Chef Chrissy Camba’s cooking career started as an unexpected twist in her life’s path. Her original plan was to go to med school.

“I think your heart just takes you where you want to go and sometimes you don’t know why,” she said.

Camba attributes her success to a strong work ethic that she picked up from her grandmother. It’s brought her to compete on Top Chef, run the Maddy’s Dumpling House pop-up, and, most recently, cook for Cirque du Soleil.

“In cooking or in anything I was doing, I would just try very hard and work very hard to get better,” she said.

The next challenge: to once again face her fiancé Ashlee Aubin at this year’s Chef Battle. Camba won in 2014 and Aubin won in 2016.

“I have to win this one,” she said. “He’s the only person I care about winning against.”

Chef Chrissy Camba will be competing in WBEZ’s 10th Annual Chicago Chef Battle.