Afros and Knives: Recent Episodes
Tiffani Rozier
A bi-weekly, award-winning series that highlights the work and thoughtful conversations of Black women working and leading at the intersections of food and beverage, people and culture. We cover everything from the global impact of soul food to the influence of Black women on every part of Western culture.
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In this bonus episode of the Afros and Knives podcast in collaboration with For the Culture Magazine, host Tiffani Rozier chats with Chef Adrienne Cheatham about her new cookbook, Sunday Best. The full interview is available to the For the Culture patreon community--to hear every moment of this interview and to get access to the transcript head over to www.patreon.com/FortheCultureMagazine
Chef Adrienne grew up in the kitchens and dining rooms of restaurants her mother managed in Chicago, Illinois. She would help with busing tables, running food, washing dishes, and whatever was needed, after homework was finished. At her parents’ insistence, she went to college before pursuing her culinary ambitions, attending Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida, where she studied business and journalism.
Adrienne went on to work with Marcus Samuelsson as the Chef de Cuisine of the Marcus Samuelsson Group, opening Streetbird, where she received a Bib Gourmand from the Michelin Guide, and Marcus’ Bermuda before being promoted to Executive Chef at Red Rooster. Adrienne has also traveled extensively with Chef Marcus for demonstrations, appearances, and festivals. Adrienne curated special tasting menus, including the Black History Month menu at Red Rooster, a multi-course menu inspired by female African-American chefs in the industry. When planning the Red Rooster Cookbook, Marcus tapped Adrienne to test and edit the recipes as well as cook/style all food that was photographed for the book.
Adrienne competed on season 15 of Top Chef, making it all the way to the finale and finishing second. She has been featured as a speaker at Cherry Bombe Magazine’s annual Jubilee festival and was the subject of a New York Times documentary series titled “Tastemakers.” Passionate about nutrition, she works with Schwan’s as part of the Chef’s Collective to develop healthy food for school lunch programs. Adrienne has appeared in Food & Wine, US Weekly, Sports Illustrated online, People, Grubstreet, Eater, AM New York, among others. Adrienne shares a home in Harlem with her best friend and husband, Stephen Bailey. She is also the founder of SundayBest, a pop-up series held in secret locations around Harlem.
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Victoria Butler might be the first Black woman to work as a bourbon master blender, but her story begins long before she officially began her career in the industry. In fact, Butler's family tree reveals how her ancestry plays an instrumental role in the distilling industry, most notably her great, great grandfather Nearest Green, who was the genius mind behind Jack Daniels, one of the oldest American whiskeys on the market.
Photo credit: Eric Ryan Anderson
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The Check-In is a monthly episode that focuses on fine-tuning our mental health and well-being with the support of Afros and Knives' therapist in residence, Jnee Hill. This month I introduce you to Jnee Hill and we touch on just a few topics you can expect to dive deeper into in upcoming episodes. Black women have worked tirelessly to improve their communities. Their activism has led to a more just and equal society, but they still face systematic oppression that prevents them from achieving full equality. One of the most pervasive forms of oppression that black women face is mental health. Even though only about 9% of the U.S. population suffers from a serious mental illness, 51% of black women deal with one or more diagnosable mental disorders. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) reports that the number of Americans with a mental illness is growing and that many of these patients are minorities. This is because of the increased stress that accompanies the changing roles of women in our society and the social isolation that comes with it.
This series will spend time looking at a space Black women often occupy--entrepreneurship. Being an entrepreneur is hard. Really hard. It can be lonely, isolating, and stressful. But the rewards can be great, too. Once you’ve made the decision to take the plunge and start your own business, you’ll find yourself facing many challenges. However, with persistence and hard work, the rewards can be tremendous. You may also find it difficult to discuss your struggles as an entrepreneur, especially with friends and family. Anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues can make it difficult for you to reach out for help. Don’t feel like you are alone. Many successful entrepreneurs have dealt with similar struggles, and they overcame them to become successful.
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In this bonus episode of the Afros and Knives podcast, host Tiffani Rozier chats with cultural anthropologist and documentarian Dr. Gail Myers. They discuss the work Dr. Myers has done with her organization, Farm to Grow, as well as her documentary film Rhythms of the Land. This film project will spotlight an array of farmers, rice growers, hog ranchers, dairy ranchers, barefoot farmers, sharecroppers, basket-weavers, shrimp farmers, vegetable farmers, and gardeners, each sharing their memorable stories with us for the first time.
Dr. Gail Myers is a cultural anthropologist who earned the Doctorate in Anthropology from Ohio State University, the Masters in Applied Anthropology from Georgia State University, and the Bachelors in English from Florida State University. She is also the Co-founder of Farms to Grow, Inc, and has been advocating for African American farmers for more than 20 years. Dr. Myers began researching African American farmers while at Ohio State University in 1997. Her passion for Black farmers developed as a result of hearing stories of their loss and struggles without recognition for their contributions. Myers is considered an expert in the anthropology of African American farming. In 1920, there were 920,000 black farmers in the United States, although many of those were sharecroppers and tenant farmers. Today there are 42,000. Dr. Myers' overarching goal is to preserve the stories and honor the legacy and the lives of African American farmers.
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This episode is a chat with recent Food and Finance High School Alums and Co-Creative Directors of Pass the Spatula Magazine Volume 1--Chayil Hyland and Hasanah Sabree.
Hasanah is a brilliant young chef that will be attending a post-secondary Culinary school in September. She is equally passionate about fashion as she is about cooking and loves to express herself through social media, preferably Instagram and YouTube. Chayil is an equally brilliant young leader, a lover of all things green tea, and passionate about food and hospitality.
Founder of bespoke event brand To Be Hosted and independent lifestyle magazine While Entertaining, Amber Mayfield. Amber is a consummate tastemaker and is shaping how Black folks celebrate and entertain now and in the future. To Be Hosted has produced events and experiences for brands like Equinox, Facebook, Nestle, Netflix, Bumble, Tinder, Patron Tequila, Bulleit Bourbon, Bain & Company, and more. To learn more, check out www.tobehosted.com. Founded in March 2020, While Entertaining Magazine is a yearly magazine that highlights Black food and beverage experts, and provides resources for people cooking and gathering at home.
Amber began her work when she was twenty-three years old. She had worked in television as a corporate assistant and noticed is that events and productions utilized the same resources—caterers, lighting technicians, designers, and artists, and none of them looked like her. What started as a self-funded side hustle grew into creating custom events that used the talents of Black creatives and Black professionals— her gorgeous work offered an intimate and safe experience for Black people to dine.
“I'm sure all of us, especially in New York, has no shortage of stories, of feeling comfortable in certain spaces and not feeling like that fine dining experience of that luxury experience or whatever, wherever you want to go and feel like somebody is specifically catering to and thinking about you.”
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Yahshimabet Sellassie, Founder & CEO of Yahshi Bakes, developed her culinary interest at the tender age of four. Born in Oakland as a vegetarian to entrepreneur parents in fine arts, design, bodywork, radio journalism, and the restaurant business, she naturally blossomed into her creative energy field. From an early age, she gravitated towards the arts, later developing a passion for cooking and baking. Yahshimabet is influenced by her Jamaican father and her mother's Ethiopian roots, incorporating traditional spices into her cuisine. Her passion for representing her heritage stems from exposure to spices' medicinal properties and how her ancestors cultivated them. Korerima (Ethiopian cardamom) is freshly ground to infuse into her pastries, such as orange cardamom coffeecake and almond cardamom shortbread cookies providing a warming and floral note. At age twelve, Yahshimabet competed for eight rounds in the Kid's Baking Championship on Food Network and landed the series's runner-up position, gaining media attention worldwide. People began to request her products on an international level, desperate to try Yahshi Bakes, "A Taste of Heaven." Yahshimabet began hosting monthly pop-ups at Piedmont Avenue in Oakland, where crowds gathered in lines out the door with reusable containers to experience her sweetness. Rich chocolate salted caramel cupcakes, lemongrass raspberry cake, and ginger spice cookies simply tantalize the taste buds. Yahshimabet's high standards coupled with her devotion to quality naturally led to Yahshi Bakes' growth. Yahshimabet is currently working part-time at As Kneaded Bakery, navigating online college classes, managing Yahshi Bakes full time. Her future plans include: Investing in a commercial kitchen space, curating a team of employees to fulfill orders on a larger scale, traveling the world, opening a cafe and more greatness! Learn more about us by visiting yahshibakes.com.
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Brittany Towers (@theblackfoodscientist) has her BS & MS degree in Food Science from The Ohio State University, Certified Culinary Science degree from the Research Chef Association and has been in the food industry for 8 years and has worked on over 30 food & beverage products you see on the store shelves today including brands like Gatorade, Tropicana & Propel. Her love for food and science propelled her to start her science-focused Instagram page @theblackfoodscientist where she teaches her followers science concepts that everyone can understand by relating them back to foods and beverages. She also pushes healthy (and sometimes indulgent) eating on her page by posting Meatless Monday recipes each week to get people out of their comfort zones with healthy vegetarian/vegan meals that will help save people money, improve overall health and help save the environment. With a passion for teaching, she is also involved in many non-profit organizations teaching students about food science and careers in STEM. An Ohio native now living in Chicago, Brittany lives in the city with her husband Brandon and dog Basil. When she is not teaching others she is trying out new recipes, ordering out delicious food Chicago has to offer, running outside with her family, and teaching Pure Barre in Chicago
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Jinji is a Baltimore, Maryland native, and alumni of Indiana University. She spent her earliest professional years working in the Non-profit sector and Retail before working as a nutrition counselor in 2012. Shortly thereafter, Jinji studied the craft of chocolate making, opening Pure Chocolate by Jinji with her father; tapping into a decades-old ancestral calling she continues to explore today through travel, writing, and production. Jinji lives in Baltimore City with her husband, Paul, and son, Stokely Ashe.
Chocolate & Justice is a web series we do at our shop that's accessible from anywhere via Zoom. We interview various people across our industry, and outside of what we do as well to understand how justice and liberation play in our everyday lives as Makers. New episodes are available now!
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Christilisa is an Alabama girl who went to high school in Ohio and ended up in New Orleans for college and decided to stay. My first job was at Cici's Pizza in Massillon, Ohio where she began as and worked her way to prep. Once she made her way to New Orleans, she did what most students do when they are there, work at a bar. She chose a spot on Bourbon Street, of course, because she wanted to be where the action was. She found a job at a daiquiri shop, where she made...you guessed it, pizza (and calzones)! After a few years of working the nightlife, she moved into the world of tourism and worked for a tour and steamboat company in the French Quarter. The Steamboat is also a cruising restaurant, so she found herself working in proximity to food. This is where she learned about selling, storytelling, and crafting stories. Before jumping back into the business world, she tried her hand at writing. with an online publication, NolaDefender (now defunct), and started her journey as an unpaid journalist. She learned how to interview people, research, and write some compelling stories about music, food, and the culture of New Orleans. When she left the Steamboat, she found a job that changed everything. Starting as a sales assistant she learned about every aspect of the business. She wrote and edited recipes, was the occasional sous chef for Iron Chef-style competitions and sold cooking classes and special events. The biggest lesson was how the right story will bring the right people and situations into your life. All of those jobs and skills have led her to this moment, helping people craft the best dang cookbook with the best stories and recipes anyone can write.
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Black Food Folks is a fellowship of black professionals working in food and beverage, food media, and events. The group was co-founded by a Brooklyn-based photographer specializing in food, drinks, and events, Clay Williams. He shoots assignments for The New York Times, The James Beard Foundation and Edible Brooklyn; 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.
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Grace Ouma-Cabezas is the Head of Growth for Poppy Seed Health, her previous role was as VP of kitchen and home brand Food52. She is a marketing executive with over a decade of experience, Grace has provided strategic vision and marketing positioning for a wide range of brands.
Before making her way to Food52, she spent time in the fashion, beauty, and lifestyle media space at GLAMSQUAD and Birchbox — but her heart has always been in the kitchen. In 2019, Grace was named one of the Top Women in Media by Folio: Based in NYC where she’s been for 13 years in her chosen home of Harlem, she’s a Jersey-native and proud daughter of Kenyan immigrants.
She’s lived and studied in South Africa and lived and worked in Spain. Her multicultural perspective is a key part of her customer-first marketing philosophy and her view on the unique power of food in building cross-cultural connections.
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Therese Nelson is a chef, writer, culinary historian, and founder of Black Culinary History, a website and social network she founded in 2008 to preserve Black heritage throughout the African culinary diaspora; to celebrate and network chefs of color, and to stewart in this next era of modern black foodways.
She is a graduate of Johnson & Wales University, where she earned dual degrees in culinary arts and restaurant management. In addition to her work curating blackculinaryhistory.com Therese works as a private chef based in NYC and is a frequent contributor to food publications focusing on black identity in American gastronomy.
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Brittany has a passion and expertise in storytelling, which has led to a 10+ year career in print and radio journalism. She's written for publications like Black Enterprise, Essence, The Wall Street Journal, and Eater Detroit, to name a few, covering entrepreneurship, community development, food, and culture. In 2017 she launched Fed & Bougie, a food & lifestyle blog, that celebrated people of color in the food industry. On her blog, she features Black-owned restaurants, highlights food-centered events, and shares snippets of her own life, such as trekking through spice farms in Zanzibar.
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“My serious relationship with wine began in 2008, when I attended graduate school for my Master in Fine Arts (MFA) at Spalding University, Low Residency MFA program, in Louisville, Kentucky. Surrounded by writers of all genres – playwrights, screenwriters, fiction, non-fiction, and poets – we discussed our lives, our work, and our craft over drinks. Wine, to be specific. Each subsequent residency we would bring wines to introduce to each other. It was there my passion for wine was ignited. I shared what I learned with others; helping many a wine drinker find their way from, “I only drink…” to, “Wow, this wine is delicious.” This always gave me great pleasure. In 2011, my good friend Mark gifted me a 32-bottle wine refrigerator as a housewarming gift. Of course, I had to fill it! I had a party asking people to bring wine. I gave them some parameters (I drank red almost exclusively at that time) and sent my friends on a wine hunt around town. It was an incredible success. My guests got to try different wines and my wine chest was magically filled. Little did I know, I had just hosted my first home wine tasting.
In 2015, my interest in doing home wine tastings was refueled after several incidents occurred at corporate wine tastings – my name not being on the attendee list; my guests almost being turned away, being seated in the back and sushed continuously despite my wine tribe purchasing wine. The spark ignited, a dream set in motion. Sip & Share Wine started and still continues to do home wine tastings pouring African American and women winemakers into the intimacy of your home. We bring a fun experience, wine education, and build awareness about African American wines/winemakers.
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Angela Burke | Founder of Black Food & Beverage
Angela Burke owns a PR company that specializes in food marketing. Black Food and Beverage began as a passion project and grew into a mission "expanding the narrative by amplifying the voices of black F&B professionals. The stories of our community are robust and until we are included in conversations around food and beverage, the narrative remains incomplete.
Support Black Food and Beverage by spreading the word about their work and getting connected through social media. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter, and purchase a Black Food & Beverage tote.
Also, check out the following list of incredible folks who make the F&B industry a better place. Please support them and follow their work: Cuisine Noire, Equity at the Table (EATT), Adrian Miller, Therese Nelson, Radical Xchange, SheChef, Nicole A. Taylor, Bryant Terry, Michael Twitty, Whetstone Magazine, Korsha Wilson.
Chef Evelyn Shelton | Chef/Owner of Evelyn’s Food Love
Chef Shelton took on culinary life full-time, after retiring as a hospital administrator. She always dreamed of opening a restaurant and went back to college to get a degree in culinary arts. Chef Shelton is a Kendall College grad, with years of experience managing healthcare food services and as a personal chef.
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Apply the traits of a child from a Jewish mother fused with Middle Eastern teachings to a Black woman in the Mid - West and you’d get Chef Q. Ibraheem. Culinary art school was on a farm in Georgia, a chair to stand on over the stovetop while being taught recipes in her mother’s kitchen and her father’s halal poultry shop in Detroit’s Eastern Market, America’s largest farmers market. Chef Q’s hospitality career began immediately after high school in Greek restaurants, where she began in the front of the house. Determined to cook, she applied for a culinary apprenticeship where she was given the opportunity to apprentice with a Top Chef. Traveling through the restaurant scenes in Detroit, Atlanta, and Chicago, she scored a position at Michelin starred Elizabeth, and moved quickly to another kitchen to work as an Executive Sous Chef. After acquiring the skills for training staff that became kitchen teams, she became an Executive Sous Chef, Executive chef, and then Corporate Executive Chef at P.S. It’s Social a restaurant training program for ex-offenders and at-risk young adults.
Chef Q develops culinary arts curricula for workforce development programs and 501c3’s that focus on cultural awareness through food diversity. Her curricula have been implemented by Oakton Community College / Workforce Development Department where she began a new passion as a culinary art instructor. She showcases her culinary, educational, and agricultural backgrounds at private dinner tables as Owner & Executive Chef of Teertsemasesottehg - Secret Location Underground Supper Club and employs youth that has completed her culinary training programs. Chef Q.Ibraheem serves as President on the board of The Evanston Food Exchange, an organization that focuses on 86’n food insecurity. She is also the Operations Manager of the Foster Street Urban Agriculture Program.
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Chef Cat has a lifelong passion for food and cooking. She received her degree in Professional Cooking from Baltimore International College. After graduating she entered the Air Force Reserves and joined the Army Corps of Engineers. In addition to her culinary degree, she holds a Bachelor’s in Organizational Management and is pursuing her Masters's in Acquisition and Procurement Management. When deployed, she managed a dining facility that fed over seven thousand troops daily.
She was the sous chef for Guy Fieri's Kitchen and Bar at the Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore. She has been the executive chef of a dining company and at Dovecote Cafe. She currently operates her own culinary business, Culinary Socialite, and is a member of the board for The Food Project. She is the founder of Just Call Me Chef, a professional networking organization for Black women in the culinary industry.
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Marcia is a wine and spirits consultant from Silver Spring, Maryland. She is the founder of Bubbles & Bourbon, a tasting soiree’ experience. She is knowledgeable and passionate about wine and spirits and a proud member of the Women In Bourbon Association, DC Chapter and is graduate of the Stave and Thief Society, and has her certification as a bourbon steward from Moonshine University.
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This week we introduce the Fresh Voices series… these are conversations with women who are in the early stages of their life in food, wine, or hospitality. I want to learn about their experiences, get their perspectives, and increase their visibility. Today’s fresh voice is recent culinary school graduate Nina Broadie…let’s dive in…Nina is the co-founder of the lifestyle brand Matter of Motley, lives in NYC, and is making moves!
Photo credit : @mikhaela_viktoria
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Desiree is a 20-something, self-professed wine lover. Her unexpected entry into the world of wine and spirits started as a part-time gig and transformed into a full-time passion. In true millennial style, she quit her traditional corporate job to pursue a career in wine. The start of her brand was inspired by the lack of representation and diversity in the wine industry.
Desiree created Wino Noire to chronicle her experience as a developing wine professional and to share no-nonsense tips. Her mission is to encourage other Millennials of color to enjoy wine minus the snobbery. Desiree has earned a Level One and Level Two certification from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust. She is a Maryland native and a graduate of the University of Maryland.
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Elle Simone Scott is a culinary maverick. Always drawn to creative food culture, Elle has been dazzling the culinary world since 2003, quickly becoming a highly sought-after Food Stylist and Culinary Producer. Elle has collaborated and contributed her unique styling abilities most recently to America’s Test Kitchen. Also Food Network, Food Network Magazine, The Cooking Channel, CBS, ABC’s The Chew, and Bravo.
Her specialties don’t stop with styling and production. As the Founder and CEO of SheChef Inc., a professional networking organization for women chefs of color and allies. Elle shares her passion by mentoring, resource building, business development, and most importantly, Food Social Justice.
Elle continues to inspire others and break glass ceilings, as she is currently the resident Food Stylist & On-Air Talent on America’s Test Kitchen on PBS, the host of the food podcast The Walk-In, and the first African-American woman to do so.
Most recently she created a beautiful book titled Boards--in which she shares tips for creating photo-worthy spreads, letting you in on trade secrets ranging from plating techniques to how she keeps things looking fresh on set (and all party long). Across 35 boards you’ll find over 150 of ATK’s foolproof recipes to build your board around or add that special homemade touch, from platter-worthy Steak Frites to better-than-storebought dips, and everything in-between.
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Afros and Knives is a bi-weekly series that amplifies the stories and profiles of Black women who are working at the intersection of food and beverage, people, and culture. Chef, food writer, and storyteller Tiffani Rozier hosts a series of thoughtful and fun conversations which explore everything from the global impact of soul food to the influence of Black women on global culture. Each episode is like eavesdropping on two Black women sharing their passion for what they do and the impact they want to make.
Using Black women's stories as a lens, this show illuminates the past, present, and potential future for food, beverage, and hospitality. Our discussion explores how black women have shaped global culture and how they continue to do so. It aims to deepen our understanding of the impact Black women have on systems that undergird our lives and on the communities impacted by them, at a time when people around the world are increasingly interested in food, dining, wine, and travel.
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