Something very special happened in March. An evening of ideas, empowerment, wisdom, mutual support and a fair amount of good humor took place at the Bomhard Theater.

LEE Initiative’s 2020 mentees revealed at “The Future of Food is Female”

For those in attendance on March 2, the positive energy of the evening has continued to reverberate, straight through the ensuing months of coronavirus-borne upheaval. For those who missed it, you have the chance to view the film’s live premiere on Facebook on Sunday, July 26.

The Future of Food is Female Premiere
Sunday, 26 July 2020
14:00 – 15:00 (2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.)
Live event

Kentucky to the World seeks to elevate the intellectual reputation of Kentuckians on the world’s stage. For our International Women’s Month program in 2020, we could think of no better partner than The LEE Initiative.

At the time, The LEE Initiative was mostly known for their innovative Women Chefs Initiative, a mentorship program aimed at putting more females on the fast track to running kitchens in response to the #MeToo movement.

Two-weeks-to-the-day after this program was filmed, restaurants across the state (and country) were ordered to close as a pandemic began upending life as we all knew it.

Since then, The LEE Initiative launched a nationwide Restaurant Workers Relief Program, Farmers’ Regrow Initiative and most recently, The McAtee Community Kitchen in Louisville.

We hope you’ll join us for the live premiere of this program on Facebook by clicking “interested” to get reminders.

Not only is this conversation between female chefs from all corners of Kentucky anchored by Food Network Chef Damaris Phillips one of the best conversations ever captured by our organization, it’s a moment in time that gives context and background to The LEE Initiative and the importance of female leadership.

We are positive you will only be hearing more about both in the years to come.

Want some more reading in the meantime? Check out our blogs on:

Chef Damaris Phillips
Chef Nikkia Rhodes
The LEE Initiative’s response to COVID-19
The McAtee Community Kitchen

Note also that Chef Samantha Fore has an active, entertaining and informative Twitter feed (@tuktuklex), and Chef Kristen Smith’s The Wrigley Taproom & Eatery is on Facebook.