Essentially, she was a high school dropout and an unwed mother, Odessa Piper, the high priestess of Madison’s culinary community, told UW-Madison’s class of 2006 in her commencement address Sunday.
Piper, who sold her famous restaurant, L’Etoile, last year after nearly three decades, revealed how she learned to make her dreams come true.
“I can sum it up in five words,” she said, “To get there, be here.”