When Art Smith and Jesus Salgueiro met 15 years ago, they never dreamed they'd become parents to four siblings all at once, but that's just what happened when they decided to foster Angel ( 12 ), Brando ( 9 ), Zumy ( 7 ) and Zuky ( 6 ) in February 2014.
The siblings were on the verge of being split up; however, due to Smith and Salgueiro stepping in, that didn't happen, and on June 23 of this year the couple adopted them. Prior to adopting the siblings, the couple was named "Foster Care Parents of the Year" by Arden Shore Child and Family Services, the foster care agency that placed the kids in their care. The couple is also raising their 16-year-old Venezuelan nephew Diego Ramez.
A week after the adoption, the siblings were baptized by Monsignor Dan Mayall at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. Angel Jesus, Brando Arthur, Zumy Iris and Zuky Francis also received individual engraved plaques with apostolic blessings from Pope Francis.
"Our baptism was the first same sex family baptism in Holy Name Cathedral history," said Smith.
The family currently divides their time between their Hyde Park home in Chicago ( during the winter holidays and summers ) and their new home in Smith's hometown of Jasper, Florida ( during the school year ).
Since becoming parents, Smith spends less time traveling for business and Salgueiro has taken on the role of stay-at-home parent. They've spent the past year and a half showering the kids with love and security, which was in short supply prior to Smith ( Papi Art ) and Salgueiro ( Papi Jesus ) becoming part of their lives.
"The biggest challenge for us is instilling manners in the kids because they didn't come from an environment where that was a priority," said Salgueiro. "They were in the foster system for five years before they came to us. They're really happy and excited to finally have a home.
"I'm looking forward to raising them here in Jasper, where they can go to school and not be treated like celebrity kids. I've been very impressed with the schools and everyone else here. They're so nice and it's rewarding to see everyone help each other. I met the Superintendent of the kids schools and the bus drivers already. It's so great to be treated like any other parent. It wasn't like that in Chicago."
"I've written award-winning cookbooks and opened restaurants, but raising kids is totally different than anything I've done career-wise," said Smith. "As a chef, I'm used to people telling me how much they love me. The kids tell me how much they love me but they don't always love everything I make. Sometimes they just want fast-food.
"Our main focus, other than teaching them manners, is are the kids happy and do they feel loved? I tell them the golden words are be kind, be polite and be brave. If you do all of these things they will get you through your life. What's great about living in my hometown for most of the year is my mom lives about a block away from our house, which is great, because the kids not only get to bond with their grandma, which they've never had before, they also have a yard to play in and they love it."
The couple is looking to take the kids to Cuba in the near future because they have Cuban ancestry.
When asked to describe their kids, Smith and Salgueiro say that Angel is compassionate while Brando is a little man engineer. As for the girls, they say that Zumy is quiet, sweet and loves puzzles, while Zuky wears the pants in the family and loves Q&A's.
Smith explained that in terms of fun activities, the family loves to go to water parks and other kid-friendly places. They also love eating breakfast at Smith's restaurants, Table Fifty-Two and Lyfe Kitchen, as well as eating out in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood.
"The kids love playing critic at my restaurants," said Smith.
Although they come from different parts of the world, Smith ( who is a sixth-generation native Floridian ) and Salgueiro ( who hails from Cabimas, Venezuela ) share a lot in common. Both men grew up in small towns and attended two-year colleges before graduating from state universities with similar degreesSmith at Florida State University in Tallahassee with a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management and Salgueiro at Florida International University in Miami with a degree in Hotel Management and Tourism.
Smith always wanted to be a chef but couldn't afford to go to culinary school.
"I'm artistic and I found that I was very good at making food look pretty," said Smith. "I was a disciple of Martha Stewart and when she released her book Entertaining in 1980, I could reproduce everything in her book to a tee."
Salgueiro has always been an artist, having painted since he was four-years-old. However, he went to college just to please his family, because they wanted him to get a degree in something so he would have a career to fall back on.
"I did work for one year at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City but I hated it," said Salgueiro.
Currently, Smith is a partner in and/or owns 20 restaurants, including Table Fifty-Two; Art and Soul in Washington, D.C.; Southern Art & Bourbon Bar in Atlanta; and a number of other restaurants around the country. He will be opening another restaurant in South Florida sometime next spring.
Salgueiro was also in the restaurant business for a brief time, having previously co-owned a restaurant in Miami for two years.
"After I sold my share of the restaurant I opened up my art studio in Miami," said Salgueiro. "I've been a full-time artist ever since."
Most recently, Salgueiro's artwork has been featured on the hit FOX-TV show Empire. He's also busy creating more of his signature manhole artwork.
The couple married in 2010 in Washington D.C.10 years after meeting in Miami for the first time.
Smith was working as Oprah Winfrey's personal chef at the time and Salgueiro was working at a flower shop to make ends meet while also launching his art career and studio.
"Oprah had a house in Miami Beach on Fisher Island and I was buying flowers for the house for Thanksgiving," said Smith. "I went to the flower shop where Jesus worked because Maria Shriver told Oprah that it was a great flower shop, because her brother Anthony mentioned it to her, and that's how I met Jesus. I told Maria that if it wasn't for her suggestion I never would've met Jesus."
"After Art left the store, I went to the register and asked if they had his info but they didn't since the flowers were already paid for," said Salgueiro. "I talked to the sales person who worked with Art and asked him for his name, and the sales person told me, it's Art Smith and he's Oprah's chef. It took about a year for us to meet again in person.
"He urged me to meet him, even though I was sick and that's when he proposed to me. I laughed and Art said 'I'm very serious.' We went to a restaurant and talked for two hours. After that we went to my house and he stayed for two weeks. Art came into my life when I was looking to settle down, so it was like kismet."
"We sat for two hours eating pizza during our first date, which we still enjoy and celebrate with," said Smith. "This week is our five-year wedding anniversary, and we will celebrate with margherita pizza with prosciutto and arugula."
Since Jan. 2015, Smith has hosted "101 Gay Weddings" events in Miami, Atlanta and Palm Springs. However, due to the U.S. Supreme Court Obergefell v. Hodges decision legalizing same-sex marriage across the country, Smith is looking to take this concept to Cuba, where same-sex marriage and civil unions aren't legal. Palm Springs "101 Gay Weddings" will air on Bravo this fall.
"I'm trying to get approval from Mariela Castro [President Raul Castro's daughter] to do one in Havana, Cuba," said Smith.
Smith explained that they are moving their focus to other LGBT areas outside of marriage equality such as adoption rights for same-sex couples regardless of marital status, transgender rights and international LGBT equality.
Outside of LGBT issues, the couple is also involved in other philanthropic work, including Common Threads ( www.commonthreads.org ), which they co-founded in 2003.
"We're doing some work in the [Jasper] community because there's a lot of poverty and other challenges." said Smith. "Jesus and I have done a lot of work that's helped people in challenged neighborhoods in Chicago, so now we've taken that work to a rural setting."
For more information on Salgueiro's artwork, visit www.facebook.com/pages/Susej-Art/223557601001561; for Smith's various endeavors, visit www.chefartsmith.net/chef_art_homepage/index.htm.