Beard House Fellows Presented by Capital One: Beard Box by: Tonii Hicks

In May 2021, we launched the Beard House Fellows program presented by Capital One, which re-envisions the potential of the James Beard House into a hub of training and professional development for talented emerging chefs. Featuring alums of Careers Through Culinary Arts (C-CAP) partnered schools, each Fellow will have a ten-week residency at the Beard House, where JBF will provide hard skills training along with the opportunity to develop a meal kit, in collaboration with Great Performances, that will be available across the country.

A Philly native, Drexel University alumni, and chef rooted in the Philadelphia community, Tonii Hicks is “as Philly as it gets.” In high school, Tonii was introduced to the culinary arts program and immediately fell in love. At the age of 14, she began working in professional kitchens all across the city. As she has grown in her career, she has found her true passion lies in ending food insecurity in Philadelphia, evident in her work as culinary director of People’s Kitchen Philly and a culinary educator at Free Library of Philadelphia. Tonii hopes to own a commissary kitchen in Philadelphia that will provide access to hands-on culinary education and serves as a home for chefs.