Amanda Hesser is a co-founder of cooking site food52.com. She has been a food columnist and editor at the New York Times for more than a decade, and currently writes Recipe Redux for the Sunday Magazine. Hesser has written two award-winning books — The Cook and the Gardener and Cooking for Mr. Latte — and edited the New York Times Magazines published collection of food essays, Eat, Memory. Her most recent book is The Essential New York Times Cookbook, a compilation of recipes from the New York Times going back to the 1850′s. Hesser is also a founder of Plodt.com.
Lifting Voices is a nonprofit organization in Washington DC dedicated to empowering underserved youth through creative writing. These tools of expression allow them to improve their ability to read, write, think critically, and value themselves in productive ways.