and the rest is history.
On campus, Bouillon is an active member of the Engineering Club, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Club, and Women in Engineering association. She even gets to let her naturally hospitable nature shine through her coverage at the Welcome Desk of the Wales Center, greeting guests of the College. If she’s not studying in the Applied Technology building or crunching numbers in the Math Lab, you can find her in the gym, devoting her spare time to her passion for powerlifting.
“When Professor Zwolinski (Chair of Computer Science) first introduced me to Professor Lofthouse, he listened to my story and said, ‘You sound like an engineer to me.’ It’s so interesting because the hospitality and engineering industries may seem like polar opposites, but they are actually very similar,” Bouillon shared. “They are both driven by collaboration and community spirit. We share what we know and don’t understand, problem-solve together, and let great things happen.”
Inspired by Alexandra’s story? Join her as a SUNY Reconnect student! New Yorkers between the ages of 25-55 have the opportunity to earn a FREE associate degree in high-demand programs like Engineering Science: A.S. Find out if you’re eligible for Free Community College at SUNY Broome! SUNY Reconnect at SUNY Broome
Bouillon lets her naturally hospitable nature shine through her coverage at the Welcome Desk of the Wales Center, greeting guests of the College. Photo Credit: Matt Ebbers
