BEARD HOUSE FELLOWS PRESENTED BY CAPITAL ONE: BEARD BOX BY: OLUSHOLA WADLEY

The Beard House Fellows program, presented by Capital One, re-envisions the potential of the James Beard House into a hub of training and professional development for talented emerging chefs. Each Fellow has a residence at the Beard House where JBF provides hard skills training along with the opportunity to develop a meal kit, in collaboration with Great Performances, that is available nationwide.

According to Olushola Wadley, food isn’t just her career – it’s “the great love of [her] life.” Olushola remembers her mother encouraging her to try all kinds of new foods and cuisines, from curry chicken with rice in her home kitchen, to sushi and Chinese roast duck at restaurants around New York City. After her mother’s passing, Olushola decided to pursue cooking as a livelihood, training in high school and eventually earning a scholarship to attend the Culinary Institute of America. Today, Olushola works for Red Rabbit, a Harlem-based, Black-owned school food social justice organization, where she provides nutritious and culturally reflective meals to students in private and charter schools in the tri-state area.