Born and raised in New England with roots in the American South, Taylor (she/her) is a queer, mixed Black writer and creative producer. Her love of food was not passed down from her immediate family, but began young and has been nurtured through making and breaking bread with many different cultures while living in Europe for the last 5+ years. Trained in Environmental Studies (ecosystem conservation and food anthropology, B.A., Brandeis University ’15), as well as Education Design (science research development, and communication, M.Sc., Utrecht University ’19), Taylor is committe...

Growing up in San Francisco, Joanna’s love of food started at an early age and followed her across the country to New Jersey where she is currently the Director of Operations and Partnerships at HRN.  Joanna’s interest in food led her to a Master of Arts degree from New York University in Food Studies. Turning her final masters project into a reality, Joanna created Lucinda Burrito + Taco truck in 2005, one of the first gourmet food trucks on the East Coast. Featured in The New York Times and Food Wine magazine, Lucinda’s set Joanna into a career of catering, food styling, event...

Brooklyn based Frank Mentesana has been working around food for a long time. He was the founding owner of the renowned NYC bakery/cafe Once Upon a Tart.., and co-authored and photographed the cookbook Soups, Salads, Muffins and More (Knopf).  He was the Founding-Director of EcoSpaces Education, a program that brings food literacy education to children through cooking, gardening, vertical farming, and made-from-scratch school meals. He earned the 2017 Impact Award from Partnership for a Healthier America. In addition, his food styling, writing and photography have been seen in publ...

H Conley is a former cheesemaker, turned journalist and audio maker. They studied Agriculture and Food Systems at Bard College and fell in love with radio while apprenticing in the Hawthorne Valley Farm creamery. After graduating, they spent four years making cheddar at Beecher's Handmade Cheese. H immersed themself in audio storytelling during the long hours of cheesemaking and decided to pursue radio on the side. They did an internship at HRN in 2019, where they worked on The Farm Report, Meat and Three, and Buenlimon Radio. In 2021, they left cheese production to attend the Cra...

Armen is a native of NYC and a certified media geek. In the past five years he has delved into the post-processing world of audio and video. Mostly focusing on music, he has produced songs that have been played on radio stations such as Rinse FM. Armen’s relationship with food has taken many forms over the years, from devouring food reviews on YouTube to volunteering at Our School at Blair Grocery’s urban farm in New Orleans to learn about community organizing. Armen graduated from Ithaca College, where he studied television and radio production, along with writing. Now he is soli...

Liam is a sound engineer, instrumentalist, and composer. He is a lover of food in all capacities, and is particularly interested in food sustainability and urban agriculture. Currently, Liam is pursuing a Master’s degree in music technology at New York University while working at HRN as an engineering intern.

Matt first learned of Heritage Radio Network while working at a small craft brewery in Southern California. In the midst of a years-long quest to brew great beer, he found a helpful podcast called Fuhmentaboudit! and listened to every episode. After several thousand more barrels of beer brewed, a World Beer Cup award won, and a stint on a New Zealand hop farm, Matt moved to NYC to pursue his second love: audio production. He joined HRN as a studio engineer in 2017.