THE SPEAKERS & PRESENTERS
Sample List
Updated Regularly
Chef Jernard Wells
Darren LaShelle
Rochelle Brown
Margaret McSweeney
Amy Sherman
Charly Kayle
Poppy Tooker
The Ford Sisters
Kimberly Noelle Charles
Sample List
Updated Regularly
Chef Jernard Wells
Darren LaShelle
Rochelle Brown
Margaret McSweeney
Amy Sherman
Charly Kayle
Poppy Tooker
The Ford Sisters
Kimberly Noelle Charles
Television industry veteran and epicurean Chris Knight, is the President and CEO of Gusto Worldwide Media — an innovative media company that produces, distributes, and broadcasts inspiring culinary programming. In 2013, Knight independently launched the food and lifestyle channel Gusto TV in Canada. After three short years on air, Bell Media licensed the Canadian Gusto TV brand in a ground-breaking partnership. Since then, Knight has launched Gusto TV on multiple international streaming platforms throughout the globe and has won several awards.
Accolades include International Gourmand World Cookbook awards, several prestigious James Beard awards, Taste Awards and a 2020 induction into the Taste Awards Hall of Fame. Knight continues to deliver a diverse mix of engaging and inspiring cooking programming that resonates globally.
Lisa-Renee Ramirez is the Executive Vice President and Executive Producer for the Lifestyle Networks at Entertainment Studios – which include RECIPE.TV, MyDestination.TV & Pets.TV.
In August, she celebrated her 12 Year Anniversary with Entertainment Studios… and in April, 30 Years in the television industry.
Lisa-Renee is a winner of 16 Emmy Awards for producing. In May 2020, she was nominated for two Daytime Emmy Awards for “Outstanding Directing for a Single Camera” – for two series she created, produced and directed — “Katie Parla’s Rome!” and “Vera’s Latin America: Panama.”
In March, Lisa-Renee received three Taste Awards…
BEST of EUROPE for “A Taste of Ireland: Ballyknocken
Cookery School,” BEST of LATIN AMERICA for “Vera’s Latin America: Panama,” and an induction into the Taste Awards Hall of Fame for RECIPE.TV.
In 2019 Lisa-Renee received a Taste Award for BEST NEW SERIES for “A Parisian Food Affair with Julie Neis.”
Born and raised in Southern California, Lisa-Renee received both a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts Degree from the University of Southern California.
Lisa-Renee owns a home two hours outside of Rome, Italy… the place that inspired her to create “KATIE PARLA’S ROME!”
A 4th-generation professional cook and James Beard award-winning cookbook author, Joanne Weir spent 5 years cooking at Chez Panisse after receiving a Master Chef Diploma with Madeleine Kamman.
Joanne is a James Beard award-winning cookbook author, cooking teacher, and host and Executive Producer for several award-winning PBS Television series. Her newest 26-part TV series filmed in Italy, Greece, Spain, Morocco and France is called PLATES & PLACES and airs on Public Television and CREATE TV nationwide.
Joanne has written 17 cookbooks. Her most recent is a food memoir “Kitchen Gypsy:Recipes and Storiesfrom a Lifelong Romance with Food”, and features aforeword by Alice Waters. She is co-owner of Copita, a tequileria & restaurant in Sausalito, California.
Joanne writes for several national publications and travels and teaches extensively around the world as well as in her San Francisco studio kitchen.
Web: www.joanneweir.com
Social Media: @ChefJoanneWeir
Mickela Mallozzi is the four-time Emmy® Award-winning Host and Executive Producer of Bare Feet with Mickela Mallozzi, a travel series highlighting the diversity of dance which airs on PBS member stations nationwide and on Amazon Prime Video globally. A professional dancer and trained musician, Mickela decided to start a journey around the world, taking her camera with her to follow dance in the lives of everyday people wherever she went. From re-discovering her family’s heritage in Southern Italy to dancing tango on the main stage in Buenos Aires, the series covers Mickela’s adventures as she experiences the world, one dance at a time. She has been featured in The New York Times, O Magazine, AFAR, Travel Channel, Dance Magazine, Forbes, Condé Nast Traveler, and more, and she has performed on various television shows including Sesame Street and The Doctor Oz Show. Since the global pandemic, Mickela has been hosting a weekly #BareFeetLIVE series on Facebook and Instagram to stay connected with the world through dance and music. And stay tuned for a 2-part special of Bare Feetcoming to PBS stations in February, featuring Carnival in the Guadeloupe Islands!
Website: http://travelbarefeet.com
Facebook: Bare Feet with Mickela Mallozzi
Instagram: @travelbarefeet
Kat Thompson is a Bangkok-born, Los Angeles-raised food writer who joined Thrillist in 2018. Prior to her time at Thrillist, she developed Thailand-themed GIFs at Giphy, covered fashion and music at The Hundreds, taught horseback riding lessons at a summer camp, and worked as a server at a Thai-fusion restaurant. She’s done extensive coverage in QSRs but her favorite beat is covering Asian food trends in America. She currently lives in Brooklyn.
Liz Marek is the owner of Sugar Geek Show and Artisan Cake Company in Portland Oregon. Liz specializes in sculpted cakes, realistic figure modeling, and structure but also enjoys making sugar flowers, working with isomalt and experimenting with the limits of what sugar can do. In 2014, she began traveling and teaching all over the world as well as competing. In 2014 she retired from cake decorating to teach full time. She is most well-known for her book, Artisan Cake Company’s Visual Guide to Cake Decorating, and winning season 7 of Halloween Wars on the Food Network. You can find more of Liz’s tutorials, recipes and online classes on her YouTube channel or on her online school www.sugargeekshow.com
Food Nanny, the most trusted resource for moms looking for delicious, nutritious and stress free dinners for more than five decades, has a new Nanny in town. Lizzi Heaps, the youngest daughter of original Food Nanny Liz Edmunds, has taken the reigns of the 50 year old food brand. Heaps brings a love for family dinner, experience in the kitchen and social media savvy to reach a new generation of moms looking to eliminate the stressors of planning and executing family dinners. With more time being spent in the home and at-home cooking becoming the primary source of meals due to restaurant closures, Lizzi is the super nanny of supper and the go-to resource for Moms searching for stress free, nutritious meals on a budget.
With legions of dedicated Food Nanny fans and new moms discovering the brand everyday, Heaps has modernized the popular weekly meal plans with new recipes, updated theme night ideas and by connecting directly with fans via Instagram, Facebook and live shows on YouTube.
Most recently, Heaps released her first cookbook, For the Love of Kamut. . A compilation of recipes featuring the ancient grain, readers learn about the benefits of incorporating the versatile ingredient into any dietary lifestyle while cooking yummy, nourishing dishes for any occasion. The Food Nanny has been educating people on this healthier option of flour and America just can’t get enough of it!
A cultural entrepreneur who builds brands across creative industries, Danielle is the founder and CEO of LUCKYRICE, a lifestyle brand that has been shining a spotlight on Asian culture through food and drink for the past decade. Under Danielle’s leadership, LUCKYRICE and its signature Festival series has expanded to eight key markets in the United States and has become the definitive voice for Asian culture today.
LUCKYRICE has also birthed two additional projects: Danielle’s first book Lucky Rice: Stories and Recipes from Night Markets, Feasts and Family Tables (Clarkson Potter) and the nationally broadcast TV show Lucky Chow, now in its fourth season, in which Danielle is the program creator and host.
Mirjam is a seasoned PR pro who has spent over 20 years working for various brands from different industries in Europe and the United States.
Originally from Switzerland, where she started her PR journey, she spent 14 years as PR manager at Kohler after moving to the U.S. in 2003. Currently, she is a freelance consultant and works with clients in the foodservice and home industries, and she is also the founder of Get Ink DIY, an online platform that helps interior designers do their own PR.
Named as one of the Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales and Marketing by the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International, Andrew Freeman has nearly three decades of coast-to-coast hospitality experience.
In 2005, Andrew founded af&co., an innovative lifestyle marketing and media relations firm headquartered in San Francisco. Earlier this year, he launched partner agency Carbonate, which provides brand strategy and creative services to af&co clients. The af&co./Carbonate annual trend report is highly regarded and has garnered tremendous worldwide coverage.
Prior to opening af&co. Andrew was Vice President of Public Relations and Strategic Partnerships for Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants. In total, he spent ten years with Kimpton, launching over 40 hotels and restaurants as well as the global brand. During his tenure Andrew helped spearhead the LGBT travel program, which has garnered numerous awards and positioned Kimpton as one of the Top Companies for LGBT employment in the country. In 2002, Kimpton became the first hospitality company ever to receive a 100% score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index and has continued to do so every year since.
With his amazing team of professionals, Andrew has developed and launched concepts for over 120 restaurants and hotels and provided ongoing marketing, public relations, and operations consulting for over 200 others. The firm has also created unique culinary events of all sizes from intimate dinners to food and wine festivals drawing over 10,000 people.
A dedicated philanthropist, Andrew sits on the boards of Meals on Wheels San Francisco, Dress for Success San Francisco and The Richmond Ermet AIDS Foundation since 2000. He is a former board member of the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Anti-Defamation League, and was an advisor for the American Airlines LGBT committee. For four years, af&co. has been named by the San Francisco Business Times as one of the Top 50 LGBT-Owned Businesses in the Bay Area.
Stacie Jacob, Chief Strategist, Solterra Strategies lives for “aha” moments—the milestones that prove unwavering tenacity and hard work can lead to tangible success. A believer in honesty, creativity, and building strong relationships, Jacob combines real-world knowledge, resolute leadership, and execution needed to transform client dreams into concrete success stories.
From her early days growing up in a small, Nebraska farming community to her celebrated work elevating Paso Robles’ and Washington State’s world class wine industries, Jacob works with clients representing a unique sense of place: food, wine, agriculture and tourism to promote their bounty and brilliance.