Pamela Burry is originally from Florence, South Carolina, and moved to the Bronx, New York. However, she now calls St. Paul, Minnesota home. “My family thinks I may have been born hearing, however they found out about my hearing loss when I was five years old.” Her mother would call out her name but Pamela did not respond, thus confirming their suspicions. Pamela grew up oral, learning to speak instead of sign. She learned to sign later on in life. Her family did not learn to sign. Before mainstreaming in school, Pamela attended PS 158, an oral-only school for deaf students in the NYC area. For Junior high she attended PS 47. When she entered high school, she mainstreamed full time with accommodations including sign language interpreters. She graduated from John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx. She attended St. Paul College in Minnesota under its previous name, the Technical Vocational Institute (TVI).
Pamela’s employment history includes working for a small company in St. Paul before transferring to Red Lobster, a chain restaurant. She then worked as an administration assistant for a department. After that, she worked in the kitchen department for the Southview Country Club in St. Paul. She also had a short time where she worked at JC Penney's as a merchandise stocker until she was laid off a few years later when the company was downsizing their stores. Now she is back in the kitchens, running her own business making BBQ sauces. “When I started the BBQ-making business, my goal was to go at it for two years. It’s been almost three years now, and I don’t see a reason to stop making the sauces!” The home-based business is steadily growing, with more sales coming in which equals to a wider variety of available flavors going out to hungry customers. She has also worked for the DI Gay Pride parade for over 11 years, and has performed the National Anthem at the Minnesota Twin baseball games.
Pamela recounts some challenges she faced in her work history, including during her college years where she worked in the Army ROTC office, answering phones and delivering messages. “It was hard for me to talk on the phone, given my hearing loss.” The communication-heavy environment was difficult for Pamela to work in, but she cherishes the skills she picked up from that experience.
While her BBQ sauces cook away, she enjoys dancing and listening to music. She also loves to read, especially cookbooks where she’s on the lookout for good recipes to try. “One day I’d love to publish a cookbook of my own, but that’s on hold for now. One day, I’ll have a book out and be able to show young people what I am capable of doing, and serve as a role model to them. Nothing has stopped me from doing things I want to do.”
She hopes the BBQ business will continue to grow and thrive, and that customers will continue coming for more. “It’s challenging - to grow my business, I need to push myself to go out and bring awareness and attention to my business, but at the same time, I need to balance it out with the kitchen time, making the BBQ sauces to sell.” Supplies are expensive, and every bit she earns goes back into the business to continue to meet the demand while creating new flavors to see if the community likes them. “I’m in the kitchen, working away from the early mornings and oftentimes spending all day in the kitchen, oftentimes not stopping until the wee hours after midnight.” It is a one-woman operation with Pamela doing everything, from creating the sauces, to marketing the business, to running the income and expenses sheets - everything! “I am in the process of creating a new logo, which will honor my mother. I hope to showcase the new logo in the upcoming year, so stay tuned for that!” Over the years, she has developed and sold over seventy-five different flavors of BBQ sauces. “Flavors coming soon include Carolina Gold and Honey Garlic.” She looks forward to what the future might bring for herself and the business and hopes to see it continue to grow.
Pamela shares the following advice: “Keep dreaming on - do not stop. Do not give up.” She also stresses the importance of being the best version of the person they want to be in life by doing their best. “If someone tells you can’t do something, ignore them. Set your mind to it and DO it. Keep rolling on, do not let others stop you ro bring you down. If you believe in yourself, you can do it.”
For more information about her BBQ sauces, check out the Pam's Delicious BBQ Facebook page.
The #CanDoAnything campaign showcases people who are deaf, deafblind, or hard of hearing at work, giving them an opportunity to share what they do at their jobs and explain how communication access works for them. This campaign shows what our community can do, which is anything!
