https://www.silive.com/womenofachievement/2025/03/meet-the-2025-staten-island-advance-women-of-achievement-from-the-editor.html
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — At the moment, there are 29,876 restaurants in the naked city. Shaw-naé‘s House in Stapleton is one of them, led by the one-and-only Shaw-naé Dixon.
Numbers are important in expressing the story of Shaw-naé.
Shaw-nae Dixon at home. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE
From her improbably tiny kitchen, she has served from-scratch meals to thousands of patrons from six of the seven continents (the seventh being Antarctica) —“from Guam to New Zealand,” she points out — and all 50 states at her six tables over her four years of business ownership.
Shaw-nae Dixon in her Stapleton restaurant. There are just six tables. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE
And when she’s not tantalizing palates, she’s doing good in the community.
Shaw-naé‘s restaurant is open three days a week at 381 Van Duzer St. — Thursday through Sunday — from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. She has earned two stars from the New York Times’ food critic Pete Wells, the highest rating ever for a Staten Island restaurant. She has made the list of New York’s Best New Restaurants, one of 14 such illustrious eateries, and ranks among the Gray Lady’s “best” eating spots in the U.S.
She’s also the Staten Island Advance/Silive.com’s Number One restaurant for 2024.
A mom of six, Shaw-naé juggles family life with her successful restaurant career. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE
While pausing for an interview on a recent Thursday just before service, Shaw-naé said aloud for anyone in the universe to hear, “I am so honored that you guys saw me or even thought of me…And I was ranked.”
Those commendations come just for Shaw-naé‘s restaurant side of things. On a physically larger scale is the NYC Soul Food Festival, her successful inaugural event held last summer at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Gardens. A feat on its own for the few weeks it took to organize, the early August event turned into a stellar success. By USA Today’s standards, it catapulted her hometown to the number 12 top destination for such a festival, a giant lawn party held serendipitously on a glorious, sun-shiny day.
“That is nuts,” Shaw-naé said of such an honor.
Among such high degrees of food industry accomplishments, it should be no surprise that Shaw-naé is the first restaurateur to receive the Staten Island Advance Woman of Achievement designation in the program’s 63 years of existence.
Shaw-naé in the kitchen at Shaw-naé’s House in Stapleton. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE
Home-grown original
In a special note to mark Shaw-naé‘s Women of Achievement occasion, the venerable Wells said, “Shaw-naé is a home-grown original.
“Her family has deep Staten Island roots. She imbibed Staten Island culture all her life. She put those things together to come up with a take on soul food that’s all her own. She doesn’t do it grandma’s way and she doesn’t do it the fancy-chef way, either. She does it her way.”
Indeed, Shaw-naé is an eighth-generation native of the borough and a descendant of John Jackson, the first Black property owner on Staten Island. His purchase of New York City land dates back to 1828, just after New York State abolished slavery.
Flashback to Sandy Ground as it shrank in acreage over the years: Here is a boarding house that once stood at the corner of Bloomingdale and Woodrow roads where 137 homes were built in the McBaine Estates development. The house was lived in by some of the oystermen who settled in the community in the 1830s and 1840s. (Staten Island Advance File Photo)(Courtesy of the Sandy Ground Historical Society)
Her mother, Gloria Mosley, hails from Mariners Harbor, and her father, Donald McCombs, from New Brighton. Born in the mid-‘70s at the then-St. Vincent’s Hospital in West Brighton, then run by nuns, Shaw-naé‘s parents married on Christmas after her first birthday.
Shaw-naé is the eldest of three daughters. Her family moved to San Diego, California, when her father enlisted in the U.S. Navy. After five years, they returned to the East Coast, living with her paternal grandparents on Staten Island and later moving to Willingboro, New Jersey, with her maternal grandparents.
Elvis Duran of Elvis Duran & The Morning Show with Shaw-nae Dixon, owner of Shaw-naé’s House. (Courtesy Shaw-nae Dixon)Courtesy Shaw-nae Dixon
Shaw-naé attended several schools, including Euclid Elementary in San Diego, PS 31 on Staten Island, Country Club Elementary, and Pennypacker Elementary in N.J. She developed a love for English, penmanship, singing and school plays. At 11 years old, her first job was delivering two different newspapers — the Trenton Times at 5 a.m. and the Burlington County Times after school.
At 16, she had another memorable job. “I worked at Pizza Hut on Route 541 until 10 p.m. Grandpa picked me up and I’d take some pizza home for my siblings,” Shaw-naé recalled.
Shaw-naé with nephew NyQuan (Nyke) McCombs, left, and husband Jason. Family is at the core of Shaw-naé’s business. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE
Hard work and survival skills
Frenetic travel and frequent changes in living arrangements continued through high school. In New Jersey, as a caretaker in the midst of constant upheaval, Shaw-naé attended John F. Kennedy Middle School and Holbein Middle School before graduating from Rancocas Valley Regional High School, where she majored in performing arts.
Due to family struggles, Shaw-naé moved to Staten Island to live with her aunt and attended Curtis High School, participating in performing arts and the work-study program. Between hours at Anderson Consulting and Marsh and McClennan, she had another part-time gig at PS 18.
Despite challenges, she graduated high school. Although just two weeks before the ceremony, the gym teacher called her to say she could only get the degree by completing a year’s worth of independent study classes and projects for four classes — in just two weeks. She did it. “And I got Bs in every one,” she said proudly.
After high school, she worked various jobs, including at Walmart and Rickel hardware. She excelled in hair care, earned a cosmetology license, and was employed at renowned salons in the Garden State before eventually moving back to Staten Island.
As a mother, her journey further continued with a focus on education and social work. She worked at Seaman’s Society, then enrolled herself at Audrey Cohen School to get a bachelor’s degree. She earned her first master’s from Metropolitan College of New York in public affairs and administration.
Eventually, she joined the highly selective Teaching Fellows program offered by the New York City Department of Education. Courtesy of this regimen, she obtained a second master’s degree from Long Island University, at the Brooklyn campus, in special education, general education and urban studies, ultimately teaching inner-city students with learning disabilities.
She was also still growing her family. “I was married on June 19, 2004, to Jason and we had three children after that.”
Shaw-nae, husband Jason and nephew NyQuan (Nyke) McCombs pack food from the restaurant to be delivered to those in need.(Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE
Then, vested in a social service career, she worked at Project Hospitality and other organizations helping at-risk and special needs students, creating supportive classroom environments. It was intense work, she admitted.
In 2014, now with her family grown to six children, she had a calling. That year, Shaw-naé started a new chapter of professional life with “Say Grace,” a catering business that gained her significant exposure as a private chef for celebrities, Major League Baseball, and National Basketball Association teams.
Shaw-nae with Martha Steward. (Courtesy Shaw-nae Dixon)Courtesy Shaw-nae Dixon
Making the news
Since then, the accolades and colorful moments have been countless, but all savored immensely.
There were the Thanksgiving turkey donation efforts alongside Martha Stewart and Daniel Boulud.
There was the Five Borough MWBE Award (Minoroity-and.or Women-owned Business Enterprise) from both the Five Chamber Alliance and TD Bank.
And then there was that time she was appointed to the NYC Hospitality Alliance as a board member—following an excellence award from the Alliance for Shaw-naé‘s House.
From the outside looking into the already vibrant world of Shaw-naé Dixon, one might say two moments in recent years were true showstoppers.
Al Roker from the TODAY Show delivered the first one last spring. The celebrity host gushed on the air to his morning show colleagues, “Shaw-naé‘s House has just six tables but this cozy spot is making an impact on New York’s culinary scene. So I got to pull up a chair and found out the secret ingredient is the woman behind it all.”
By fall, the second stunning moment arrived, this time at Virgil’s Real BBQ in Times Square, surrounded by friends and family. As part of its 30th anniversary, the famed smokehouse announced the creation of “Savage Fries,” a collaboration with Shaw-naé.
The item stayed on the menu through winter, with a dollar of sales slated for The Lotus Bridge, a charity built by Shaw-naé for needy Staten Islanders — or anyone who can use a hand.
The Lotus Bridge not-for-profit’s mission is explained as “dedicated to empowering communities around the world by addressing the root causes of poverty.”
It additionally affirms: “Through innovative education, sustainable development, and collaborative partnerships, we work to create lasting change, ensuring every individual has access to the resources, opportunities, and support needed to thrive. Together, we sow the seeds of hope, opportunity, and equality for a brighter, more inclusive future.”
The Staten Island-based charity provides pantry meals to those in need and offers classes on sustainable urban farming.
Another project to which Shaw-naé and her husband have committed is much less formal. When the restaurant has any leftovers after service, the couple stock a community refrigerator (when it is running) in Mariners Harbor.
The outdoor appliance is called the Forest Avenue ComeUnity Fridge, located near the corner of Forest Avenue and Amity Place, and its goal is to ensure the community’s most vulnerable population is fed. It is maintained by the Staten Island chapters of the National Council of Negro Women and Lambda Kappa Mu sorority.
Shaw-naé empathizes, she said, because she’s been there. Of this point in her life, she said, “I’m very grateful. All of these honors are very real to me. I am humbled. I am thankful that people are seeing me . . . but I’m just here, doing my thing.”
Honor this Woman of Achievement: Attend the luncheon on May 15, 2025. More information and tickets >>
Shaw-naé in her boutique soul food restaurant. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE
