In the fall of 2005, I decided to put windowless office space, toner requests, writing literary press releases, and ten-years-on-the-job toasters behind me. Free from the shackles of my literary publicity gig at HarperCollins Publishers, I booked a ticket to Quito, Ecuador and began the journey of a lifetime. Since, I’ve visited six continents and more than sixty countries as diverse as Argentina, India, United Arab Emirates, Taiwan, Cuba, Israel, and New Zealand.
Back in my hometown of New York City, I began to write freelance travel and food pieces for print publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Newsday, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Miami Herald, and Women’s Adventure, and online sites including The Huffington Post, The Daily Meal, Conde Nast Traveler, Fodors, Men’s Fitness and Jetsetter. I also served as lead writer on Fodors’ guidebooks for Puerto Rico (2012), Los Cabos and Surrounding (2013), Cancun and the Riviera Maya (2014), as well as for Wallpaper (Mexico City + New York City, 2015).
In 2012, as my focus continued to narrow on the Americas, I was tapped as founding editor of the website The Latin Kitchen, in conjunction with Latina Magazine. The first culinary site dedicated to the flavors and spirits of Latin America, the brand was targeted to the acculturated Latina demographic and was driven by recipes. I left that post in 2014 to focus the development of my own brands.
First, Meets NYC, which aims to both entertain and educate a NYC audience on the culinary legacies of destinations around the globe. The first series, Baja Meets NYC (2014), was a multi-day, multi-format culinary salon that brought five Baja winemakers and three Baja chefs to New York City for a four-day program of wine tastings, paired wine dinners, and cocktail parties. A second festival, Puerto Rico Meets NYC (2015) quickly followed. Through Meets NYC, I’ve worked with global partners including Delta, Edible, Wine Enthusiast, James Beard Foundation, Popular Community Bank, Wythe Hotel, Hotel Americano, Chefs Works, Brooklyn Brewery, Chefs Club by Food & Wine, Chefs Roll, Don Q, San Pellegrino, Mexico Tourism, Baja Tourism, Puerto Rico Tourism, and acclaimed chefs, sommeliers and mixologists including Eric Ripert, Javier Plascencia, Didier Elena, Wilo Benet, Diego Hernandez, Mario Pagan, Roberto Santibanez, Eric Greenspan, Lynnette Marrero, Hugo D’Acosta, and many others. 2017 and 2018 will highlight two new Meets NYC destinations. Stay tuned!
Second, New Worlder, which launched in March 2016, was co-founded with fellow freelancer Nicholas Gill. Dedicated to travel, culture and culinary beats in the Americas, Caribbean, Spain and Portugal, the editorially driven site relies on long form journalism with an emphasis on photography and features the work of contributors from around the world. A video hub in partnership with Cultural Xplorers and Where Next Productions in evolving, as well as bi-lingual translation of all articles to Spanish. Additionally, the brand will feature an online store showcasing curated Latin American collections for pantry, kitchen and home in 2017.
A LatAm culinary travel consultant to corporate brands looking to understand the U.S. Latin American market, when I’m not “researching” great food (and wine) created by my favorite chefs here and abroad, I keep busy running, scuba diving, discovering new live music, loving up my niece and nephew, and of course, planning my next big adventure.
