Recognized as an industry influencer and educator, Tiffanie has been awarded with some of the beverage industry’s highest honors. Her passion for spirits and knowledge of their history has led her on a unique journey to educate and enjoy community around a glass. Tiffanie, who goes by “The Drinking Coach,” is known for creative and innovative cocktail menus for pop-up dinners and bar consultancy clients; hosting mixology classes around the nation and connecting culinary and farm culture with spirits.
In addition to her many accolades for mixology, her reputation as a public historian has opened doors for her to speak on panels at such venues as Fire, Flour & Fork, Southern Foodways Symposium, and the Soul Summit, and she has interpreted the cocktails of African American and women firsts-in-spirits at the James Beard House in New York City.
Tiffanie has been pouring her heart out with DIG for over eight years. We can’t wait to share our collective vision for a more nourished and abundant world, and to toast her in return.
Nominated for Eater’s, Young Gun Award in 2020, Chef Demetrius Brown is a rising star in the Atlanta dining scene. Born into a Trinidadian family in Rhode Island, Chef Demetrius has always been curious about his cultural history and traditions. His pop-up supper club, Heritage, allows him to explore and celebrate his Caribbean, African, and Afro-American cultures through food. He takes his guests through an elevated dining experience that is often based off Chef Demetrius’s childhood memories of dishes his mother and grandmother would make. In addition to Heritage, you’ll find Chef Demetrius leading the dining experience at Bread and Butterfly in Inman Park, as their new Executive Chef.
In response to the challenge of feeding our growing global population with shrinking and vulnerable resources, Akissi and Karim founded WunderGrubs in 2016. They take pride in presenting a healthy, sustainable, and premium protein alternative from mealworms. Insect farms offer greater resilience to climate changes and market shifts, can improve nutrition, reduce carbon emissions and increase profitability. It’s a model we shouldn’t turn away – after all, lobster was once looked down up, and was the default protein for the incarcerated in the US. WunderGrub’s pioneering efforts have led to Georgia’s first manufacturing guidelines for edible, food-grade grubs. Akissi was a featured speaker at TedEx Atlanta Women’s 2022 series and was selected as a Dine Diaspora Innovative Food honoree.
“Where there is food, there is art.” This is the motto Chef Mark Phillips has been building into his brand since 2012 when he launched, Southern Temptation. Committed to healthy, fresh, and sustainable cooking, Chef Mark emphasizes conscious eating and takes pride in making food fun and delicious for his clients.
Having worked with local and national celebrities and brands such as Stella Artois, Soho House, Cîroc, Kevin Durant, Matt Kemp, Dr. J, Tasha Cobbs, Jasmine Guy, and many others, Chef Mark has honed his culinary skills across diverse situations. In November 2022, he released his first cookbook, “At Home with Chef Mark Phillips,” which makes meal time inspiring yet accessible to the home chef.
Chef David Bradley brings two and half decades of hospitality experience to bear in his role as Chef and Nutrition Director of ANCS. He and his team are on a mission to make the school cafeteria both a desired place to eat and a vibrant part of learning. They incorporate locally grown and sustainably farmed produce into meals, change the menu with the seasons, and draw inspiration from the community’s diverse ethnic and culinary heritages.
Students in the elementary school contribute to the nutrition program by working on the school farm and provide produce that was raised from seed to harvest. At the middle school, Chef Bradley has led a variety of cross-sectors classes from traditional Mexican cuisine, scratch baking, how to make the perfect egg or homemade pasta, and even studying the cultural history of sugar. From K-8, students develop their culinary skills with opportunities to showcase their work designing and serving meals to the school.
With a clear focus on the future, Chef Bradley’s kitchen makes every attempt to work sustainably, incorporating leftovers or by-products into recipes, collecting compostable waste, converting spent oil into biodiesel, eliminating single-use plastics, and sharing the rationale for these choices with the school community.
Chef Zu has a passion for the science of plant-based foods, and using the most nutritious ingredients to create amazingly flavorful vegan and raw cuisine. His business, King’s Apron, facilitates programs around food and nutrition for community-based organizations and nonprofits around Atlanta.
In addition to his business, Chef Zu has facilitated innovate food programming for many of Atlanta’s government, and non-profit institutions including Morehouse School of Medicine, Georgia Food Oasis, City of Atlanta Department of Sustainability, Georgia Organics, Food Well Alliance and more.
Chef Gigi has been combining food with travel for over 30 years. Her company, Eat Drink Travels, brings two pleasures together, food and wanderlust. Creating travel experiences centered on food, Chef Gigi understands how cultures are often best experienced around a meal. While food is often the focus of a celebration or event, it also offers profound opportunities to heal our bodies. Chef Gigi taps into that by promoting the power plants offer in restoring our health.
Crystal Bui is an Emmy-nominated Vietnamese-American news reporter and CEO of Spotlight Communications Group: a communications firm that helps businesses, organizations, and individuals get publicity and media coverage. She’s reported on some of the biggest stories in the last decade including George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis and the subsequent riots, and investigations into hate crimes following the deadly Atlanta spa shootings. She loves telling the stories of women, particularly those stories seldom told and is the author of the memoir, “More To Tell.”
Ronisha is the proprietor of Warren + Forrest, an Atlanta floral design and delivery service specializing in one-of-a-kind arrangements based on seasonality and flower availability. She works with a handful of local wholesalers and importers as well as a selection of local farms, and conducts workshops for private parties and corporate events.
DIG is grateful to the Atlanta Host Committee whose partnership and participation is instrumental in creating this exciting “and delicious” global event.
Beth Pann
Tara Ramanathan
Susan Puckett
Dana & Steve Dojnik
Wandia Mbuvi
The Durrett Family
Stuart & Elizabeth Johnson
Meredith & Maurico Lora
Daron “Farmer D” Joffe & Stephanie Bernstein
Sarah Koch & David McMahan
Sarah Drummond
*Host committee still in formation. To join, contact Melissa@DIG.org
