By: Miranda Burel '17

“Food is a gift you get to enjoy three times a day,” she says. “It’s necessary and pleasurable, and you’re allowed to be creative with it.” 

Sherman has worked in the food industry for years, as a ravioli runner, pastry chef, caterer, and numerous other jobs. Now she is traveling through Michigan, working with MLive’s “Michigan’s Best” team. Together, the team works diligently to try and find the best in food, drink, and entertainment throughout the state. Sherman has been on the team for a year. After getting her start as the beer expert for Michigan’s Best Brewery, she has since had the privilege of finding things like Michigan’s Best Pizza, Michigan’s Best Fried Chicken, and most recently, Michigan’s Best Bowling Alley. 

Food, however, was not what Sherman set out to do. She came to Aquinas first to pursue a degree in photography. Eventually, though, Sherman became a Sociology major and Political Science minor. Like many others, Sherman was drawn to Aquinas’s small and intentional community. 

“I wanted a small school where I wasn’t just a number,” she says. “I love how small it is in a bigger city, so you can have that personalized attention. Any opportunity you wanted, you could take advantage of.” 

And Sherman certainly took advantage. She kept photography as a passion, working with the Aquinas Times as a photographer. Sherman also spent time as a Student Senator and worked in the Jane Hibbard Idema Women’s Center. 

Sherman felt the pull of travel calling her. While many people studied abroad, she took a different route. Sherman participated in the Dominican Exchange at Dominican University in San Francisco, California - an opportunity she says many people overlook. 

“California is like a different country when you’re from the Midwest,” she says. “The world is your oyster here at Aquinas, you just have to do it.” Still, she sought to go further.

After she graduated in 1994, she began working at Tuscan Express, in order to finance a trip to Europe, and she stayed there upon her return. She turned a summer job into an apprenticeship, and an apprenticeship into a career. Through this, she began working odd jobs in restaurants, exploring sociology, politics, and creativity through food. She even helped start the West Michigan chapter of the Slow Food Movement. 

When she had kids, she knew she couldn’t keep working in restaurants and started doing what she could to spend more time at home. She began working on the Great American Brew Trail, a TV show that explored America’s craft brew scene. Because of this experience, John Gonzalez, who began MLive’s Michigan’s Best brand, brought Amy on as an expert, thus giving her the connections she needed to be a full time member of the team. 

“It’s the best job in the company,” she says about the Michigan’s Best team. “Meeting citizens and business owners in Michigan, you realize that Michigan is already a great place. I’m always floored by the dedication people put into their work.” 

As she travels throughout Michigan, she keeps Aquinas at the core. “This college builds great people and great friendships,” she says, “it’s important to remember where you came from.” For this reason, she tries to wear AQ gear as often as possible, frequently becoming “instant buddies” with the other Saints she meets on the road. 

She also uses the skills she learned at Aquinas, daily. “You come to Aquinas to learn how to think and how to write,” she says. “You pick whatever you want to study, but it’s a matter of how you apply it. I use everything. Math, 2D and 3D design for food presentation, presentation skills, writing, all of it.”

When Sherman graduated in 1994, she didn’t fully complete her degree: she was short one class. She came back as a Continuing Education student, and finished her degree in 2010. This was a reaffirming time, particularly because of the strong relationships she had with her professors. “Dr. Cushion rebuilt my confidence,” she says. “It doesn’t matter where you are in life, you’re always welcome on campus.”

Time and time again, Sherman took advantage of what was presented to her. The chances she took at Aquinas helped guide her through life. Her mantra is to “say yes to every opportunity and every chance, because you never know where that yes will lead you. Each person you meet on your path is a potential friend, contact, partner. Every hand you shake is an opportunity.”

For now, she is enjoying her time with MLive, but she open to other avenues, too.

“I know this isn’t my last job. It’s just another step in the journey,” she says. “You’re going to have a lot of different careers, and because of AQ I can do anything...and I have.”