The Creator Retreat

Yoland "Yoli" Ouiya and Sonja Overhiser

Founders of the Food + Wellness Equity Collective.

Jocelyn Delk Adams, author of Grandbaby Cakes and Everyday Grand, is the creator of Grandbaby-Cakes.com, reaching millions with her soulful recipes and stories. She’s also a dynamic TV personality and judge on shows like Food Network and Cooking Channel's Stab That Cake, Disney's Magic Bake Off, Good Morning America and TODAY Show, with features in top outlets nationwide.

Immaculate Adamu is a professional food blogger and passionate traveler behind the Immaculate Bites website and Instagram, with 10 years of experience in creating engaging content that connects culinary stories with audiences worldwide.

Jessica Hylton Leckie is the creator and founder behind the award-winning food blog Jessica in the Kitchen, providing over 1,000 easy, approachable and seasoned vegan recipes to millions of readers monthly. 

Blogging for over 15 years, Jessica's work has been acknowledged by top platforms in various mediums including being interviewed by Google & Pinterest and has been featured in The Washington Post, Essence, Oprah Magazine & More. 

Michelle Tam is the co-creator of the award-winning blog Nom Nom Paleo, the Webby Award–winning cooking app, and three New York Times bestselling cookbooks—and she’s also a James Beard Award nominee and creator of a best-selling line of paleo spice blends. With a degree in nutrition and food science from UC Berkeley and a pharmacy doctorate from UCSF, she’s been dubbed “the Martha Stewart of Paleo” for her fun, fuss-free, umami-packed recipes.

Pailin "Pai" Chongchitnant, is a trained chef and the creator of Hot Thai Kitchen, the most popular Thai cooking show on YouTube with over 2 million subscribers. She's also the bestselling author of 2 cookbooks and the co-host of the Sabai Talk Podcast. She has contributed to major publications such as The New York Times, Cook's Illustrated and Serious Eats. She's a native Thai, currently residing in Vancouver, Canada.

Rebekah is the co-founder of Clara, a content-led SEO agency that's been working with consumer-facing websites since day one. With 6.5 years in business and 12 years of experience in the content and SEO space, she brings a take on the industry that's concerned with putting readers first for future-proofed results.

Ben Jabbawy is the founder of Grocers List, the leading growth + monetization platform built specifically for food creators. He lives in Boston with his wife and two daughters, and loves supporting entrepreneurs through new technology.

Heather is a blogger turned WordPress developer and designer and the Chief Operating Officer at NerdPress. While working as a Medical Laboratory Scientist, she started blogging and has been working with WordPress since 2010. After she had trouble finding a blogging theme that she really liked, she decided to build her own…and fell in love with designing and coding for WordPress. She lives with her two energetic kids, their dog, a very snuggly and codependent Cocker Spaniel named Maple, and their crazy-cute but sometimes ornery cat, Max.

Shani Whisonant is the creator of Begin with Butter and author of The Twelve Days of Pound Cake, a pound cake cookbook that celebrates the cakes that raised her. She transformed her blog into a multi-stream business and later launched Tavola, a boutique law firm and consultancy that helps food bloggers build revenue streams they can own and control. Tavola grew out of nearly 20 years of Shani’s work as an attorney, where she helped business owners successfully scale and create strong employment infrastructure. Shani brings her teaching heart to everything she does - whether she's teaching bakers how to perfect brioche or teaching business owners how to hire and retain talent.