Brunch & Learn Podcast

About Maura: Maura Duggan is the founder and CEO of Fancypants, a delicious crispy cookie brand using high-quality ingredients with an elevated twist. She originally started Fancypants as a decorative cookie company in Massachusetts in 2004, along with creating her own manufacturing facility to ensure quality control and scale the business. Maura ​​evolved the company with her husband and COO Just...

About Valentina: Valentina Mussi is a cookbook author, pastry chef, and lifelong foodie who has turned her passion for the culinary arts into her social media platform, @sweetportfolio. Valentina's love for food and its ability to create community has become an essential part of her content. Her Italian-Colombian roots help guide her videos, through their ability to share special moments with...

About Lauryn Bodden: Lauryn is a freelance recipe developer, private chef, culinary producer, and food editor. She won Netflix’s newest cooking competition Snack vs Chef, which pushed her to launch her very own snack brand: S’NOODS. Instagram LinkedIn Website What You'll Learn in Today's Episode: What Lauryn has enjoyed most in her culinary career so far. What advice she would give to so...

About Gabrielle Chappel: Gabrielle is a seasonal chef and educator currently based in Brooklyn, NY. She is a graduate from the Institute of Culinary Education's Health Supportive Culinary Arts program. She works in culinary education, recipe development, catering, and private cheffing. She is a guest on hit Epicurious’s YouTube series “4 Levels” and “Pro vs. Novice.” Her goal is to provide pr...

About Lauren Chew: Lauren Chew dubs herself an 'accidental entrepreneur'. In 2018, she went completely vegan and had to rethink her whole diet - including her beloved sweet treats. In 2019, Lauren turned her side hustle into a full-fledged business when she crafted the first iteration of Love+Chew cookies in her tiny San Francisco apartment. The result: a delicious plant-based treat usin...

About Alexis deBoschnek: Alexis deBoschnek is a cookbook author, recipe developer, and food writer based in the Catskills. Her second cookbook, Nights & Weekends, will be published in August 2025. Alexis' Website Instagram Newsletter: Side Dish Cookbook: To The Last Bite In this week's episode you'll learn: The state of Food Media & what she has enjoyed most in her culinary...

Meet Priyanka Naik: Priyanka Naik is a self-taught Indian vegan award-winning chef, Food Network champion, TV Host, Author of THE MODERN TIFFIN, columnist of "Ecokitchen" for The Washington Post, pop-up restaurateur and a TEDx Speaker! An avid traveler who’s been to 43 countries, her globally inspired original recipes, with a focus on sustainability, have been featured on her blog Chef P...

About Jennie Lennick & Jenny Lemons: Jennie Lennick is the founder and creative director of Jenny Lemons, a vibrant San Francisco-based accessories and lifestyle brand. After earning her BFA in Studio Art and an MFA in painting, Jennie launched Jenny Lemons in 2014, featuring food-themed and nostalgia-inducing products like hair accessories and craft kits. Her work has been recognized in publi...

About Junea Rocha & Brazi Bites: Junea Rocha is the Co-Founder and CMO of Brazi Bites, a leader in the frozen better-for-you, Latin-inspired food category. Rocha co-founded the brand in 2010, along with her husband, Cameron MacMullin. In a few short years Brazi Bites grew into a nationally distributed brand with a cult-like following after appearing on ABC’s Shark Tank and being included twice...

Bringing you a solo episode today, why? Here's my background. I'm the founder of Women Who Brunch and Host of the Brunch & Learn Podcast , but have also spent the past 13 years of my career in event management, marketing, sponsorships/partnerships, and lead management. The past 7 years of my career were specifically in trade show management.  I'm combining my experience of both...

Meet Dominek Tubbs: Dominek is a digital creator based in New York City specializing in food and travel content. With a passion for culinary adventures and storytelling, she has become a trusted resource in the city's gastronomic landscape and beyond. Her talents have allowed her to work with brands such as Amtrak, Eventbrite, OpenTable, and more. Follow Dominek here: https://www.instagram.co...

About Sharelle Klaus: As the visionary behind DRY, Sharelle Klaus has always had a passion for the culinary world and celebrating each part of a meal – including the beverages. After having four children and not being able to enjoy wine or cocktails with her meals, Klaus recognized the need for a refreshing, elevated, non-alcoholic option in the market that was worthy of pairing with a great meal....

About Sally: Sally Ekus is a Senior Literary Agent at JVNLA. She leads The Ekus Group, a boutique culinary and lifestyle division that in January 2024 merged with JVNLA after a long history between the two literary agencies. Sally represents a wide range of culinary, health, wellness, and lifestyle talent, from first-time cookbook authors to seasoned chefs, RDs, professional food writers and blogg...

About Alexandria: Alexandria Drzazgowski is the food blogger behind The Foreign Fork, a project where she is cooking a meal from every country in the world. After backpacking to 15 countries in Europe and taking cooking classes in each one, Alexandria decided to take her project of cooking-around-the-world home with her. She started her blog in 2018, and to date has cooked over 450 recipes from ov...

About Flourish Foods: Flourish Foods is a meal delivery company that delivers fully-prepared, high-protein meal plans throughout NYC to those wanting to optimize their egg health prior to egg freezing/IVF or trying to conceive. Founder, Lizzy Cooper: Lizzy Cooper is a New York City-based private chef. Before she started cooking professionally, she earned her Masters in Social Welfare from UCLA and...

Meet Kim Yorio: Kim Yorio is a storyteller. For as long as she can remember, she’s been crafting messages for media, thought leaders, and consumers. She’s worked top culinary brands and talent throughout her tenure running YC Media including Calphalon, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, Ippodo Tea, Sea Tales, and Food Network magazine as well as Jamie Oliver, Michael Symon, Curtis Stone, and Carla Hall....

Meet Leah Guadagnoli: Fancy Feast Supper Club is a creative dinner series organized by artist, chef, and homesteader Leah Guadagnoli. She brings people together through homegrown, globally inspired vegetarian meals prepared from her garden with passion, love, and a genuine curiosity for the overlapping flavors and techniques our expansive universe has to offer. Through extensive research and an et...

Emily Heintz: Emily launched Sèchey, in 2021, after her own journey discovering sophisticated alternatives to alcohol. A nod to the French word for dry, Sèchey is a modern bottle shop fueled by the societal shift in the way we celebrate without alcohol. An early ecommerce entrepreneur, Emily founded her first company in 2004. Since that transformative experience, Emily held a variety of roles as a...

About our Guests: Ren Rossini is the Culinary Partnerships and Communications Manager at Burlap & Barrel. She joined the company in 2020 after moving away from a career in butchering and salumi-making. She lives in Joshua Tree, California, with her partner and their dog, as well as a desert tortoise named Sporty Spice. Bayley Freeman is the Operations & Communications Manager at Burlap &am...

Meet Rachel Kishore: Rachel Kishore has a background in finance, technology, food, and nutrition. After earning her undergraduate degree in Food & Nutritional Sciences, she began work at a nutrition BioTech startup before transitioning into FinTech. Over the last 5 years, Rachel’s work in finance has focused on women's advocacy. In recognition of her leadership and engagement, she was hon...

Meet Tina Martinez: Tina has been professionally cooking since 2007 starting her career at restaurants in California and Washington DC before teaching culinary classes in Brooklyn. Then went on to assist some of the top food stylist in New York before beginning a 7 year stint at the Today Show where she styled food for the morning show. She now does recipe development, test and create video conten...

2024 Women Who Brunch Event Planning is Here! Here's some opportunities we're looking for: 2024 Podcast Guests - Apply to this form to be considered as an upcoming guest: https://womenwhobrunch.com/brunch-and-learn-podcast Women Who Brunch Event Sponsors, Collaborations, & Podcast Advertisers: Find out more about how to work with us here , or reach out via email: info@womenwhobrunch....

Today's solo episode is brought to you by me, your host Nicole Dillon. It is officially fall which is arguably the best time of the year. There's something about all the fall festivals, apple picking, hot coffee with a warm apple cider donut, fall flannel and foliage vibes are everything. Not to mention I'm a true Libra. If you didn't know this about me, I'm also wildly pa...

About Sajani & Kola Goodies: Sajani Amarasiri , an immigrant female founder is on a mission to create a more culturally representative and equitable wellness industry, bringing together the best of her roots in Sri Lanka and life in America. Sajani was born and raised in Sri Lanka and came to the US at 18 for college, then worked in building tech supply chains at Microsoft and Amazon.  She lev...

  About Dam Good™ English Muffins: Dam Good™ English Muffins is a woman-owned, family-operated, mission-driven wholesale bakery that has been in business since 2017 - we  make 4 varieties of all natural, preservative-free, vegan sourdough English muffins: “Original White,” “Multigrain,” “Cinnamon Swirl,” and “Whole Wheat.” We started with a New York State home processing license, and were baking o...