Chef Aída, a native El Pasoan, expressed a great interest in culinary arts as a child and eventually decided to attend the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont, which led to a culinary apprenticeship program with the Westin Hotels in Washington, D.C. and Dallas, Texas. In 1992, Aída returned to El Paso and worked as a cook and pastry chef at Café Central. She went on to become the pastry chef for Emack and Bolio's and Epicura. During this time, she also began Aída's Catering, making desserts for local renowned restaurants and cafés, such as The Bistro, Capetto's, and Dolce Vita. In 1995, Aída journeyed to Dublin, Ireland for a year-long, culinary and food and beverage management internship at the Westbury Hotel.
In the fall of 1996, Aída entered the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management program at Cornell University. She received her Bachelor's in Science degree with a concentration in Food and Beverage Management three years later. During her time at Cornell, she worked as a baker at the Statler Hotel and assisted with the opening of and worked as a pastry chef at Madelaine's Patisserie and Café. Aída's summers were busy: in 1997, she assisted with take-out meals for San Pascual's Kitchen in El Paso, and, in 1998, she had an internship at Susanna Foo Chinese Cuisine in Philadelphia.
Upon graduating from Cornell, Aída moved to New York City and worked as the catering manager for Restaurant Associate's at Bertelsmann (Doubleday Books, Random House, BMG), Condé Nast Publisher's, and Columbia University's Faculty House until 2001. She then decided to return to El Paso and to offer her experience and professionalism to the El Paso community. At this time, she also went back to school and received her Master's degree in Business Administration from New Mexico State University. Aída began providing home replacement meals to local families in 2004; in 2005, she added catering for corporate and private events. A few years later, she added an in-house personal chef service and gourmet cooking classes. Aída's complete list of services now includes catering, gourmet cooking and nutrition classes, and in-house, personal chef services.