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 Bibby Gignilliat
Founder & Executive Chef
Bibby Gignilliat, a corporate convert, transformed a career in marketing at Williams-Sonoma, Inc. into an enormously satisfying career in professional cooking. She launched her formal training at Tante Marie's Cooking School in San Francisco. Bibby has taught cooking classes at HomeChef® and at Tante Marie's and currently teaches at Sur La Table, Ramekins and Draeger’s cooking schools. Bibby's experience in the professional kitchen includes hands-on training at Insalata's and Kokkari. She was the sous-chef to Joanne Weir for a national promotional tour sponsored by Calphalon cookware. Bibby was a production assistant and food stylist for “Jacques Pepin Celebrates,” with Jacques Pepin, the national PBS series “Weir Cooking in the Wine Country,” featuring Joanne Weir and "Bay Cafe" with Chef Joey Altman. She has appeared on the Today Show, the Food Network, CNBC, in The New York Times, Daily Candy, Better Homes and Gardens, Cooking Light, Bon Appetit, Gourmet, and Business 2.0 Magazines. In 1999, Bibby founded Gourmet Gatherings®, which later became Parties That Cook. Parties That Cook stages deliciously fun hands-on cooking class parties and corporate team-building events. Bibby authored the Sumptuous Small Plates: 30 Recipes for Deliciously Fun Entertaining cookbook. She is a spokesperson for Sears/Kenmore on the Make it Simple team and provides content, recipes and videos for their site. She was named 2008 Small Business Owner of the Year by San Francisco's Small Business Network (SBN), was awarded the 2009 NAWBO Rising Star Award. and was named Woman-Owned Business of 2009 in San Francisco by the Women's Initiative for Self Employment. |
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 Tanya Rogow
Chef de Cuisine
Tanya Rogow graduated at the top of her class from the California Culinary Academy and went on to an internship at the Food Network in New York City. There she worked with celebrity chefs like Emeril Lagasse and Wolfgang Puck. Tanya returned to San Francisco and found a home with Postrio Restaurant for three years before meeting Bibby Gignilliat. For the past six years she has been the Chef de Cuisine at Parties That Cook and shares her love for California cuisine as she teaches.
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 Michelene MoayediDirector of Finance and Sales
After eight years in high-tech sales and marketing, Michelene pursued her passion for food, entertaining and travel, and uses her skills at Parties That Cook as Director of Finance. Michelene received formal training in French cuisine at Tante Marie's Cooking School in San Francisco and continued her studies with an externship at Le Petit Robert on Russian Hill. There she launched monthly Regional French cooking classes in the restaurant kitchen. She has also assisted San Francisco Chronicle Food staff writers for the Chronicle Cooking School Series and has taught cooking classes at Purcell Murray. She appeared on Evening Magazine along with her cooking partner Heidi Bottom, a Parties That Cook Chicago-based chef. |
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 Crissy Gershey
Director of Marketing and Business Development
Growing up in New York City, in a family of foodies and “seasoned” home cooks, Crissy developed a passion for great food and diverse flavors early on. After graduating from Brown University with a degree in Biology, she decided to move her experiments out of the lab and into the kitchen. Crissy graduated with honors from the California Culinary Academy and instantly felt at home in the Bay Area food scene. She spent 4 years honing her skills and fine-tuning her palette as a Sous Chef at Hawthorne Lane in San Francisco. She then moved on to manage the four kitchens and menu development for Oakville Grocery as Culinary Director. After two years with Parties That Cook as Director of Operations, Crissy is thrilled to move into the exciting world of Marketing!
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 Rosie Balcunas
Senior Event Planner
Rosie grew up surrounded by home grown food and fresh cooked meals. As a result she loves entertaining and celebrating good food with family and friends. She received her degree in Economics and immediately joined the nonprofit world where she planned fundraising events. After moving to San Francisco, Rosie decided to follow her passion for cooking and entertaining. She most recently worked as an Event Planner for Small Potatoes Catering & Events in San Francisco. Rosie is excited to be part of the Parties That Cook team to share the joy of cooking with others. |
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 Beth Harris
Client Services and Event Manager
Beth grew up with home cooked Italian and hearty meat and potatoes meals in the Pacific Northwest. A whole new world opened up when she moved to California to attend Mills College. Beth not only developed a taste for different cuisines, but discovered that she loved to cook and entertain. Before joining Parties That Cook, Beth was a legal recruiter for Bingham McCutchen and more recently, Morrison & Foerster, both in San Francisco. Her roles offered her the opportunity to explore her food passions and in the process she also gained a great appreciation for well planned and executed events - many of them hosted by Parties That Cook! Beth is thrilled to be part of the PTC team and is looking forward to sharing her enthusiasm for cooking and planning great events.
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 Carolyn Davis
Operations Manager and Lead Chef
Carolyn's lifelong passion for food began helping her mother prepare family meals in Michigan and cooking her way through a B.S. in Psychology/Pre-Med. Her interest in food from the ground up planted her in Palo Alto where she oversaw an organic community garden. Over the next 6 years, Carolyn pursued a variety of culinary adventures, including cooking for summer camps and retreats in California and Maui, honing her skills at Roxanne's in Marin and running her own catering business, Carolyn Davis Catering. A Lead Chef with Parties That Cook since 2004, Carolyn is excited to bring her expertise in the field, organizational skills and love for Californian cuisine to her new role as Operations Manager. |
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 Erin Rasmussen
Bookkeeping Manager
This is Erin's debut on the professional food scene although she's been baking since the tender age of five. She was raised in the suburbs of Chicago on made-from-scratch health-conscious home cooking and absolutely loves the health and food lifestyle of the Bay Area. Erin is no stranger to logistics planning, something she had to master when she started her professional dance career while still a full-time scholarship student at University of Chicago. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a BA in history of science and then last year, left a successful career as a professional dancer with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago to start new adventures in San Francisco with her husband. Currently she free-lances, teaches dance, choreographs and has begun accounting classes at UC-Berkeley extension.
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 Shanti Wilson
Warehouse Operations Manager
A Cape Cod native, Shanti has called San Francisco home for 17 years. An avid photographer, gardener and chef, Shanti has always viewed life as a creative endeavor. After graduating from CCA in 2003, Shanti spent time in many kitchens, including recent roles as Market Chef at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, Kitchen Manager at the Chronicle Cooking School, baby foods cooking instructor, personal chef and food photographer. Shanti has studied photography for 15 years – taking pictures of food, people and global travels, including a once-in-a-lifetime culinary tour through Thailand with a group from the WRC. When she’s not snapping photos, Shanti is meticulously tending her garden of herbs, flowers, tomatoes, beans and Japanese eggplants. Promoting locally grown food is Shanti’s passion – an asset she brings to Parties That Cook as our knowledgeable liaison with local farmers and artisans.
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 Krystal Shih
Logistics Coordinator
A native Southern Californian, Krystal has been surrounded by the eclectic mix of food and culture that makes up the California experience her whole life. Exposed to traditional Chinese cooking at an early age in her mother's kitchen, she sees the art of cooking as a sharing experience. She can often be found at "Experimental Cooking" nights with her family and friends who all enjoy playing with different foods, cooking methods, spices and sauces. She recently earned her degree in Communications and is excited to be a part of the Parties That Cook family.
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 Brandy FernowChicago Manager & Lead Chef
Brandy is a personal chef, caterer and culinary instructor serving the Chicago metropolitan area. After working many years as a litigation services consultant for Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young, Brandy's love of cooking inspired her to train at one of the top culinary schools in the Midwest, Kendall College. Brandy specializes in special event catering, in-home custom meal preparation, and private group cooking lessons for her clients. She has been a sous chef for the WGN morning news food segments and assisted authored chefs in food shows and demonstrations. As Chicago Manager for Parties That Cook, Brandy oversees all Chicago events making sure our guests enjoy themselves and achieve confidence in the kitchen. |
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 Joel Gamoran
Seattle Manager & Lead Chef
Growing up in Seattle, Joel developed an early passion for food and appreciation of the Northwest's incredible bounty. After graduating with a Restaurant Management degree from the University of Connecticut, Joel spent summers in Northwest kitchens, learning Thai, Italian and French cooking. He next traveled to Florence, Italy where he trained at the Culinary Institute of Florence. Inspired and motivated, Joel landed in Napa Valley where he graduated from the Culinary Institute of America. Joel continued to increase his culinary repertoire as he cooked at Incanto and Farm to Table Kitchens in San Francisco. Today, Joel lives in Seattle, where he honed his skills at Tavolata restaurant and currently cooks at Caprice Kitchen. When he’s not cooking up a storm, Joel loves to play tennis and ice hockey.
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 Calley Prezzano
Lead Chef
In addition to spending her 3rd year with Parties that Cook, Calley is currently a Test Cook at Williams-Sonoma corporate headquarters. After undergrad at UCLA, Calley graduated from California Culinary Academy with honors while getting her hands dirty with her first job in a professional kitchen. In addition to being Sous Chef at a smaller restaurant in San Francisco, Calley cooked at Bradley Ogden's One Market Restaurant and for Google in Mountain View. She is a volunteer cook at the Raphael House, a shelter for families experiencing homelessness. She enjoys that Parties that Cook gives our guests a sense of confidence and growing knowledge in the kitchen... while rocking out to disco jams!
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 Mick Dimas
Lead Chef
A former Wall Street trader, Mick decided to follow his passion and pursue a culinary career. Mick graduated from Tante Marie's Cooking School and has an affinity for Italian cooking. He worked in the kitchen of San Francisco's Incanto restaurant. He also has traveled to Italy to cook and research the cuisine. He is also the owner of AddThyme.com, a personal chef and catering company. He along with his wife Barbara, also develop custom culinary tours of Italy. |
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 Heidi Bottom
Lead Chef - Chicago
Heidi is passionate about good food and loves how it brings people together. After studying culinary arts in Provence and Tuscany, she was formally trained at Tante Marie’s Cooking School in San Francisco. Heidi began her culinary career at Parties that Cook in 2002. She mastered the fast paced restaurant world at Insalata’s in Marin, has provided food styling for award-winning Chefs Mario Batali, Donna Hay and Bill Granger and assisted the San Francisco Chronicle Cooking Series. Heidi teaches at Williams-Sonoma, Cooking Fools, Ridge Vineyards and Le Cornue product education classes. While love brought her to Chicago, where she now lives and works, Heidi continues to share her knowledge and passion with Parties That Cook clients. |
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 Sarah Fairhurst
Lead Chef
A culinary vacation in Italy was what pushed Sarah to finally take the plunge and pursue a career in the culinary field. A former retail buyer for Gap Inc., she left the corporate world to attend Tante Marie’s Cooking School in San Francisco. Since graduation Sarah has been working as a food stylist assistant, as well as working with Parties That Cook.
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 Jill Klein
Lead Chef
Born to entertain, Jill is from a restaurant family in the Midwest. After graduating from the California Culinary Academy in 1991, she traveled extensively throughout Southeast Asia and South America passionately cooking and eating. Jill has worked in several restaurants in San Francisco, notably Lulu and Alain Rondelle. In 2005, Jill began teaching at Parties That Cook. |
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 Jed Larkin
Lead Chef
Jed Larkin’s culinary repertoire includes East Bay favorites such as Cesar Restaurant, one of San Francisco Chronicle’s “best 100 restaurants of the Bay Area” since its opening, and specialty food stores such as Ashbury Market. Jed has worked with some of the top catering companies in the Bay Area including McCall’s, Milk & Honey, Taste and Paula LeDuc. Passionate about European cuisine and California Fusion cooking, Jed’s true love is for Italian fare. When not at Parties That Cook, you can find Jed sipping on fine Italian vino, or whipping up fresh pasta for friends and family.
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 John Silvestro
Lead Chef
After graduating from Williams College, John decided it was time to pursue his culinary passion full time. He has worked in several restaurant kitchens in Utah, Massachusetts and most recently, New York City, where he worked under Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio. John's love of cooking stems from time spent with his Italian grandmother who never let him eat canned tomato sauce and insisted that real sauce could only come from the vine. A finalist for The Next Food Network Star, John has a passion for teaching others about cooking. In his free time, John can be found climbing mountains, snowboarding, riding bicycles or finding some new way to enjoy the Northern California outdoors. |
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 Erin Gepner
Lead Chef
After eating cherry tomatoes straight off the bush in the middle of a hot Los Angeles summer, Erin decided to pursue cooking. Erin attended the California Culinary Academy in Baking and Pastry to learn how to bake breads, make wedding cakes, and eat lots of cookies. After graduation, she worked at One Market Restaurant in the pastry department. She is currently a personal chef for several families in Berkeley, and is involved with catering throughout the Bay Area. She loves contributing to Parties that Cook because of the interaction with wonderful people and the excitement that surrounds the kitchen. |
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 Linda Esposito
Lead Chef
An avid cook, Linda calls herself a global cuisine ambassador. As a child, she helped her grandmother blend and roast curry powder in the family spice trade and watched her Straits-Nyonya great grandmother cook one of the earliest fusion cuisines. She gained her culinary education through eating around the world – from Sichuan to Singapore and Sorrento – and reverse engineering every meal! A Harvard MBA, Linda is also a technology marketing professional which afforded Linda to travel the world and indulge in her food fascination on an expense account while taking cooking classes and learning about food, wine and gastronomy during her free time. Since 2004, Linda has been teaching Pacific Rim cuisine at Whole Foods Market Salud Cooking School. |
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Molly Sell 
Lead Chef - Chicago
Chef Molly Sell earned a degree in Culinary Arts from Kendall College in 1999. Within 6 months, Molly was in charge of the pastry department of Big Delicious Planet, catering for music talent such as Sting, Elton John, REM and Metallica. In 1996, Molly became Head Pastry Chef of Food For Thought Catering, where she developed menus for top Chicago venues like The Field Museum, Millennium Park, Chicago History Museum and Harold Washington Library. Molly also has had the opportunity to cater for The Daley Family and the Dalai Lama. In addition to Parties That Cook, Molly is now a caterer and personal chef for her own company, Tart Cuisine, which provides packaged desserts to clients all over the Chicago land area.
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 Liz Chaidez
Chicago Lead Chef
After a few years of research at Northwestern University, Liz enrolled in culinary school at The Illinois Institute of Art because she just couldn’t shake the “food bug”. Since childhood, Liz always demonstrated a curiosity and interest in cooking, but as an adult never thought she could make a career of it. After graduation, she worked at the former Isabella’s Estiatorio in Geneva, IL, then landed a job as a chef consultant for a start up meal preparation company developing recipes. In addition to joining Parties That Cook in 2008, Liz works as a freelance chef for several high end Chicago catering companies, cooks at City Gate Grille in Naperville, IL and runs her own company, Sprig Catering.
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Jeff Rosen 
Lead Chef
Raised in a food-centric family in New York, Jeff was inspired to cook at an early age. His 25 years of culinary pursuits started in New York, then on to Florida, where he earned a degree in Hospitality Management. He finally landed in the San Francisco Bay Area where he's been named “Avatar of New American Cuisine” by the SF Bay Guardian. Chef Jeff’s passion for local, organic and sustainable food landed him roles as Executive Chef of Mallard Group Restaurants and Executive Chef of Stanford University’s Stanford Dining. He has cooked alongside Boulevard's Nancy Oakes and Mark Franz of Stars and Farallon. In addition to working with Parties That Cook, Jeff is a culinary consultant and has opened the critically-acclaimed Avenue 9 restaurant in San Francisco.
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 Hasna Ziraoui
Lead Chef
Hasna has always been hungry, for food, travels and experiences. Born and raised in Morocco, she left her country for France where she graduated from Grenoble Ecole de Management and worked as a financial analyst. She traveled extensively in Europe and spent several months in India where she decided to keep a food journal. There began her love relationship with food. Also a graduate of Tante Marie's Cooking School, Hasna has worked at Adagia Restaurant in Berkeley and Summer Kitchen Bake Shop. She is now delighted to share her love and knowledge of food with Parties That Cook clients.
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Cassandra Strus
Lead Chef
A native East Coaster, Cassandra's love for food developed at an early age, cooking by her mother’s side. With a Thai mother, and a European-descended father, she learned to cook everything from Pad Thai to Pierogis. Cassandra entered the corporate world after attending the University of Maryland, but quickly decided to return to her passion - food. She moved to San Francisco, enrolled at the California Culinary Academy and never looked back. After graduating from the CCA, Cassandra pursued pastry, eventually rising to Pastry Chef and worked at restaurants such as Masa’s, The Carnelian Room and Spruce. Her love for teaching brought Cassandra to Parties That Cook where she is eager to share her passion for food with event guests.
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