We Are Together
Founding Members
Mashama Bailey
Mashama Bailey is the award-winning executive chef and partner of the critically acclaimed The Grey, set in a former Greyhound bus terminal in Savannah, Georgia as well as all-day counterpart The Grey Market in partnership with Johno Morisano. Since opening in December 2014, The Grey itself has earned a number of accolades, including being named a Food & Wine Restaurant of The Year, one of TIME Magazine's “The World's Greatest Places” and a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Best New Restaurant award, thanks in large part to Mashama’s flavorful dishes that highlight regional ingredients. In 2018, Johno and Mashama opened The Grey Market, combining their love for New York City bodegas - the true lifeblood of any New Yorker - with the history and convenience of the Southern lunch counter.
With the premiere of Netflix’s Chef’s Table Season 6, Mashama became the first African American chef to star on the show. Prior to opening The Grey, Mashama worked under the tutelage of Gabrielle Hamilton at New York City’s Prune.
Mashama is currently serving as the Chairwoman of the Edna Lewis Foundation, their mission is to honor and extend the legacy of Edna Lewis by creating opportunities for African Americans in the fields of cooking, agriculture, food studies, and storytelling.
In January 2021, Mashama and Johno debut their first book, Black, White and The Grey, which tells the story of their distinct partnership and how the two - a Black female chef and a White male entrepreneur - came together to build a restaurant attempting to reshape cultural conversation beyond food.
David Thomas
Chef David Thomas grew up watching his grandmother prepare culinary masterpieces from scratch. In her small kitchen on 13 acres of land, he learned at an early age that quality ingredients and knowledge from his elders and ancestors are the foundation of great food. In 1992, David, along with his wife Tonya, started a small and successful catering company for 8 years. In his pursuit to elevate his skills, he then went to work for several notable companies and chefs including Master Chef Kevin Zabonick, Aramark Corporation, and Chefs Expressions with renowned CEC/sommelier Jerry Edwards. This was where David found that he had a passion for local ingredients.
In 2017, Chef David Thomas began work as Executive Chef and owner of Ida B’s Table in downtown Baltimore. Ida B’s Table, under the direction of Chef Thomas and his wife Tonya, focused on sustainability and/or locally sourced products. During his time David competed in multiple Food Network competitions. He won the competition show Bite Club based in Baltimore and earned the title of Bite Club Champion. David K. Thomas recently won the title of Chopped Grand Champion on Food Network’s show Chopped by competing 3 times against previous champions of Chopped. David loves sharing his passion for cooking with youth through the Days of Taste program. This program helps to educate 3rd-5th graders on where their food comes from, along with helping them learn healthy eating habits. David is working on developing a high school culinary program for developing future local and sustainable chefs. He is also working on developing a cookbook and a large catering business coming soon!
chefdavidthomas.com
Tonya Thomas
Growing up, Tonya Thomas was always fond of watching matriarchs of her family prepare meals for the whole family especially on special occasions. This love for cooking expanded and grew in Junior High School when she took her first cooking courses. That love for preparing a meal and watching others enjoy what she has cooked drove her to start a catering company and keep it going for a decade. In addition to running a catering company, Tonya started her experience in restaurants, after 18 years in other service industries, at Martick’s Restaurant and learned the ins and outs of the industry directly from Baltimore icon, Morris Martick. From there, she has also held positions at the venerable Dogwood in Hampden and Metropolitan Kitchen & Lounge in Annapolis. With that wealth of experience, she led the front of the house staff at the award winning Herb & Soul alongside her husband, Chef David Thomas for 3 ½ years. Together they opened Ida B’s Table in 2017 and made the restaurant’s mission to bring light to the history of Soul Food, and illuminate its future. With Ida B’s well established and continuing to win accolades from both local and national press, their new goal was to bring David’s mission to reclaim the narrative around African American cooking and soul food traditions to more prominent platforms. They stepped away from Ida B’s Table in March 2020. Tonya and David have been working together as a team for almost 27 years. Tonya has usually covered the front of the house along with baking and desserts responsibilities while David has done the cooking. They share a common bond for the love of food, family, cultural heritage, food sustainability and forming bonds in the community.
Maria Moor
Maria Moor is a civil servant living in the greater Washington, DC metropolitan area. She earned undergraduate degrees in the fields of Biology and Biochemistry, as well as a graduate degree in Security Studies. Leveraging her training, Maria has spent nearly 15 years safeguarding U.S. agriculture, with particular emphasis on protecting plant and animal health by preventing the introduction of harmful diseases, pests, and vectors.
Michael Twitty
Michael W. Twitty is a culinary historian and food writer from the Washington D.C. area. He blogs at Afroculinaria.com. He’s appeared on Bizarre Foods America with Andrew Zimmern, Many Rivers to Cross with Dr. Henry Louis Gates, and has lectured to over 412 groups. He has served as a judge for the James Beard Awards and is a fellow with the Southern Foodways Alliance and TED and was the first Revolutionary in Residence at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Southern Living named Twitty, one of Fifty People Changing the South and the Root.com added him to their 100 most influential African Americans under 45. Beyonce beat him out as number one. He also made the Jewish Forwards list of most influential American Jews. HarperCollins released Twitty’s The Cooking Gene, in 2017, tracing his ancestry through food from Africa to America and from slavery to freedom, a finalist for The Kirkus Prize and The Art of Eating Prize and a third place winner of Barnes & Noble’s Discover New Writer’s Awards in Nonfiction. THE COOKING GENE WON the 2018 James Beard Award for best writing as well as book of the year, making him the first Black author so awarded. His piece on visiting Ghana in Bon Appetit will be included in Best Food Writing in 2019 and was nominated for a 2019 James Beard Award. His ancestry hails from across West, Central and Southeast Africa; but his roots in Sierra Leone and nearby Liberia are Mende, Temne, Fula, Mandinka, and Loma.
Adrian Lipscombe
Adrian Lipscombe is a chef, urban planner, and visionary leader whose work bridges food, culture, and community. A proud native Texan, Adrian began her career in city planning after earning her Master’s in Architecture from the University of Texas at San Antonio. She made a lasting impact in Austin and San Antonio through her work with municipal governments and the private sector, leading community-focused projects that explored the relationship between the built environment and equitable development.
With six generations of family roots in Central Texas and as a fourth-generation pitmaster, Adrian brings a deep understanding of African American foodways and their influence on American culture. She is widely recognized for her leadership in building connections between local farmers, ranchers, and chefs, fostering systems of food sovereignty and sustainability.
In 2016, she founded Uptowne Café in La Crosse, Wisconsin, a community anchor that blended her Southern heritage, Midwestern ingredients, and African American culinary traditions. Her work there led to her developing a guiding theory: that restaurants can serve as centers for community revitalization and social change.
Adrian is the founder of the 40 Acres Project, a national initiative dedicated to preserving Black agricultural and culinary heritage through land acquisition and education. She is a former Culinary Diplomat for the White House and U.S. State Department, representing American food and culture abroad.
Her leadership extends across several national organizations. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Edna Lewis Foundation, helping to steward the preservation and celebration of African American culinary heritage. She is also a founding member of the Muloma Heritage Center on St. Helena Island, South Carolina, a nonprofit dedicated to exploring African Atlantic influences on American cuisine and culture. She serves on the Board of Directors for the International Association of Culinary Professionals to help provide access, education and mentorship to culinary professionals around the world. Adrian is especially honored to serve as an Obama Foundation Leader USA for 2026-2027.
As a PhD candidate in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Texas at Austin, Adrian continues to merge food and urbanism to reimagine community systems rooted in equity and heritage. As a mother of four, she is committed to building a legacy that uplifts future generations through food, culture, and education.
Ada Anahgo Brown
Ada Anagho Brown is the President and founder of Roots to Glory Tours, an organization she launched in 2012 to reconnect African descendants in the Diaspora with their ancestral homeland. A native of Cameroon and the daughter of the current Chief of Ngwo in the Njikwa subdivision, Brown has drawn on her deep cultural heritage to guide hundreds of African Americans on transformative journeys across the African continent.
She is also the founder of the Muloma Heritage Center in South Carolina, a cultural hub working at the crossroads of culture, cuisine, sustainability, agriculture, and ecology. The Center is dedicated to preserving African traditions, promoting environmental awareness, and helping individuals rediscover their ancestral roots through immersive, community-based learning.
Brown’s work has been featured in Smithsonian Magazine, The Washington Post, and The Washington Informer. She has served on the Advisory Committee of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art and the Montgomery County African Affairs Advisory Group, and was the lead organizer of the Panafest USA cultural festival in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Through Roots to Glory and the Muloma Heritage Center, she continues to build bridges between Africa and the Diaspora, curating culinary heritage tours with James Beard Award-winning historian Michael Twitty and organizing reconciliation efforts with African traditional leaders such as His Majesty King Tofa IX of Porto Novo, Benin. Brown’s mission is to preserve culture, promote identity, and inspire unity through education, travel, and authentic connection.
rootstoglory.com