To Dine For

After spending 12 years at Harvard, Shawn Achor has become a world-renowned researcher on the connection between a positive brain and success. He has traveled to over 50 countries researching how our beliefs predict our future. Shawn is a New York Times bestselling author who has written four books, including The Happiness Advantage which has sold over one million copies. He has been interviewed t...

Faith Anderson is the co-founder and CEO of Nouvie, a de-alcoholized wine company based in Chicago. Faith, a marketing expert who’s launched some of America’s fastest-growing brands, founded Nouvie with her sister-in-law Fiona, an immigration lawyer. The duo’s goal was to create a non-alcoholic wine that didn’t compromise on taste or health. Over a meal at Chicago restaurant Rose Mary, Faith discu...

Denise Woodard is the Founder & CEO of Partake Foods, a natural food company inspired by her daughter’s experience with food allergies. Denise is the first Black woman to raise more than $1 million publicly for a CPG food startup. To date the company has raised more than $30 million from investors including Rihanna and Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners. Prior to launching Partake, Denise spent a...

Allison Sweet Grant is a psychiatric nurse practitioner turned author. She’s been published in the New York Times and The Atlantic, and has written two picture books, Leif and the Fall and The Gift Inside the Box , with her husband, Adam Grant. Allison lives with her family outside of Philadelphia and her new book, Lump : A Memoir in Ineloquent Reflections , is part book of poetry, part memoir, ab...

Sean Hoess is the Founder and CEO of the Eudēmonia Summit, and was also the co-founder and CEO of the Wanderlust Yoga & Music Festival before founding Eudēmonia, which is the Greek word for “a life well-lived”. The Eudēmonia Summit is a global gathering focused on the future of health, wellness, and longevity. The event brings together doctors, researchers, founders, investors, coaches, and th...

Lindsay Kaplan is an entrepreneur, investor, and the co-founder of Chief, a network for senior executive women. In 2022 Kaplan and her co-founder Carolyn Childers raised $100 million, increasing Chief’s total funding to $140 million and reaching a $1 billion valuation, making it one of the fastest women-funded companies to achieve unicorn status. Kaplan has been recognized with several honors incl...

Malcolm Wood is a leading influence in the food and beverage industry. For more than 20 years, he's been driving change and innovation across the sector with his passion for sustainability and refined dining. He has personally opened more than 50 different food and beverage concepts in his 20 year career. His flagship brand, Mott 32, is one of the most awarded Chinese restaurant brands in the worl...

On the six year anniversary of To Dine For: The Podcast, Kate revisits the show’s first episode with Jahmal Cole. Jahmal Cole is the Founder of My Block My Hood My City. He is a community activist and organizer who not only dreams of a better Chicago but is actively working towards that dream. In the summer of 2020, he found himself in the center of the #BLM movement when he received 26-thousand e...

Jewel is a multi-time Grammy nominated singer-songwriter, poet, painter, actress, and philanthropist who has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Over a meal at the famous New York City restaurant Tavern on the Green, Jewel shares why that restaurant is an important part of her journey, her struggles with homelessness and mental health, and her pathway to success. Follow To Dine For: Official We...

Catherine De Orio grew up in a large Italian family in a suburb of Chicago, where she learned to cook at the foot of a master: her Nana Kay. It was then that she developed a true appreciation of the power and pleasure of great meals. Catherine calls herself a recovering attorney, who left the courtroom to follow her true passion in the kitchen. She attended the prestigious culinary school of Kenda...

Suleika Jaouad is an American writer, advocate, and motivational speaker. She is the author of the “Life, Interrupted” column in the New York Times, as well as the author of two books. Her memoir, Between Two Kingdoms , covering her struggle with leukemia was a New York Times Best Seller. Her second book, The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice For an Inspired Life , teaches the everyday person h...

Costas Spiliadis is the pioneering force behind Estiatorio Milos, one of the world’s most respected fine-dining restaurant groups and an international ambassador of Greek cuisine. After moving to New York to study at NYU and later to Montreal to attend Concordia University, Spiliadis found himself longing for the spirit of Greece he carried with him: the food, the warmth, the generosity. In 1979,...

DJ Mike P is a premiere Chicago-based DJ, known as the official tour DJ for the late rapper Juice WRLD. He is a versatile performer who has played major stages like Coachella and Taste of Chicago, and appeared on WGCI and The Jam morning show on WCIU. Mike started his career in Chicago after attending Urban Prep Charter Academy, and now owns the restaurant and food truck CHKN BOX. Follow To D...

Lewis Borsellino is a highly experienced trader and entrepreneur with more than 40 years in the financial markets. Born and raised in Chicago, Borsellino is best known for his time in the S&P 500 Futures pit at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), where he became one of the largest and most famous traders of all time. His career spans several major markets, including Eurodollar futures. He c...

Edward Woodford is the co-founder and CEO of zerohash, a premiere crypto-infrastructure provider, powering digital asset products for platforms across the financial services sector.  Edward earned an MBA from MIT, and has led zerohash to support a broad ecosystem of exchanges, neobanks, and payment networks, with API-first solutions for custody, settlement, and compliance. Follow To Dine For:...

Jenn Drummond is a mountaineer, author, and motivational speaker. She’s also a businesswoman, with a successful exit and management company. Jenn is the author of the book BreakProof: 7 Strategies to Build Resilience and Achieve Your Life Goals . In BreakProof , Jenn shares her struggles and victories, and delivers insights into achieving balance, setting meaningful objectives, and living life to...

Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist and long time New York Times bestselling author. He’s a professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, and holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2024 Haidt published The Anxious Generation , a book looking at the great rewiring of childhood. He has launched a public health campaign under the same name, dedicated to addressing and ul...

Toya Boudy is a New Orleans-based chef with two cookbooks, Cooking For The Culture and her new book, Cooking From Scratch . She has appeared on Guy’s Grocery Games, The Today Show, Tamron Hall Show, Food Network, CBS, and many more. Toya was named Best Home Cook by Hallmark’s Home and Family Channel, and is an ambassador for the New Orleans Multicultural Tourism Network. Toya returns to To Dine Fo...

Erin O’Brien is a Southern California-based content creator and the author of the New York Times bestselling cookbook Dig In . Erin has built a loyal community of more than one million followers who turn to her not just for what to cook, but how to make everyday life feel more joyful and connected. At the heart of Erin’s story is legacy. She learned to cook alongside her mother and grandmother who...

Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon, also known as Jet Set Sarah, is back again to discuss summer travel! Sarah is a Miami-based Caribbean travel expert, award-winning travel journalist, television host, and self-described "Carivangelist" who ventures to the beach and beyond. Sarah discusses her tips for travelling in 2026, her recent Kenyan safari, and what she's looking forward to. Follow To Dine For: Offici...

Reshma Saujani is a leading activist and the founder of organizations Girls Who Code and Moms First, and host of the podcast My So-Called Midlife. Reshma has spent more than a decade building movements to fight for women and girls’ economic empowerment, working to close the gender gap in the tech sector, and most recently fighting for structural changes moms need and deserve, including affordable...

Betsy Ziegler is the first female CEO of 1871, which is now the number one ranked university-affiliated tech incubator in the world. Previous to 1871, Betsy was the Chief Innovation Officer at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern, responsible for portfolio innovation as well as integrating technology into the Kellogg education experience. Follow To Dine For: Official Website: ToDineFor...

Katie Lee is a restaurateur, entrepreneur, author and innovator. Her journey from high school dropout and recovering addict to successful founder of Katie's is the embodiment of resilience and passion. Katie launched her first restaurant in 2008, igniting the artisan Italian pizza movement in the Midwest. Today, Katie is leading a transformative shift in the frozen food industry, blending authenti...

Eric and Bruce Bromberg are the restaurateurs behind the Blue Ribbon Brasserie and Blue Ribbon Sushi. These are iconic New York City restaurants, celebrating more than 30 years. Since opening their original Sullivan Street location in the early 1990s, the brothers have defined late-night dining, drawing an after-hours crowd of chefs, musicians, and celebrities. When Blue Ribbon opened in 1992 it q...

Manish Vora is the CEO and co-founder of the Museum of Ice Cream. He is known by his employees as “Flavor Flav” and he has built a global brand that welcomes more than 2 million visitors annually to its sprinkle-fueled worlds in the United States and Asia. A Yale graduate, Manish left his cushy Wall Street job to build life-size pools of sprinkles and unite people of all ages through ice cream. He...