 Confection artist and pastry chef Anthony Smith grew up in Trinidad-Tobago, where he lived next door to a bakery.
He would sneak in for "play dough" - until one day the baker put him to work! From that very young age, he discovered his passion for pastry.
As a high school student, he studied cake decorating and received a certificate from the University of West Indies.
 When Anthony's family migrated to the United States, he enrolled in the Hospitality Management program at NYC College of Technology (City Tech), City University of New York (CUNY).
For four years, he studied the classical culinary brigade and advanced pastry arts, with an emphasis on confectionary arts and cake decoration.
 At City Tech, Anthony discovered a treasure of opportunities, and met his mentors, Francis Lorenzini and Louise Hoffman, pastry arts professors who introduced him to the world of competition.
At the U.S Pastry competitions, Anthony would assist the judges by cutting and serving cakes for the tasting portion of the competition.
Later, Professor Hoffman asked him to be her competition assistant from 1999 until 2001, when she won the bronze medal.
Since his first solo competition at the Annual Salon of Culinary Arts, held by the Societe Culinaire Philanthropique, Anthony competed almost every year, earning over a dozen awards and accolades.
Through City Tech's International Student Work-Study Program, Anthony apprenticed for three months
at the Hotel de France in the Gascogne region, in Auch. There, he worked as a kitchen apprentice to the world reknowned chef-hotel owner
Andre Daguin, famous for his Gascon specialties. It was an amazing opportunity, and as Smith recalls, "the key that opened the door to my future".
When he returned to New York from France in 1994, Smith was hired as the Executive Pastry Chef of 'The Cosmopolitan Club', a private social club on Manhattan's Upper East Side, a position he has held to this day, over twenty years later.
After graduating from City Tech with a Bachelor's degree, Anthony continued to offer "angel" assistance to students, and mentored them during competitions.
For a few years Smith held dual chef roles, also working for Ida Mae Kitchen-n-Lounge (located in the fashion district of Manhattan), where his Southern style desserts received rave reviews in The New York Times and New York Magazine.
Around that time, Chef Smith also catered a $1500-a-plate Beverly Hills event, held by television personality Tavis Smiley. For the seven-course affair, he created seven desserts accompanied by a chocolate showpiece.
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Today he is known as 'Professor Smith', teaching Baking, Pastry, Confectionery Arts and Chocolate at his alma mater, City Tech, and Kingsborough Community College, CUNY.
In 2008 Chef Smith won a silver medal at the 19th Annual U.S. Pastry Competition, for his 'Under the Sea' themed showpiece and cake.
 The following year, he joined teammates Ebow Dadzie and Bill Foltz to win the Bronze Medal at the reknowned 2009 National Pastry Championship in Phoenix, Arizona.
During the three day competition, Chef Smith specialized in the chocolate components for the event. Recipes from the team appear in the 2012 book "Plating for Gold".
 On March 4 2012, after a 'shattering' course of events, Anthony Smith was awarded the 2012 U.S. Pastry Chef of the Year.
Later in 2012, Chef Smith was included among over a hundred celebrity chefs in the book "Street Eats," contributing his "Dessert Pizza" from the Cosmopolitan Club.
Since winning the 2012 pastry competition, he has coached on the professional level each year.
In 2014 he coached the winning champion, Kristen Battaglia, at the U.S. Pastry Competition's first Junior Challenge.
Always hungry for knowledge, he traveled to Switzerland for an intensive two-week class at Felchin Chocolate's Master Chocolatier Program.
In 2015 he visited Haiti, where he taught pastry and baking at the University of Cape Haitian - an intensive course with a full semester's worth of material taught daily, for three weeks.
In June of 2018, Chef Smith participated as a guest speaker at the Rum and Rhythm™ Benefit & Auction, a prestigious event billed as "the Ultimate Caribbean Epicurean Experience in New York City".
In February 2019, he was commissioned by City Tech to create a showpiece for the opening celebration of the school's new building.
On top of his busy life at The Cosmopolitan Club, you'll find Professor Smith teaching, coaching and mentoring,
If he has any time left to catch some sleep, chances are he'll be dreaming of Trinidad-Tobago and his own B&B by a Silk Cotton Tree...
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