Most of us would like to make … adjustments. We want to lose weight, get healthier, spend more time with our families, grow in our faith, explore new talents, give back to the community. But somehow we’re too busy, have too many responsibilities, are too set in our ways. Hey, it’s tough to change.

Bet Jeffrey Henderson felt that way, too.

The young African American grew up in what was then called South Central—a Los Angeles community synonymous with poverty, crime, drugs, and gangs. At the age when average middle-American kids were transitioning from JV to varsity sports, he was selling crack on street corners. And by 19, he was earning $35,000 a week.

Then in ’88, Henderson’s small-time crime empire collapsed. He was arrested by the feds and sentenced to 10 years. Next thing he knew, the wannabe kingpin was washing pots and pans in the prison kitchen. At 24, it seemed Henderson had run out of chances to make adjustments.

Not quite.

Recipe for success

Since he was stuck in the kitchen anyway, Henderson did make one small adjustment. Instead of just washing the pots and pans, he decided to try his hand at cooking. And he turned out to be pretty good at it. He began studying the culinary arts and became inspired by a New York Times article on African-American chefs. As his sentence drew to an end, he tried contacting Robert Gadsby, one of the chefs featured in the Times story, about a job. No response. After his release, he showed up at Gadsby’s L.A. restaurant anyway and applied for work. No luck. But he kept applying until he finally got hired as a dishwasher.

Eventually, Henderson was promoted to pastry cook, then line cook. He continued expanding his skills, taking jobs at other area establishments before moving his family to Las Vegas. When restaurants there were wary of his prison record, he issued a challenge to chefs at the famed Caesar’s Palace: Let me prove myself by preparing you a five-course meal. They accepted, he proved himself, and got the job.

A year later, Henderson became the first African American Chef de Cuisine at Caesar’s and was named Las Vegas Chef of the Year by the American Food and Wine Tasting Federation.

Today Henderson is the best-selling author of Cooked: My Journey from the Streets to the Stove and Chef Jeff Cooks: In the Kitchen with America’s Inspirational New Culinary Star, and owns the L.A.-based catering company Posh Urban Cuisine. He also hosts the Food Network series The Chef Jeff Project, which introduces at-risk kids to the culinary arts. And Will Smith’s production company has bought the rights to his life story.

When Jeff Henderson decided to try his hand at cooking in the prison kitchen, he couldn’t have dreamed where that small adjustment would take him. But think of where he is compared to where he would be if he’d never tried.