I help good ideas get better—and get made.

Content, product, and brand strategy for food and beyond.

See how I can help

I’ve spent more than 20 years in food and media.

Most recently, as Chief Food Director at Hearst Magazines, I led the food teams behind Good Housekeeping, Women’s Health, Prevention, and Woman’s Day.

I’ve hired and managed teams, worked with chefs and celebrities, developed products, directed shoots, and spent more time than I can count figuring out why something isn’t working and what to do about it. That’s usually where I can be most useful.

I’m also cofounder of ZaZa Snacks, a small-batch pita chip company, so I know firsthand what it takes to build a food brand from scratch.

Today I work with brands, publishers, creators, and consumer businesses. Sometimes there’s a specific project to tackle. Sometimes there’s a bigger question. And sometimes someone just needs another point of view from a person who’s been doing this for a long time.

Food is where
I start. It’s not where I stop.

Food is still a big part of what I do. But after 20-plus years, the questions I keep coming back to aren’t really about ingredients and method.

These questions travel, whether you’re working in food, hospitality, wellness, home, lifestyle, or any business making something for people. The answers build the structure around your ideas and create the scaffolding for successful execution.

What are we making?

Who is it for?

Why should they care?

Is it actually good?

And how do we get it from an idea to something real?

Services.

  • Sometimes the problem isn’t a lack of ideas. It’s not knowing which ones are worth pursuing. We’ll look at what you’re doing now, what’s working, what’s missing, and where the opportunity is. I’ll bring an outside perspective — pressure-test the plan, ask the questions you haven’t asked yet, tell you what I’d cut.

    The best strategy usually comes from getting the right people in a room and figuring it out together. It might be one conversation, or it might turn into something more. We’ll leave with a plan you can actually use.

  • I like taking an idea and figuring out what it needs to become a real thing — and doing that with the people who are going to make it happen. A content series, an editorial package, a cookbook, a campaign, a brand project, a video, a shoot.

    I can come in at the beginning and help shape your plan, stay involved through production, or join in the middle when things have gotten complicated and need to be steered in a different direction. I live in the big picture. I’m also very happy to get into the weeds — that’s usually where things get interesting.

  • I’ve been editing and shaping food content for most of my career, and I still love it. I’ll read, test, question, and edit recipes, cookbooks, editorial packages, content libraries, pitches, and brand work — the structure, the writing, the voice, the gaps, and whether the recipe actually works.

    Sometimes something needs a serious rethink. Sometimes it needs a lighter touch. Sometimes you just need someone who hasn’t been looking at it for six months to say: this part isn’t working, and here’s what I’d do instead. And sometimes you’re already exactly where you need to be, and it feels great to hear it from someone who knows.

    No giant deck. No corporate jargon. Just an experienced, honest opinion.

  • I’ve worked on everything from food products to cookware and kitchen appliances, usually with one eye on the thing itself and the other on the person who’s going to use it. I can develop recipes and applications, test what you’re making, evaluate what’s already on the market, and give you an honest read on what works and what doesn’t. I’ve also built a food product of my own, so I know what it takes to get from recipe to shelf.

    I’ll work with your product, marketing, and creative teams to figure out how it should be introduced and understood — from recipe booklets and photography to video, print, digital, and social. Because a good thing is only half the job. People have to understand why they want it.

  • I’ve spent years building and running teams, setting direction, hiring and mentoring people, and working across departments to get complicated things finished.

    I can step into a company or team for a period of time and lead the work, help build a new operation, get a stalled project moving, or work alongside the person already in charge. I’m comfortable making the call when a decision needs to be made — and equally comfortable knowing when someone else has the better answer.

    Sometimes you need someone to run the show. Sometimes you need someone to help you run it better. I’m good with either.

In Seward, Alaska, with ASMI,
getting a crash course in fishing,
fisheries, aquaculture,
and the seafood that lands on
our plates.

About.

I grew up in the kitchen. Everything important in my family happened around the kitchen table, or the back corner table of my grandparents’ restaurant. Food was never just food; it was how we spent time, told stories, and took care of each other. I studied anthropology at Yale, which confirmed what I already knew: food is at the heart of how people live.

My real education started in professional kitchens, and I got there through television. Working on the set of B. Smith with Style, I met Chef Eberhard Müller and James Beard Award–winning cookbook author Rozanne Gold, and both offered me jobs when the show wrapped. I worked the cold station at Bayard’s under Eberhard, and tested recipes and worked as a sous chef for Rozanne. Then I graduated at the top of my class from The Culinary Institute of America, finishing with an externship on Alfred Portale’s line at Gotham Bar & Grill, where I also volunteered with any visiting chef at the James Beard House who needed an extra set of hands.

Television is also what led me to magazines. That work got me recommended for a job on the set of the Real Simple TV show pilot, which I did as a freelancer, and it launched my media career. I joined Real Simple magazine as a staff member, then moved on to Woman’s Day and then Good Housekeeping and other Hearst titles.

In 2019 I co-founded ZaZa Snacks, a small-batch pita chip company born in Brooklyn. My co-founder and I developed product recipes, directed the brand and packaging and website with an outside creative team, and built the business from a commissary kitchen to a co-packer to national distribution. The chips are now in specialty grocery stores nationwide, hotel minibars and spas, and New York cultural institutions.

Good questions.

The ones I hear most, answered before we talk.

  • No. Food is where I started, and it’s still a big part of what I do. But the questions I ask travel: what are we making, who is it for, and why should they care? I work with businesses and individuals in food, hospitality, wellness, home and lifestyle.

  • Both. I am open to one conversation, a short project, a long-lead project or fractional leadership. The work decides the shape.

  • Yes. I have a deep network of talented photographers, stylists, recipe testers and editors for production work. I can also tap my relationships with chefs, authors, media experts and production teams to get you there. If your project needs someone specific, I’ll find them.

  • Yes to both. I can coach and direct behind the scenes, or step in front as an expert or co-host. I also do speaking engagements, panels and sessions for internal teams.

  • Yes. If your project needs someone in the room, I’ll travel. How much time in person depends on the project.

  • Absolutely. I’ve done product development, and I know your ingredients, formula and process are the business. Keeping them proprietary is part of the job.

  • The project and scope set the fee. I work by project, by day rate or on retainer, and my proposal will describe which one fits best.

  • It starts with a call. Come with a good sense of your project and the kind of support you’re looking for; it doesn’t need to be polished. After we talk, I’ll put together a proposal with the scope for you to review. I usually book one to four weeks out, depending on the project.

Let’s talk.

If you’re building something, changing something, launching something, or just trying to figure out what comes next, I’d like to hear about it.