This year’s second annual Sugar and Spice Summit was a huge hit, with around 175 women attending to hear from and network with women professionals in the culinary industry. Northwestern senior Lauren Goldstein created the Summit last year as an event for Spoon on the Northwestern campus, but this year, Goldstein expanded into Chicago and held the event at the Savage Smyth.
The all-day event included a lineup of 17 speakers from all segments of the food industry. The keynote speaker was Kerry Diamond, co-founder and editorial director of Cherry Bombe magazine and the host of Radio Cherry Bombe.
According to Diamond, Goldstein is doing a wonderful thing by promoting females in the food industry. “When I was in college, nobody talked about having a career in food,” Diamond said. “Things have changed so much over the past few decades, and it’s interesting to see that this is becoming a viable career path.”
About the Event
Other speakers included Co-Owner and Chef Christine Cikowski from Honey Butter Fried Chicken, Founder and CEO of Love Cork Screw Chrishon Lampley, and Co-Owner of XO Marshmallow Lindzi Shanks. The panels covered everything from addressing the #MeToo movement, to making your content stand out on social media and to being your own boss in the culinary industry.
And of course, the event featured food: breakfast with Noosa, snacks by Chameleon Cold Brew and GoMacro, lunch by Sweetgreen and desserts from Big Fat Cookie in Chicago, among many others.
Future Plans?
So what’s it going to be like next year? Goldstein is moving to New York, but she’s planning on continuing to grow and expand this brainchild of hers.
“The dream would be to do multiple events in multiple cities throughout the year, have it be sort of on tour,” said Goldstein. “But always do events in Chicago because this is where it was born, this is where I have a community of people who are so, so excited and have really empowered me to create this event.”
To learn more about this year’s or last year’s event, visit the Sugar and Spice Summit website.
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