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72 Ways Food Can Change the World

Monday, March 16
11:00AM - 12:00PM

Driskill Hotel
Driskill Ballroom
604 Brazos St

In September, Eater launched a feature exploring 72 ways people are changing the world through food and the food and restaurant industry. It included the voices of farmers, innovators, restaurateurs, chefs, politicians, and scientists. One of the most compelling figures in the piece was Jessamyn Rodriguez, the founder of Hot Bread Kitchen. Her non profit changes the world one life, one business at a time, but it has monumental implications for how we can tackle issues of poverty and nutrition and empowerment while also producing a quality product: bread. Hot Bread Kitchen is a business incubator, training center, and retail and commercial bakery where immigrant men and women learn how to turn their baking skills into solid businesses and careers through which they can support their families. In this conversation, Eater Editor in Chief Amanda Kludt and HBK's Rodriguez will discuss what her non-profit does and how we can apply its lessons to the greater world.

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Presenters

Amanda Kludt

Eater Editor-In-Chief

Eater/Vox Media

Amanda Kludt, Eater Editor-in-Chief, joined Eater back in 2008 as editor of Eater NY and rose to oversee the growth of Eater to 27 North American markets. As Editor-In-Chief, she has set the long-t...

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Jessamyn Rodriguez

CEO & Founder

Hot Bread Kitchen

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Jessamyn W. Rodriguez is the founder and CEO of iconic Hot Bread Kitchen—a social enterprise also known as “the United Nations of Bread.” Since 2008, she has transformed the organization from a visionary idea (hatched in her home kitchen) into a thriving commercial bakery and workforce development program in New York City, employing over 60 people. In that time, Hot Bread Kitchen has become a nationally-recognized brand whose products are sold in more than 80 restaurants and retail outlets, including Whole Foods. Jessamyn also runs HBK Incubates, a program that supports the growing specialty food business, providing professional space and expertise to fledgling food entrepreneurs.

Hot Bread Kitchen combines Jessamyn’s dual passions: social justice—especially for foreign-born women--and good food. Her international background and education include degrees from the University of British Columbia, Columbia University, as well as work in Toronto; Sarajevo; Costa Rica; Mexico; and New York City. Jessamyn’s academic work and professional experience focus on human rights, education, and immigration issues. She has served as an adjunct professor at Columbia University, lecturing on social enterprise.

Jessamyn learned to bake at Chef Daniel Boulud’s renowned Restaurant Daniel, where she was the first woman to be hired as a baker.

Jessamyn’s work as founder and CEO of Hot Bread Kitchen has been recognized with a variety of distinguished awards: an Echoing Green Fellowship, the Social Venture Network’s Innovator Award, Eileen Fisher Business Grant for Social Entrepreneurs, and Mayor Bloomberg with a Neighborhood Achievement Award. In 2013, Jessamyn was honored to receive a Clinton Global Citizen Award from President Bill Clinton. In 2014, she was named one of Crain’s New York 40 Under 40.

Jessamyn is the author of the forthcoming Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook: Artisan Baking from Around the World, by Clarkson Potter in October 2015.

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