Growing up in Argentina, Daniela Moreira dreamed of visiting other countries.

To fund her travels, Moreira attended culinary school and started working at restaurants. Her first international stop was in Italy before she made her way to the U.S.

She arrived in Washington, D.C., in 2010 as an au pair and received a scholarship to the Culinary Institute of America. After graduating, she landed a job at the upscale, Michelin-starred restaurant Eleven Madison Park in New York. But Moreira felt a pull to return to D.C., where she had friends and an opportunity to stand out in a less-crowded food scene.

The move back to D.C. put her wanderlust on pause. Moreira is now the executive chef at Timber Pizza in D.C.’s Petworth neighborhood. Timber started as a food truck in 2014 and in June 2016, Moreira helped owners Andrew Danaand Chris Brady open Timber’s first brick-and-mortar restaurant. The team also launched another food truck and has a third in the works.

A year before the restaurant opened, Moreira found Dana and Brady at a farmer’s market and asked if she could work part time. She didn’t tell them she was a professionally trained chef, but they quickly noticed her kitchen skills and made her a partner. She’s been the brain behind the pizzas ever since.

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