OUR TEACHERS

CaROLINA SAAVEDRA

Carolina Saavedra is the Community Education Manager at Stone Barns Center. She once considered a career in medicine, but left her pre-med studies to pursue a passion for healing and feeding people via ancestral food traditions. She moved to San Miguel Ahuehuetitlan, a municipality of Oaxaca, Mexico, to immerse herself in her indigenous roots and learn her ancestors’ recipes and traditions. Upon returning to the United States, Carolina continued to build her culinary career, competing on Food Network’s Chopped, graduating from the International Culinary Center with honors, and securing a competitive culinary internship at Martha and Marley Spoon. Chef Carolina has represented the U.S. at multiple gastronomy events in Mexico, and she is a sought-after chef who has taught at leading cultural institutions including the New York Botanical Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYU, and City University of New York Graduate Center. In 2021 Carolina was named one of Time Out’s NYC Women of the Year.

On the side: Carolina is the sous chef at La Morada restaurant, where the Saavedra family fights to ensure equality and social justice and to preserve their indigenous roots within the South Bronx community.

HuGO gONZALEZ

Hugo Gonzalez  is a Latinx (Mexican-Colombian-American) multidisciplinary designer and artist based in New Jersey. He uses digital media through an indigenous framework to create connections beyond colonial borders and imagine alternative futures. His design practice tends to orbit around themes of culture, community, and conservation. Hugo shares his time between being the Lead Designer for NYC-based nonprofit Touching Land and as the Multimedia Graphic Designer for the global organization, Doctors Without Borders.

Manolo Lopez

Manolo is the creator of Mofon•GO, the first Puerto Rican pop-up restaurant in the USA, which celebrated Puerto Rican culture through the Island’s national dish, Mofongo. He is also the creator of Cosa Nuestra, a traveling global movement that uses art, culture, and cuisine to bring Latin culture to life and transform the current conversation around Latinos.

Today, Manolo travels the world as a public speaker sharing the story of Puerto Rico as a way to raise more awareness of the current state of the Island. His talks come paired with experimental dinners that create conversations on larger issues and are a way to share and celebrate Puerto Rican culture.