Heritage Week

Keynote Speech: Breaking Down Barriers through Culinary Experience

Keynote Speaker: Chef Edward Lee

Room: IT131G (Bigelow Hall), Miller IT Center
Date & time: Tuesday, April 9, 11:30 a.m. -1 p.m.
Welcome Remarks by President Kim Schatzel
Catered food from Nami
Admission is Free • 

Photos from the Keynote Speech

Edward Lee is the Chef/Owner of 610 Magnolia and Nami in Louisville, KY. He is the Culinary Director for Succotash
Prime in Washington, DC and Succotash in National Harbor, MD. He is also the Co-Founder of The LEE Initiative, a
non-profit dedicated to diversity and equality in the restaurant industry. Chef Lee was the recipient of the 2019 James
Beard Foundation Award for his book, Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting Pot
Cuisine (Artisan Books, 2019). His first book, Smoke & Pickles (Artisan Books, 2013) was a national bestseller. Lee
has been a six-time finalist for the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southeast. In 2018, Food
& Wine Magazine named 610 Magnolia one of the country’s most important restaurants of the past 40 years. The
Michelin Guide DC awarded Succotash a Bib Gourmand in 2019. Nami was recently named one of the country’s Top
Restaurants in 2023 by USA Today.

In 2017, Chef Lee launched The LEE Initiative, which operates several programs under its umbrella including
the Women Culinary and Spirits Program, Restaurant Workers Relief Program and the Restaurant Reboot Relief
Program. During the pandemic, The LEE Initiative distributed over 2 million meals, invested $1.5 million in small
farms, and gave over $1 million in grants to Black-owned food businesses across the country. Chef Lee was awarded
the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award in 2021.