Psychologist

Laura is a Clinical Psychologist and has worked for the last 24 years in various settings including community health, private practice, the corporate sector, and tertiary education.
Laura has extensive training and experience in using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Laura has a special interest in the growing area of Mindfulness training. She is an accredited Mindfulness Instructor and has been running Mindfulness workshops for individuals and groups for the last 6 years.
She is currently enrolled in a PhD at the Black Dog Institute (UNSW) and is interested in looking at evaluating a mindfulness app in the university population.

Owner - Ormeggio at the Spit & Chiosco By Ormeggio

Anna Pavoni is a co-owner of two successful restaurants in Sydney, starting this dream with her husband and business partner Alessandro when they opened Ormeggio at The Spit in 2009.

She has her own consulting business and enjoys the opportunities of working with others that this provides. She is mother to toddlers Jada and Luca. She was also a founding board member of WoHo, a not for profit association which supports the career development of Women in Hospitality, as well as founding and maintaining an industry initiative she calls her “Council of W.A.R (Women and Restaurants)” - a network for female restaurateurs.

Her passion lies with developing successful businesses run by happy and competent people who can learn and be challenged by those around them. She is absolutely dedicated to spreading the message that hospitality is a career path, and not just limited to the traditional back and front of house positions of chef/waiter/manager.

Owner - Wildflower Brewing

A native Texan and trained astrophysicist, Topher has been making beer professionally for seven years. Along the way he became interested in native fermentations and making beer with a sense of place. In 2015, he travelled extensively to Europe and his native Texas learning old-world techniques necessary to successfully make wild, mixed fermentation beers.

Since starting Wildflower in 2016, Topher has started a family and slowly grown his business increasing awareness of wild fermentations, sustainable farming and regional ingredients.

Chef & Owner - Biota

Chef and owner of two hatted Biota Dining & Rooms in NSW Bowral, James Viles has become one of Australia’s most respected young chefs and restaurateurs for his commitment to sustainability and his imaginative modern food. When James isn’t in the kitchen, you’ll find him in the forest, on the river or on a farm in the Southern Highlands, hunting, gathering and seeking inspiration for his much lauded restaurant.

James’ vision for Biota Dining was to create a dining destination in regional NSW that supported both local farmers and growers, incorporating seasonal botanicals and drawing on both propagating and foraging for the menu. James’ food is produce and technique driven with a close affiliation to nature.

Comedian & Journalist

Jennifer Wong is a comedian, writer, and ABC Life reporter from Sydney who's performed at arts and comedy festivals around the world.

She's performed in food-themed shows such as the sold-out Sydney Festival production of The Serpent's Table, and Living in the Pasta at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

As the creator and host of Comedy vs Racism, she's facilitated many events on diversity and racism. Jennifer is the co-host of the Friends at the Library podcast and tweets at @wojennifer.

Journalist

Lee Tran Lam has written about food for Gourmet Traveller, The Sun-Herald, Good Food, SBS Food, Time Out Sydney and even Turkish Vogue. She runs The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry podcast and presents Local Fidelity on FBi radio.

Executive Chef - Momofuku Seiobo

Paul has worked in many exciting restaurants around the world including wd~50, Aquavit & the Tasting Room in NYC and Perla restaurant in Puerto Rico. His formal training began at the Culinary Institute of America but his true love and passion for food started at home in Barbados when he was only a toddler. From there his love of cooking has taken him all over the world where he has learnt from many chefs and cooks along the way. He started working for the Momofuku group in NYC at Má Pêche in 2010 and landed in Sydney in 2015 to take over the Executive Chef position at Momofuku Seiōbo.

His cooking at Seiōbo honours his Caribbean heritage. He was awarded 'Chef of the Year' in Gourmet Traveller's Guide 2020 and Time Out Sydney 2019. Momofuku Seiōbo was awarded Gourmet Traveller Restaurant of the Year in 2017.

Mentor/Leader - Leading Teams

Shelly hails from Dublin and has been in Australia for over a decade. Shelly has a Bachelor of Science in Media and Communications, specialising in television production. She also has a Diploma in Leadership and Management.

Shelly previously worked as the Training and Development advisor for the Merivale Group which had over 3000 staff. She has managed large teams up to 120 people in her previous roles as General Manager and Licensee. Shelly’s in-depth understanding of people means she can work in a wide range of industries with people from all backgrounds. She is particularly passionate about maximising individuals’ potential which results in a greater contribution to the team. A great strength of Shelly’s is her communication skills, and deep passion for the Leading Teams model which she uses as a blueprint for both her professional and personal lives.

“My role at Leading Teams allows me to live out my passion daily, and I love working with people from all cultures and walks of life and helping them to become high performing. With my natural optimism, I believe that I can engage and motivate anyone to improve their performance and achieve individual and organisational goals.”

Chef & Owner - Lankan Filling Station

O Tama Carey began her cooking career quite by accident after finding herself in a kitchen in London. Since then she has worked her way through kitchens learning to cook food of diverse cultures including French training at Bistro Moncur, Chinese at Billy Kwong and Italian, of sorts, at Berta. This was her first head chef role and where she could truly focus on working with small suppliers and seasonal produce. It was while here that she received her Time Out Chef of the Year award in 2014.

Currently O Tama is busy running Lankan Filling Station, her first solo venture, a Sri Lankan restaurant located in East Sydney. LFS opened in late July of 2018 to great acclaim and queues out the door. It was awarded a Good Food Award Hat and made it onto The Weekend Australian Magazines Hot 50 Restaurants within the first few months of opening. This is where you will find her, pounding spices in the kitchen or carrying food on the floor in this small yet stylish and aromatic venue.

DJ, Food Writer, Podcast Creator

Andrew Levins has been a DJ since he was a teenager, and a food writer for almost as long. He cut his teeth as one of the inaugural DJs on FBi radio, plays most major Australian music festivals and hosts the longest-running hip-hop night in Sydney.
His articles have been published by the Sydney Morning Herald, ABC Life, VICE, SBS, The Good Food Guide and Time Out. In 2007 he co-founded the youth music charity Heaps Decent (with Diplo and Nina Las Vegas), and in 2009 he was named one of Sydney’s 100 Most Influential People by the Sydney Morning Herald.
Since then he’s had two kids, run a successful restaurant, released a cookbook and started no less than five podcasts.