I craft stories with heart and plan and execute programming that builds deep connections for cultural organizations.
I’m an excellent communicator and passionate storyteller who generates content with heart for mission-driven organizations, building engagement through blogs, social media, newsletters, and promotional materials. As a seasoned event producer I add depth to an organization’s offerings by creating and managing unique, energetic, and highly-organized events. Lastly, I'm an engaging public speaker appearing on panels and radio programs and leading events that educate the public in the areas of sustainable food and agriculture, craft beer, art, and culture.
My life in the sunshine.
What I Do
With over fifteen years of cultural management experience and an education in art history and nonprofit management, I advise organizations on communication strategy and implementation, event development and execution, donor and sponsor management, and strategic planning.
Organizations I've worked for or with include: 21st Amendment Brewery, Art Institute of Chicago, Artisan Grain Collaborative, Breadtopia, Brooklyn Brewery, Challenger Breadware, Chicago Architecture Biennial, Chicago Humanities Festival, Consulate General of France in Chicago, Culinary Institute of America, Experimental Sound Studio, Farm Aid, Food Forever, Food Tank, The Fruit Guys Community Fund, Funkwerks, Global Crop Diversity Trust, The Graham Foundation, Goose Island Beer Company, The James Beard Foundation, The North American Craft Maltsters Guild, Patagonia, Pink Boots Society, Slow Food International, Slow Food USA, Van Alen Institute, and Whole Foods.
“The 2023 Global Plant-Forward Culinary Summit was a wonderful event to be part of and it was brilliantly curated. You managed to bring some amazing people together.” - Dan Saladino, BBC Food Journalist and Presenter, Radio 4, The Food Programme; Cheltenham, UK
Program Director at the Culinary Institute of America at Copia. Photo credit: The Culinary Institute of America.
“25 Years Later: Worlds of Flavor and World Flavors” for Worlds of Flavor: Authenticity, Flavor, and the Future that I served as program director for in 2023. L-R: Anne E. McBride of the James Beard Foundation, Chef Enrique Olvera, Gonzalo Gout, Chief Operating Officer of Casamata, Rupa Bhattacharya ED of Strategic Initiatives Group at the CIA, and Chef Roshara Sanders of the CIA. Photo credit: The Culinary Institute of America.
Who I Am
I love learning new things! That curiosity drives me to dive deep into research on an area of interest—such as craft malting and beer production, agricultural biodiversity, or sustainable agriculture—and then find a way to tell that story with words and photographs. Here I am informed always by my art history background. Traveling is also a passion of mine and I seek out the everyday places and experiences that locals engage with, trying always to expand my world view.
These interests come together via Slow Food where I’ve been a volunteer for over a decade and have twice represented the U.S. at Terra Madre, the organization's biennial food conference held in Turin, Italy, referred to as the "Olympics of food." Learning all there is to know about beer has been the focus of my time there—okay, I also tasted A LOT of cheese and food from around the world. A highlight was co-organizing a 2018 taste workshop, “Foraging in Beer” that featured Aaron Kleidon of Scratch Brewing Company (Ava, IL) where I was never more proud to be a Midwestern gal than when Kleidon discussed how one could taste the terroir of Southern Illinois in their products.
Other things I like: meditation, yoga, gardening, cooking, farmers markets, kind and interesting people, and arts experiences from live jazz to museum visits.
Recent Experience:
Director of Programs and Special Projects, Strategic Initiatives Group, The Culinary Institute of America (January 2022 - present)
Freelance communications and marketing work with The North American Craft Maltsters Guild (2021 - 2022)
International Councilor, Slow Food (2017 - 2022)
Digital Marketing Certification - Hubspot Academy (January 2022)
Quoted in “It’s Okay That You’re Not Okay l Coping with Anxiety in Craft Beer” by David Nilsen in PorchDrinking.com (March 2022)
Quoted in “Check Out the Malt Cup Winners from the 2022 Craft Malt Conference,” by Chris Crowell in Craft Brewing Business (March 2022)
Quoted in “Silence Is Golden—Lack of Answers, Oversight Keeps Beer Box Shipments Legally Opaque,” by Kate Bernot in Good Beer Hunting (August 2021)
Quoted in “Single in a Pandemic: 18 Reflections at the 1-Year Mark,” by Bella DePaulo in Medium (April 2021)
Hiking at Zabriskie Point in Death Valley National Park, on my cross-country drive from Chicago to my new home in San Francisco in March 2021.
Leading a class on biodiversity for Slow Food at the Community Roots Garden in Chicago in 2017.