Speakers & Seminar Hosts

Clay Williams is a James Beard Award-winning photographer covering food, hospitality, and the people and places that define our culture. Clay shoots assignments for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, Food & Wine, and other publications.

Embedded in the food community for more than 15 years, he has had the privilege to bear witness to special moments and everyday life of generations of chefs, farmers, entrepreneurs, and creatives.

Clay’s work in the community led him to co-found Black Food Folks in 2019, which creates spaces for Black food professionals to connect and, between 2020 and 2022, provided over $180,000 in grants to Black-run businesses in food, farming, and media.

A Lifelong New Yorker, Clay lives in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Dan Pashman is the three-time James Beard Award winning creator and host of The Sporkful podcast, which TIME named one of the 100 Best Podcasts of All Time. He’s also the inventor of the cascatelli pasta shape, and the best-selling author of Anything’s Pastable: 81 Inventive Pasta Recipes for Saucy People.

On The Sporkful, Dan uses humor and humanity to approach food from many angles, covering identity, culture, science, history, economics, and more. Past guests include Bobby Flay, Padma Lakshmi, Stanley Tucci, Phil Rosenthal, Samin Nosrat, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, Nigella Lawson, and many more.

In 2021, Dan launched the new pasta shape cascatelli, which TIME named one of the Best Inventions of the Year. (Dan partners with Sfoglini, a pasta company in Upstate New York, to produce it.) The story of Dan’s three year quest to create cascatelli was told in The Sporkful podcast’s “Mission: ImPASTAble” series, which the New York Times named one of the 10 Best Podcasts of 2021. In 2024 Dan released his first cookbook, Anything’s Pastable, which became a national bestseller. Library Journal said it’s like “if Willy Wonka and Alton Brown collaborated on a cookbook – revolutionary in all the right ways.”

Dan has appeared on Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, The Today Show, Guy’s Grocery Games, Beat Bobby Flay, Morning Edition, Radiolab, WTF with Marc Maron, and more. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Vanity Fair, among others. He lives outside New York City with his wife and two daughters.

Corey Alston is a man who has been recognized by many for his tireless effort to keep his heritage alive for his generation. He has been featured in magazines, TV shows, and world-renowned museums. You can find him mostly keeping his art form alive by social media sites. Corey is a direct descendant of Enslaved Africans, and is proud to teach others about his heritage by doing public educational talks all over the country. Corey is a fifth-generation Sweetgrass Basket Weaver and currently runs the family business in the Charleston City Market. Sweetgrass Basket Weaving has been a major part of the Gullah Geechee Culture, dating back to the era of Enslavement. This coastal art form has been recognized as South Carolina State Handcraft and has been known to be found to be kept alive the longest along the Sweetgrass Basket Makers HWY of South Carolina. This skill is one of the rare arts of our country and is found nowhere else in America. Gullah Sweetgrass Baskets are known as a national treasure.

Canaan Marshall is the next-door floral designer of your dreams. An old soul, he has had a natural knack for all things growing and green since childhood. He is best known as the vibrant, young fellow to turn your everyday into elegant. Perhaps just as notable is the seemingly effortless way he creates and very often makes his fans feel as though they, too, could create something just as wonderful.  His mantra: Place it, and move on. To his audience of intrigued green-thumb wannabes, he inspires thoughtful arrangements while never fretting over the perfect placement. He encourages, “Choose flowers you like; put some love into the preparation, and have fun!” Much like your favorite neighbor, he has the finished vision before you even begin. Canaan’s energy makes one want to dance and celebrate each event as if it were the last. That celebration is evident in everything he touches.  Canaan especially values the relationship with each client. He is quick to learn a client’s personality from the onset. From Macon to Atlanta and beyond, many have been known to cheat on their mainstay florist for his gorgeous table scapes, over-the-top mantels and breathtaking bridal bouquets. His work can be found in the pages of Southern Living, Modern Luxury, Flower Magazine, Traditional Home, and Macon Magazine. His lineup of sophisticated events includes ADAC’s To Live & Dine, Historic Macon Foundation’s Design Wine & Dine, and Atlanta Symphony Associates’ Decorators’ Show House & Gardens opening party. Canaan is also a conte   stant on Season Two of Full Bloom on HBO Max. Canaan makes extraordinary appear simple, yet always with a fabulous, fun flair.  For press inquiries or for more information about how you can get in on Canaan’s florabrilliance, contact Goods PR / Susannah Maddux: 478.254.1561 or susannah@forthegoods.com.

Melanie Hansche is the editorial director of special projects at Food & Wine and a former restaurant owner who has created food and lifestyle content for over 24 years across two continents. She started her career in food journalism in Sydney at Australian Gourmet Traveller before joining Aussie food icon Donna Hay for eight years as her magazine and cookbook editor. Melanie relocated to the U.S. a decade ago to work for Rodale publishing as its food director before joining Food & Wine in 2018 as its deputy editor. In her current role, Melanie oversees editorial programs like Best New Chefs and Global Tastemakers, spearheads the brand’s travel and home coverage, and sometimes develops recipes close to her heart (crumpets, anyone?).

Kat Kinsman is the executive features editor at Food & Wine, author of Hi, Anxiety: Life With a Bad Case of Nerves, host of Food & Wine’s Gold Signal Award-winning podcast Tinfoil Swans, and founder of Chefs With Issues. Previously, she was the senior food & drinks editor at Extra Crispy, editor-in-chief and editor at large at Tasting Table, and the founding editor of CNN Eatocracy. She won a 2024 IACP Award for Narrative Food Writing With Recipes and a 2020 IACP Award for Personal Essay/Memoir, and has had work included in the 2020 and 2016 editions of The Best American Food Writing. She was nominated for a James Beard Broadcast Award in 2013, won a 2011 EPPY Award for Best Food Website with 1 million unique monthly visitors, and was a finalist in 2012 and 2013. She is a sought-after international keynote speaker and moderator on food culture and mental health in the hospitality industry, and is the former vice chair of the James Beard Journalism Committee.

Hunter Lewis has been the Editor in Chief of Food & Wine since 2017, leading a team that has earned multiple James Beard Awards and a National Magazine Award from the American Society of Magazine Editors. Prior to that he was the Editor in Chief of Cooking Light, Executive Editor of Southern Living, Food Editor of Bon Appétit, and Kitchen Director of Saveur. Lewis cooked under chef Jonathan Waxman in Sonoma County, California, and as a line cook at Barbuto in New York City. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he was also a reporter for The Herald-Sun in Durham, North Carolina. You can find him in his home kitchen in Birmingham, Alabama, cooking for his family, on Instagram @notesfromacook, and as a guest judge on Bravo’s Top Chef.