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, a proud native Texan, embarked on her career in city planning upon earning her Masters in Architecture from the University of Texas at San Antonio. She made a significant impact working with the private sector and municipal governments in Austin and San Antonio on community-focused projects.

With a heritage deeply rooted in Central Texas for six generations. She is also a fourth generation pitmaster. Adrian possesses extensive knowledge in African American heritage in the U.S. She advocates passionately for fostering connections between local farmers and ranchers with chefs, promoting opportunities for everyone.

In 2016, Adrian took her talents to La Crosse, Wisconsin, where she established Uptowne Café, a cherished haven for the Northside community. Through her restaurant, she skillfully weaves her Southern upbringing, Midwest ingredients, and African American culinary heritage, creating a unique culinary experience. She created a theory that restaurants can become community impact spaces can drive changes of revitalizations within communities.

As one of the few Black restaurant owners in the area, Adrian’s vision gave birth to the 40 Acres Project, aimed at preserving the legacy of Black agriculture and foodways by acquiring Black-owned land. She is ardently advocating for food sovereignty within all communities. She is also a Culinary Diplomat to the White House and State Department.

Additionally, she plays a pivotal role as a founding member of the Muloma Heritage Center in South Carolina, a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the African Atlantic influences in American culture and their contributions to American cuisines. Adrian also serves on the board of the Edna Lewis Foundation, further highlighting her commitment to preserving culinary heritage.

Adrian is currently a PhD candidate in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Texas at Austin. In her return to Austin, Adrian looks forward to continuing to showcase the African American influences on food culture today and to feed friends, family and the community. As a mother of four, she takes pride in creating stepping stones and a legacy for the future.

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

Kaya Vision

Kaya has grown up around good food. His parents met in a restaurant and when Kaya was little his parents opened a restaurant where he learned how to function independently in the front of house.  After graduating high school from the Baltimore School for the Arts, Kaya went on to continue his acting studies, full time at Towson University. Throughout college, Kaya worked full time in cafes and restaurants.  His first focus in the food and beverage world was on high end coffee. He has gone through 4 years of coffee classes that included sustainability practices, origin, and brew sciences. Managing 7 coffee programs between the years of 2012-2017, Kaya ended up earning the name Bmore (Baltimore) Barista throughout Baltimore.  His focus started shifting to restaurant management. Having worked at multiple prestigious, award winning restaurants in their coffee programs or as a server, Kaya was ready for the next step. He believe that anyone in a position of management or leadership should be the ones empowering and supporting their associates rather than trying to control them. Creating a system of support became a priority at any position Kaya filled.  In 2017, Kaya was asked to join the opening team of Ida B’s Table. Ida B’s Table is a local- sustainable modern soul food restaurant that was led by the award winning Chef David Thomas.  As their lead barista, Kaya was asked to curate a coffee program that reflected the mission of the restaurant. Within 3 months, Kaya took on a management role in the front of house. Here, Kaya grew to learn the importance of having a reason for everything that goes into running a restaurant. The historical context, sourcing, and stories behind every ingredient, every bottle of liquor, every piece of art had to mean something in order to create a soul for the restaurant. At Ida B’s, Kaya wore many hats. He ended up being the bar manager, graphic designer, marketing person, FOH manager, and event coordinator at some point in his 3 years working there.  Currently, Kaya continues to consult at restaurants and cafes around Baltimore City as well as teaching at the Baltimore School For The Arts. Kaya still finds time to keep up on his art by performing in local professional theatre companies. He is taking a break from the restaurant industry for now in hopes to solidify a consulting business with a focus on beverages and management.