DeVonn Francis is the chef and founder of Yardy, a food-focused events company based in New York. Inspired by Francis’ Jamaican heritage, Yardy events use Caribbean and coastal food as a medium for dialogue around identity, celebration and sovereignty.

Charlie Monique Anderle is the Co-Chef and Kitchen Manager of Yardy. Anderle roots their culinary values in a diaspora of intertwining chosen and blood families between Martinique, California, and New York. Outside of the kitchen, Anderle is also a doula providing emotional and physical support, advocacy, and nourishment to families with limited access to birth services.

Born and raised in Southern California to a large Mexican American family, Gerardo has lived and worked across the country and abroad, ultimately locating to New York City in 2011 and focusing on a career in the restaurant industry. In 2013, Gerardo opened and created El Rey Coffee and Luncheonette to much critical acclaim and neighborhood approval. In 2016, opened Lalito, his second restaurant in downtown Manhattan, focusing on flavors he grew up with in the border region of San Diego-Tijuana. Having decided to explore food beyond a restaurant setting, Gerardo is currently working on a project in Grand Cayman Island that will lead up to a residency that supports chefs of the region and diaspora with artists, farmers, and non-profit organizations in order to explore culinary arts in a multi disciplinary focus.

Anya Peters has a passion for creating memorable experiences and breaking bread with others, in reverence to the Earth. As a recent graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, and former co-chef of Harvest & Revel, she now looks to her family for guidance and wisdom in the kitchen- through cooking, storytelling, and feasting. Deeply rooted in tradition yet committed to a more sustainable future, Anya started Kit an’ Kin, a Pop-Up feast gathering friends and family over traditional + inspired Caribbean fare. Through these pop ups, Anya, becomes the student, learning from her parents, uncles, aunts, grandmother and you become a part of her journey.

Chinchakriya Un, cook, artist, Khmer refugee, co- founder of Kreung Cambodia, a catering company and a traveling pop up series using food to explore identity, cultural preservation, and intergenerational trauma.