In July 2019, we teamed up with Tastemade and Handsome Brook Farm to host a Los Angeles breakfast celebrating the stories of women whose families have immigrated to the United States.
Women from across Los Angeles and from a range of industries - from fashion to journalism to design to public policy to culinary arts - joined us as we learned about our speakers' journeys from Japan, the Dominican Republic, Sudan, and China, and the beautiful things that they are creating in LA.
We gathered at Melody, a neighborhood bungalow in Los Angeles that's dedicated to hosting pop-ups with local and visiting chefs, and Chef Adriana Urbina, three-time winner of the Food Network's "Chopped" and the only Latin-American female chef to have won the title, treated us to a delicious breakfast.
Adriana served up:
Purple sweet potato and mushroom duxelles frittata with Handsome Brook Farm eggs and green aioli
Mango gazpacho with vanilla labne, sunflower seed granola, and mango jelly
Warm yucca and coconut cake with salted dulce de leche, passion fruit, brown butter, and frozen whipped cream
At Future of Women, we like to get behind brands that are investing in the positive outcome of the future in a number of ways.
Handsome Brook Farm is a pioneer in pasture raised organic egg production, the most ethical and sustainable way to produce eggs. Founded in upstate New York with five hens, Handsome Brook has grown into the largest producer of organic pasture raised eggs in the country, with more than 65 partner farms in 10 states. Handsome Brook Farm is committed to building a better food system that benefits our hens, farmers, our planet, and our consumers. Adriana highlighted the eggs in a her frittata dish, and each guest went home with a "hello handsome" spatula and vouchers to pick some eggs at local Lassens Natural Foods and Sprouts around LA.
Tastemade, an award-winning media company that's inspiring the taste of a generation through their programming in food, home, and travel, shared Future of Women’s breakfast — Adriana’s dishes and the morning’s conversation — with their global community.
Inspired by Adriana's story of immigrating to the US from Venezuela, we spoke with a panel of women whose families immigrated to the US. We spoke about their journeys and the beautiful things they are creating in LA! Hallie Applebaum, founder of Future of Women, moderated the panel, learning about each woman’s story and discussing how each story motivated the women to do the work that they are each doing today.
Nadra Widatalla is a first generation Sudanese-American writer and producer living in Los Angeles. Her work centers around topics such as race, identity, and uplifting marginalized voices. She is constantly juggling various projects and roles in industries such as Television, Film and now Video Games, but is ultimately passionate about aiding in the advancement of black women in everything she creates. Most recently, Nadra co-organized a community teach-in in Los Angeles to raise awareness about the revolution happening in Sudan.
Bonnie Tsang is an acclaimed Los Angeles photographer who has been bringing her unique eye to lifestyle photography for over a decade with an impressive list of international clients ranging from Gap to Estée Lauder. She and her work have been featured in magazines such as Time, The Atlantic, Bon Appétit, and InStyle. Using social media as an outlet for her work, Bonnie Tsang was amassed a combined base of over 7 million followers from Pintrest to Instagram. She has been a keynote speaker at conferences such as Alt Summit and SXSW. The recognition of her photography led to an invitation from Michelle Obama to preview the release of the official White House State China service for the Obama Administration. Bonnie finds herself most in her element when using her candid, journalistic style in concert with capturing people "in their element". Combining her ability to "find the moment" along with her negative-space framing and asymmetric composition has led to stunning pictures that have captured the essence of her subjects.
Mishel Prada is a first generation Dominican-American actress and co-star in the STARZ Latinx drama series Vida, a half-hour drama series focusing on two Mexican-American sisters from the Eastside of Los Angeles.
Sonoko Sakai is a cooking teacher, noodle maker, food writer, and grain activist. She was born in New York and raised in Tokyo, Kamakura, Mexico City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Her forthcoming book, Japanese Home Cooking: Simple Meals, Authentic Flavors, is now available for preorder. An essential and comprehensive guide to Japanese cuisine, the cookbook features photographs by Rick Poon and will be available on November 19, 2019 from Roost Books. She is also the author two other Japanese cookbooks, The Poetical Pursuit of Food: Japanese Recipes for American Cooks and Rice Craft. Her stories and recipes have been featured in the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Saveur, and Lucky Peach. Today, along with teaching cooking workshops around the world, she devotes her time to the restoration and preservation of food traditions and culture, soba noodles being among one of her pursuits. She lives in Los Angeles and on a ranch in Tehachapi with her husband, the sculptor Katsuhisa Sakai, their dog, Q, and two cats, Kinchan and Chapi.
Hallie Applebaum collaborates with award-winning female chefs worldwide, from Los Angeles to Mexico City to Tel Aviv, to host a monthly women's breakfast series called FUTURE OF WOMEN featuring game-changing women such as Olympic athletes, Emmy-winning producers, top Billboard musicians, and New York Times journalists on topics including architecture, sports, art, music, journalism, and human rights. Previously, Hallie worked at the World Bank advising policymakers, universities, museums, and tech companies across Latin American, Europe, the Middle East, and the US on best practices for creating and fostering entrepreneurship programs. She has also consulted for IBM in Brazil and Wells Fargo Advisors. Hallie's work has been featured in publications by MIT, World Bank, and World Economic Forum. She holds a Masters from the London School of Economics and Political Science and is based in Los Angeles.
A special thank you to Handsome Brook Farm whose delicious eggs made the frittata dish one that all our guests enjoyed and to Tastemade whose smart storytelling shared the morning beautifully with their global community. And to Diaspora Co, Shreebs Coffee, Fly By Jing, Brightland, The Sill, Lavva, and Spindrift for treating us to their designs and sharing with us how their brands are celebrating culture and the environment.
FUTURE OF WOMEN is a unifying platform that creates original multimedia content and programming by, for, and about women around the world to openly look at the pursuit of being a modern woman. In 2018, we began collaborating with award-winning female chefs worldwide, from Los Angeles to Mexico City to Tel Aviv to Tokyo, to host a monthly women's breakfast series featuring game-changing women such as Olympic athletes, Emmy-winning producers, top Billboard musicians, and New York Times journalists on topics including architecture, sports, art, music, journalism, and human rights.
A Special Thank You To Our Partners
Join the conversation at @futureofwomen
