Meet the Seed-Funding Finalists
Kwini Reed
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Co-Owner, Poppy & Seed LLC
Kwini Reed is a Southern California native, wife, mother, and entrepreneur. She is the co-owner of brunch restaurant, Poppy + Rose in Downtown Los Angeles, Orange County dining destination, Poppy & Seed, and upscale catering company, Root of All Foods with husband and chef of these concepts, Michael Reed.
Kwini Reed comes from a large family that values community, generosity, and a strong work ethic– traits that have helped her succeed in her career and personal endeavors. A graduate of California State University, Fullerton with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing, she now has over a decade of experience in business, finance, and human resource management, having worked at companies throughout LA, including The Standard Hotel, Band of Gypsies, and Brandy Melville USA. In her current day- to - day, she oversees operations of Poppy + Rose, Poppy & Seed, and Root of All Food managing finances, strategizing new concepts for the restaurant, spearheading collaborations, and more. She and Michael Reed have received numerous accolades for these concepts, including Orange Coast Magazine's “Best New Restaurant” (Poppy & Seed); and CBS Los Angeles’ “Best All-Day Breakfast Restaurants in LA” (Poppy + Rose)- among others.
She pioneers Poppy + Rose and Poppy & Seed's giving back initiatives as well, coordinating meal donations to organizations across LA, supporting first responders, social justice causes, youth development programs, and more. She is active with local nonprofits, such as Brown Bag Lady, which provides meals to people experiencing homelessness in LA. In addition, she participated in the James Beard Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership (WEL) program in 2021, which is focused on empowering women food industry entrepreneurs and restaurant owners and is a member of Re:Her a non-profit.
In October, Kwini Reed will participate in the LA Chef Conference 2022 as a co-moderator of a panel on the future of restaurants. Later this year, she plans to launch the UNI Coalition: We’re in this Together- a nonprofit teaching kitchen, supported by contributions from local chefs who will donate their time, allowing community members to become part of a training program that places people in their restaurants. By 2023, Kwini and Michael Reed will open Poppy + Rose in San Pedro, offering casual brunch and a refined dinner menu.
When Kwini Reed is not overseeing Poppy + Rose, Poppy & Seed, and Root of All Food, she enjoys spending time with Michael Reed, and their daughter Mackenzie, as well as creating music in her home studio.
Amy Wilson
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Co-owner & Founder, Milk Jawn
Amy graduated from Eugene Lang College and Parsons School of Design, which are part of The New School in NYC. She studied writing, literature, and photography. Upon graduation, Amy worked in publishing and then, as a freelance writer for some time. It was a common Christmas gift that got the wheels in her head churning about a new passion and potential profession she would pursue.
In 2010, Amy’s husband, Alex, got her an ice cream maker. Her sister-in-law gave her an ice cream recipe book. Amy tried the first recipe in the book with her new ice cream machine, but the batch didn’t turn out as well as she had hoped. She began re-working the recipes and reading up on the science of ice cream in order to create the perfect pint. Then Amy began to wonder, “What recipes and new flavors could she create from a basic formula?” Her mindset began to shift around this science. She would walk down the aisles of the grocery store in her regular shopping routine, or be out to dinner with friends and see a “Rose Lemonade Soda” item on the menu…Could that flavor be an ice cream?
Amy was determined to find out. Despite her lack of culinary background, Amy decided to teach herself through experimentation using her resources, including that recipe book. She turned her kitchen into its own “Sundae School” and went to work, thus Milk Jawn was born.
Paula Wang
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Co-Owner, CFO, Director of Operations, Rose Ave Bakery
Paula was one of the first bakers and employees to be hired during the start up/pop up days.
In 2017, she officially quit her desk job to attend L’Academie de Cuisine only to find out that the school would be closing two weeks before the start of her program. Without the technical background that she hoped to receive from attending pastry school, she took matters into her own hands: bought herself cookbooks, started baking every day she could, and reached out to bakeries.
Paula self-taught herself and came to work at Rose Ave as one of two bakers to help Rosie launch Rose Ave. Paula has grown in many ways in her journey and has helped the company grow and build the foundation it needed. She is the rock of Rose Ave and is always cool, calm, organized and empathetic to the team and their needs. Paula saw the potential of Rose Ave and has become co-owner and partner and director of operations (and everything in between).
Meet the Seed-Funding Mentors
Lorena Garcia
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Since Lorena Garcia has been cooking professionally, she has focused on bringing the flavors of Latin cooking one of the great cuisines of the world to a wider audience. Her global, fresh and highly flavorful take on Latin Cuisine offers a modern fusion of classic techniques with Latin ingredients. Her life as a chef, entrepreneur, cookbook author, media personality, cookware designer and restaurateur has been a celebration of the cooking and passion for food that she grew up with in her native Caracas, Venezuela with the international flavors and culinary techniques she amassed as a young chef working in some of the world’s finest restaurants. As one of the nation’s top celebrity chefs best known for her television roles on Top Chef Masters America’s Next Great Restaurant, and multiple shows on Telemundo and Univision, Garcia has published two bestselling cookbooks. Though she originally went to school in Venezuela to be come a lawyer, she soon realized she had a different calling and enrolled in cooking school in the United States. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts from Johnson & Wales University and recently received an honorary doctorate in the same field. Garcia took her first job as an apprentice at the Ritz Carlton in Paris, and then worked her way through different regions of the world including Italy, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and China, picking up techniques an d inspiration along the way.
In July 2002, Garcia opened her first restaurant, Food Café, followed by Elements Tierra in Miami’ s Design District. In 2011, she moved her restaurant operations into airports (currently at MIA, DFW and ATL), offering millions of travelers Lorena Garcia Tapas y Cocina, a healthier take on traditional Latin cuisine. Lorena also operates the Lorena Garcia Culinary Loft in Miami, which is available for private events, as well as film and television production. In 2017, Garcia embarked on her most ambitious restaurant project in collaboration with the award - winning international hospitality ground 50 Eggs Inc., landing her on the world - famous Las Vegas Strip. CHICA by Lorena Garcia located at The Venetian hotel is a stunning celebration of Latin American cooking and hospitality showcasing flavors, influences and techniques from Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, combined and reimagined in Garcia’s distinct global style. With CHICA, she has joined the ranks of the world class chefs on Restaurant Row at The Venetian including Thomas Keller and Emeril Lagasse – and now her photo proudly lives between them as the first woman chef on the “Wall of Culinary Titans” outside the property. The upcoming expansion of the CHICA brand will bring Garcia back home to South Florida with the concept opening its second location in Miami’s historic MiMo district in late - 2019. The Miami incarnation of CHICA by Lorena Garcia will appeal to both locals and visitors alike, featuring the robust and vibrant flavors of authentic Latin and South American dishes, inventive cocktails and an unparalleled dining experience guaranteed to elevate the local culinary landscape. In addition to her success as a chef and restaurateur, fans of Garcia may be familiar with her regular appearances on HSN, showcasing her fresh and modern line of cookware with a splash of Latin flair known as the Lorena Bella Kitchen Collection. She has also been featured on the CNN special documentary “Latinos in America” and as a guest on such talk programs as The Talk, The Chew and Today. Her recipes have been featured in publications such as People Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Vogue and Saveur, and she has been profiled in business magazines for her significant role as a strong female Latina chef and business - owner including Kiplinger’s and Entrepreneur. When she is not growing her personal brand or expanding her culinary footprint, Garcia always finds time to give back, particularly with her own non-pro fit organization aimed at combatting childhood obesity, “Big Chef, Little Chef. ” The comprehensive program helps children and their families take control of their eating habits and, ultimately, their lives.
You can find information on Chef Lorena Garcia at www.ChefLorenaGarcia.com and follow her on Facebook (LorenaGarciaOnline), Twitter (@LorenaGarcia) and Instagram (@ChefLorena).
Ellen Yin
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As the Co-Founder and Owner of High Street Hospitality Group (HSHG), restaurateur Ellen Yin operates some of the country’s most celebrated dining establishments including a.kitchen+bar, Fork, High Street Philly, and High Street Provisions in Philadelphia and High Street on Hudson, in Manhattan.
A graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and veteran of the hospitality industry, Yin has been honored with Philadelphia Business Journal’s “Women of Distinction” award in 2020 and is a multi-year nominee for “Outstanding Restaurateur” by the James Beard Foundation Awards. The Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce recognized High Street Hospitality Group’s innovation, resilience and community-driven ethos as an honoree of 2020 the “Inspiring Excellence Award”. Some community-driven organizations Yin and HSHG have supported include: Bakers Against Racism, Everybody Eats Philadelphia, Fuel the Fight, Let’s Talk, and Save Philly Eats. She currently serves as leadership within the Independent Restaurant Coalition, is on The Philadelphia Regional Recharge and Recovery Task Force, and is part of the Small Business Ecosystem Advisory Council.
“Yin’s winning combination of business acumen, willingness to take risks and passion for hospitality” has helped her restaurants thrive, wrote Billy Penn’s Danya Henninger. “Yin’s eye for the details of polished professionalism have remained a constant…Fork has matured into one of the most compellingly evolved special-occasion dining experiences in Philadelphia today,” wrote The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Craig LaBan. Food Republic called Yin “the woman who first transformed Philadelphia’s dining scene…one of Philadelphia’s most successful and insightful restaurateurs” and Eater called her “a trailblazer of the farm-to-table movement…Yin’s work ethic is legendary.”
Fork was named one of the “20 Best Restaurants in Philadelphia” by Conde Nast Traveler in 2019, and the publication also named High Street on Market on their list of the “11 Best Brunch Places in Philadelphia.” High Street on Market was awarded The Inquirer’s “Restaurant of the Year” in 2014, and Bon Appetit named it number two in the country in their annual “America’s Best New Restaurants” issue in 2014. Likewise, Travel + Leisure named High Street on Market one of the best new restaurants in the world in 2015. High Street on Hudson earned a coveted “Two Stars” review from The New York Times’ Pete Wells, and the New York Post called it the best new restaurant of the year. Food & Wine included it among their 10 best of the year, as well. Most recently, her flagship restaurant, Fork, was named one of the most influential restaurants of the past decade by the Inquirer and among Esquire’s list of “Top 100 Restaurants America Can’t Afford to Lose” in 2020.
Since she debuted Fork in 1997, Yin’s leadership has included overseeing a team of talented professionals in all areas of the restaurant, from the award-winning chefs to the gracious and hospitable managers and front-of-house staff. Further, the High Street brand pioneered the all day cafe model nearly a decade ago and is widely credited with sparking an artisanal bread movement in our region and beyond it.
Yin is also the author of Forklore: Recipes and Tales from an American Bistro (Temple University Press, 2007), a thoughtful chronicle of her ongoing success at creating and maintaining a definitive American bistro in Philadelphia’s historic Old City and served as the keynote speaker for graduation ceremonies at the Culinary Institute of America. Over the years, she has partnered with a number of dynamic chefs to keep Fork’s menu and concept fresh; since bringing Chef Eli Kulp to Philadelphia in late 2012 (Chef Kulp is now Yin’s business partner in High Street Hospitality Group), Yin has expanded her smartly built family of restaurants to include more top locations and exciting talent. She currently serves on the board of the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation, the Arden Theatre Company and the Community Advisory Board of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University.launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.
Michael Shemtov
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Michael Shemtov is a Charleston, South Carolina based restaurateur with a strong passion for entrepreneurship, and a strong interest in politics. He graduated from the College of Charleston and went into restaurant ownership at age 22 with the opening of Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers in downtown Charleston. Michael later opened three more Mellow Mushroom locations in the Charleston area, and served for two years as the Marketing Director for the parent company of Mellow Mushroom. In 2011, Michael opened Butcher & Bee Charleston with the simple mission of serving honest-to-goodness sandwiches made with flavors and quality usually reserved for fine dining. In 2014, he opened The Daily, a modern neighborhood bodega offering coffee, hot breakfast and lunch, and provisions. In 2015, Michael opened his first concept outside of Charleston, Butcher & Bee in East Nashville, and now co-owns a second restaurant in East Nashville called Redheaded Stranger. His project Workshop - a multi-concept culinary incubator opened in Charleston in 2017, has “graduated” over six culinary entrepreneurs out of it’s food hall and into standalone brick & mortar locations.
His passion for politics, current events and world affairs is ever present. He is a regular volunteer for political campaigns and in 2019 became a proud graduate of the James E. Clyburn Political Fellowship program through the South Carolina Democratic Party. He resides in Charleston with his wife Melody and two kids, delightfully nestled into Congressman Clyburn’s district.
