Learning Filipino comfort food from both his grandmother and mother, Lazaro has a passion for cooking and learned the craft and trade of cooking professionally from his friend Chef Koko at San Francisco’s Izikaya Rintaro. where his experience transitioned in working as a cook in a Filipino restaurant in San Jose, California. Juan Lazaro holds an MFA in Painting from Hunter College, New York and currently teaches drawing at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey.