When James Beard Award–nominated chef Ashleigh Shanti invites you to help cater an event for world-renowned musician Yo-Yo Ma, you don’t just say “yes.” If you’re up-and-coming star chef Josh Waters, you say “Absolutely, yes!” 

It’s just this type of mentality—a willingness to embrace opportunities presented to him and to then, more often than not, exceed expectations—that has come to define Waters’s own swift rise to success. Within just a few years, Waters has gone from washing cars as a young high school graduate to being hired as executive chef of the 215-acre retirement community Givens Estates, overseeing four different restaurants and a staff of more than 60 chefs, servers and bartenders. 

Along the way, the 24-year-old has received not one but two degrees from A-B Tech—one in culinary arts and one in baking—and competed in highly demanding cooking competitions on both the national and international level. He’s also worked in popular local restaurants, sharpening his skills for a career path that he hopes will eventually lead to his own restaurant. 

“It’s interesting,” Waters says. “When I think about it, there have always been people in my life who saw potential in me that I didn’t see.”

Waters will tell you that cooking is in his blood. Decades ago, his maternal grandfather worked as a cook at a now-closed restaurant on Long Shoals Road in South Asheville, while his maternal grandmother routinely made food for friends and family in the Asheville community of Montford she called home. His mother also prioritized home-cooked meals, creating beloved dishes that Waters recalls with fondness.

“I remember her chili and cornbread. As soon as they hit the table, I knew it was my favorite time of year. That meant it was getting colder and it was hoodie season.”

The idea that Waters himself could become a professional chef started in high school, at T.C. Roberson, where a home economics instructor taught him and other students how to make popular dishes from scratch, giving Waters a sense of independence. 

After graduation, while pursuing a degree in special education and working at a car wash to make money, his interest was immediately piqued when he learned about a job opening at the former Italian restaurant Chiesa in Asheville.

“The job opening was for a dishwasher, and I showed up to the interview ready for a corporate job,” Waters says. “I wore khaki pants and a nice button-up shirt, and they were, like, ‘What are you doing?’”

On the third night of the dishwashing job, a busy Saturday evening, Waters found himself drowning in dirty plates and glasses and decided to come up with a system for keeping up. He created a new streamlined method for washing the endless piles of dirty dishes—an often-overlooked part of professional kitchens—and attracted the attention of head chef Sam Greco, opening the door for a new opportunity. 

“After a few months, Sam asked me if I wanted to come into the kitchen and make the special one day. They started me off with a bolognese—Sam gave me a recipe and I made it—and the people responded positively to it. They really liked it. And so now, it’s at that point, I’m in love with cooking,” Waters says. 

Waters quickly advanced through the ranks at the restaurant, rising from dishwasher to sous chef in just three years. At the same time, he enrolled in the culinary program at A-B Tech and formally pursued cooking as a career. 

“This is where I learned from some of the best chefs,” Waters says. “A-B Tech is one of the best programs out there, but what makes it one of the best programs is that they teach you everything. It’s very demanding.” 

While at A-B Tech, Waters stood out for his dedication to hard work and budding leadership skills, earning a spot in 2021 as captain of the team of students participating in the American Culinary Federation’s esteemed cooking competition. “I didn’t see the potential they saw in me as a person, as a leader,” he says. “But I was learning patience and honesty, learning how to speak up for myself. Learning how to be a leader among leaders is kinda weird.” 

Waters also took the somewhat unusual step of pursuing a second degree, earning an associate’s in baking in addition to one in culinary arts, hoping to become more well-rounded as a chef. “They’re different,” Waters says. “Cooking is about intuition and taste; baking is science.” 

While enrolled at A-B Tech, Waters worked at several local restaurants, learning different cuisines and different approaches to managing a kitchen. When an instructor at the school told him that Ashleigh Shanti, owner of the popular Good Hot Fish eatery in Asheville and a semi-finalist for the 2020 James Beard Award for “Rising Chef of the Year,” needed help with an event she was catering for celebrity cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Waters jumped at the chance. 

“After meeting her, I knew I had to do the best job I could to make sure I could work for her again,” Waters says. 

Waters now counts Shanti among his trusted mentors and has joined her team for at least half a dozen events. He credits her—and her fusion of Southern flavors with Black Appalachian, or “Affrilachian,” cuisine—with playing a big role in his own approach to food. “I often ask myself, ‘How would she approach this dish?’” 

Now at Givens Estates, which he joined in June, Waters is once again taking advantage of an opportunity afforded to him and living up to his potential as a leader that others have long seen in him. In October, Waters traveled to Singapore to compete at the Global Vegan Chefs Challenge as assistant to A-B Tech Chef-Instructor Chris Bugher, where they went toe to toe with other chefs from around the world with flavorful vegan dishes. 

“I have a lot of different routes I can take with my life, and so the question is always, ‘Where do I want to go now?’”