My conversation is with chef, travel guru, and fellow South Jersey girl Kalisa Marie Martin. Kalisa has roots in both the US and Jamaica, is a classically trained chef with degrees in food science and culinary arts, and has built an extensive career in food media. She left her role as Brand Director for renowned digital food publication, Tasting Table to the launch popular lifestyle travel company, The Runaway. Her current YouTube channel, Kalisa Marie Eats, is a fun, romantic, and travel inspired food and beverage series, and you should absolutely go and subscribe. She is launching a new series in the coming weeks, called Food Sci Fridays, it will draw on her background in Food Science and will explore the science behind why food does what it does with fun info and simple recipes to illustrate the facts.

Chef India grew up inspired by all cuisines, as a professional chef her food cooking style is based on fresh, local, and classic ingredients with cultural and exotic twists. Her food is an artistic interpretation of many cuisines she enjoys and her craft is ever-evolving. She is currently working on the launch of her product line Sauce Queen Sauce Queen was created for anyone who appreciates a pantry staple that is made of the highest quality ingredients and is looking to add a little magic to a dish. Her signature sauces are made with familiar ingredients you use every day, but blended with an open mind and a sophisticated palate to help elevate and easily add flavors to your meals.

Joining the conversation this week is kitchen manager/head chef of the St. James School in Philadelphia, Deborah Anthony. I met Deborah when I worked for the Vetri Community Partnership, I led the kitchen at Girard College in the summer for the Vetri collaboration with the ESF Dream Camp Foundation. Debra was the heart and soul of the kitchen, and one of the most talented chefs I know. Most of our earliest food memories come from childhood, and Chef Deborah has been engaged in the noble labor of feeding the children of Philadelphia for some time. She has a generous heart, and a kind spirit and what I consider the most important job in food.

Joining the conversation this week is co-founder and CPO of Dope Coffee, Chel Loyd. She is the creative force behind Dope Coffee's incredible product offerings like their face and body scrub, organic coffee infused syrup, and coffee infused beard and scalp oil. Dope Coffee is based in Atlanta, Georgia, but they are posed for a global take over.

In this episode Chef Maya and I talk about rediscovering our roots, finding healing in returning home, and the inspiration behind Chef Maya's new project Black Roux Farms.

This episode is not your traditional interview format. It is a closer look at the current state of black food and black lives. It's as if the state of the union was being given by two dope black women.

I had a refreshing and timely chat with chef @marthasdaughter Nyanyika Banda about her journey, closing her restaurant, and her new work Mid.dle Passage @mid.dlepassage, and the gift of being open and flexible....because life isn't linear

This week's conversation was both aspirational and reenergizing. Talking with Rahanna reminded me that what we do is invaluable and worth fighting for. I hope as we watch the ever-changing present we can find hope in knowing that the future of the culinary industry is in the very talented and capable hands of young people like Chef Martinez.

Black Food Folks is a fellowship of black professionals working in food and beverage, food media, and events. The group was co-founded by Brooklyn-based photographer, Clay Willams and Director of Culinary Community Initiatives for the James Beard Foundation, Colleen Vincent. We discuss the necessity of sharing our own food stories, the current challenges facing the community of black food professionals, and what the future could look like for black food.

"Grace is just your typical Kenyan-Jersey girl—with a love of $2 pizza slices and East African curry that runs equally deep. Growing up in a diverse community in New Jersey, Grace developed an appreciation for the cultural connections in food while going shopping with her mom to recreate dishes from home (which often included an Indian grocer, Korean market, Latin produce stand, and Halal butcher, just to name a few). After finishing college in New Jersey, Grace made her lifelong love of NYC official and moved there in 2007. Before making her way to Food52, she spent a little over a decade in marketing roles across e-commerce, lifestyle media, and on-demand services. On a typical Sunday, you can find her brunching and people-watching in her beloved Harlem neighborhood.