Meet Dallas McMahon-Williams | Foodie and Probation Officer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dallas McMahon-Williams and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dallas, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Even though I am still working a full time job in my field of study, I decided to pursue creating a foodie Instagram page because I wanted to share my love of food with others. I am very familiar with social media platforms, and I have always been interested in content creating. My current career doesn’t allow for anything artistic, so venturing into the world of content creating has opened a new world of creation for me.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Believe it or not, I am currently a Community Supervision Officer (CSO) also known as an Adult Probation Officer in Galveston County! It is not something that I advertise on my social media .

To start off my career, I graduated with a B.A. in Criminal Justice from The University of Texas at San Antonio in December 2017. About 6 months later, I left my home of San Antonio of 13 years to begin my career as a CSO for Harris County Community Supervision & Corrections Department. For the first year and a half, I worked on the DWI Unit in the Baytown office where I supervised clients who were placed on community supervision for DWI/alcohol related offenses. In November 2019, I interviewed for a transfer position in Drug Court housed in downtown Houston and worked in that unit until June 2020. I then left the department to work as a Pretrial Services Officer for Harris County Pretrial Services where I was also in the alcohol monitoring unit. Another opportunity came for me to work remotely as a social discover analyst for about 7 months, and I soon realized that corporate America was not for me.
I moved back to Webster and started my current job in July 2021. I am currently working on a career change as I am currently working on to become a teacher. I am interested in a career change because I want to have the chance to influence our youth to hopefully not make mistakes that could land them seeing someone like me because they made poor choices.

It was not easy to get to where I am today. Although being a CSO is not 100% hard, it has many challenges as it is never the same each work day. You never know what mood your clients (those on probation) are in when they step into your office, or what the demandingness of being an officer of the court can bring you each day.

I overcame those challenges by just trying to take each day as they come, and as long as I feel that I have done what I can to help a client, whether or not they want the help, I believe that my job is done.

Some lessons that I have learned along the way working in the criminal justice field is that I unfortunately can not help or save everyone, and to not take work home with me.

I want the world to know about me is that there is more to me than just being a CSO. We are not those mean people you see in the movies, and if a CSO is like that, then they are working in the wrong business. I am a normal person, who enjoys life, and food, and wants to share my loves of food, travels and fashion with everyone (:

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Because Houston is such a large city, there are plenty of places I’d definitely take friends who are visiting. For starters, I’d take them for a nice brunch/lunch. Some of my favorite places thus far for brunch/lunch are: The Breakfast Klub, Mellow Mushroom, Pelican Grill, Black Walnut Cafe, Gloria’s Latin Cuisine and Throughgood Coffee.

For dinner I’d take them to: Turkey Leg Hut, This is It, Mellow Mushroom, B&B Butchers & Restaurant, Underground Food Hall, Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ, Viola and Angnes’ Neo Soul Cafe.

For drinks/nightlife, I’d take them to: Turkey Leg Hut, Prospect Park, Saint Arnold’s Brewery, 8th Wonder Brewery, or Truck Yard.

In between the eats, and nightlife, some places/activities I’d recommend to try are: any of the many museums, the Galleria, axe throwing, or doing a wine tasting at Clear Creek Vineyards.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to my husband, and my current followers on Instagram. Even though it sounds cliche, my husband encouraged me to share my love of food, and is also a second pair of eyes when it comes to creating great captions, when I edit my photos (if needed), and helps with my various song choices. Also, to my current followers, or anyone who has interacted with my page! Although this has started out as a hobby, I really do enjoy when people like my posts, leave comments etc.

Instagram: @dallastakesabite_

Other: For collaborations, please email me at : dallastakesabite@gmail.com

Image Credits
Credits: Dallas McMahon-Williams