Lori Gardner is the founder of the restaurant blog Been There, Eaten That. Her writing combines stories about her life experiences with coverage of restaurants in the DMV and beyond. She has served on the voting body for the James Beard Awards and as a contributor to Jewish Food Experience, Tablet Magazine, and Eater DC’s year-end round-ups and she has held various positions on the Les Dames board since 2018.

Cary Kelly opened The Cookery, A Culinary Marketplace in Arlington, Virginia in 2010, growing the business to four stores representing artisan kitchen goods.  Prior to that she had an executive coaching and leadership training practice for over a decade focusing on women executives and nonprofit leaders. Now retired from retail, she focuses her passion on food writing and her new home in Fells Point, Baltimore.

Anina Belle Giannini is a Canadian/American hotelier, writer and passionate home cook and the creator of Le Chef's Wife blog where she documents the recipes and cooking tips she learned from cooking with her French chef husband. She led the PR and Marketing Department for Four Seasons Hotel Washington, DC and recently left to start her own marketing firm. 

Danielle Turner is a chef, cooking instructor, food writer and food stylist. She is the CEO of Forklift Media, producing high quality culinary content for digital and print media. Her website, Salt Sanity, offers recipes and information to help families transition to a low sodium diet. Chef Danielle graduated from the professional Culinary Career Training program at L’academie de Cuisine and as a cooking instructor she has taught more than 8000 students in more than 1000 cooking classes.

Holly Barzyk is a Senior Account Executive at Eleven Eleven PR. She is a pickle fanatic, music and theatre geek and she loves food and its power to bridge racial diversity.

Paulette Thompson is a retired licensed dietitian/nutritionist. She has worked in the supermarket industry in public health and in private practice. She plans and prepares food for an after-school program called Kids in the Kitchen and she also volunteers for an aging in place program, helping people by grocery shopping and cooking meals.

Lani Furbank is studying at the Culinary Institute of America, learning to farm at Potomac Vegetable Farms, and supporting food systems change at Food Works Group. Previously she was a freelance food journalist writing stories on the intersection of food, farming, and the environment and was featured in The Washington Post, CNN, and Eater among others.

Karen Vartan is a food and nutrition consultant specializing in therapeutic nutrition interventions for conditions related to food. She has served in food systems management in military, state and civilian medical facilities and as a trainer for organizations with employee health programs.

Marcia Friedman is the author of two cookbooks, Meatballs and Matzah Balls: Recipes and Reflections from a Jewish and Italian Life and The Essential Jewish Cookbook. Her writing, recipes, tips, and quotes have been featured in such media as The Washington Post, NPR and MarthaStewart.com.

Bonnie Benwick is a freelance editor, recipe developer and tester. She retired from The Washington Post after almost three decades, spending the last half of that time on the Food section staff where she wrote the weekly "Dinner in Minutes" column, edited and wrote features, and oversaw the test kitchen. Her nonprofit work includes Real Food for Kids, Tzedek DC, and co-chair of community food preparation at Adas Israel.

Janet Cam is best known as the co-proprietor of Le Pavillon restaurant, winner of The Wine Spectator’s Grand Award, and the Managing Director of the legendary Lutèce in New York. She provides consulting services to restaurant and hospitality businesses to build profitable ventures from the ground up and redevelops existing businesses into competitive operations with a focus on wine and beverage programs. 

Stephanie Zarpas was a broadcast producer for CBS’s “The Saturday Early Show” where she supervised production of weekly segments with many of the nation’s finest chef’s creating a three-course meal on a specified budget. Since her retirement, she has been a recipe tester for Cook’s Illustrated, Food52, and The Washington Post and she has also been a James Beard Foundation Awards judge.

Peggy Cormary is a freelance commercial photographer who was born in France and brings 10 years of experience in food and interior photography on an international scale - including time spent living in Brazil.  Her photography is about telling stories, evoking emotion and promoting healthy eating.

Sheila Crye has been teaching children, youth, and adults homecooking skills for almost thirty years through her businesses, Young Chefs for kids and MoCo COOKS for adults. Her background in operating room nursing comes in handy when she teaches food safety methods.