Food, Family, Community: Quad Cities Chef Making A Great Impact

Have you ever met someone and within the first 4 seconds you realize you will be best friends? That happened when I met K.C. Ross, also known as Chef Keys, when I went to KWQC-TV6 to show off our B100 Proof Vodka.

While I was at TV6, Chef Keys gladly accepted a bottle of B100 Proof Vodka and a challenge: to create a delicious vodka sauce with the vodka. Since then, I've wanted to get to know Chef more and let you know the incredible woman making a positive impact in the Quad Cities.

Meet Chef Keys

K.C. Ross, who goes by Chef Keys when she's creating her delicious cuisines, is a Quad Cities resident, a content creator, an advocate, a chef, and many other things. Born and raised in Queen, New York, Chef Keys wasn't always a chef. K.C. use to work as a law enforcement officer at a prison before she and her husband, Alberto, moved to the Quad Cities in 2020.

Before their move, K.C. and Alberto got married on Valentine's Day in 2019 with an incredible marriage story you'll hear in the interview.

Growing up learning to cook with her great-grandmother, Chef Keys became a private chef in the Quad Cities after someone in a Quad Cities Facebook group wanted to find a place that sells shrimp and grits. Chef Keys volunteered her home and skills to create this dish which began her private cooking in the area.

K.C. also does a lot to support so many different groups from veterans and children to people who are food-insecure and homeless, she does everything she can to help. She also uses her cooking to help generate those difficult conversations around race and  ethnicity to open people's minds while filling their tummies.

You can catch Chef Keys on Quad Cities Today at 11 am with Morgan Ottier on KWQC TV-6 on Mondays and Wednesdays. Chef Keys also does a lot of work with Village Home Stores in Geneseo, IL. 

Make sure you follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, @iamchefkeys, to see what she is up to in the Quad Cities.

Quad Cities, meet the incredible Chef Keys!