Dame Judith Dern’s career is nothing short of remarkable. As she so aptly says, “It’s spanned the print to digital worlds. I feel lucky to have experienced this depth.” A published author with numerous cookbooks, national and regional magazine articles to her credit, Judith has pursued word wizardry and all things edible throughout her career, the outcome of cooking and collecting cookbooks since she was a teenager.

This Northwest transplant is originally from upstate New York. She was studying architecture at Dartmouth when a chance meeting changed her path.

During her senior year, she met someone who spent his junior year studying in Norway. Also, her aunt, a professional weaver, inspired Judith to investigate the craft. After attending a summer weaving program in California, Judith spent the year after her college graduation in Finland where she took 8 weeks of language classes and studied at a college for weaving and sewing teachers to further her skills. Returning to the U.S. in 1972, she was hired to teach weaving in New Hampshire. This led to setting up a production studio where she wove, taught, and produced items to sell directly and through the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen’s shops.

As a professional weaver, Judith continually honed her craftmanship. While at classes, she met a woman who worked for Sunset Designs in California. Not long after, a job came up writing instructions for weaving kits for the company, which hired and moved her to the Bay Area in 1977.

The public relations world with its focus on writing soon attracted Judith. She explored it further working with a friend who focused on restaurant promotions, and then joined Ketchum Public Relations in San Francisco as Account Supervisor. At Ketchum, her key accounts were the Norway Sardine Industry and Wisconsin Cheese. Her work with Norway Sardines led to her first cookbook. Going out on her own in 1991, she freelanced, writing a second cookbook for Norway Sardines, which earned a First for a Communicator Award in 1994 from the Washington Press Association. It was also recognized by Florence Fabricant at The New York Times as the best industry publication she had seen.

Judith moved to Seattle from San Francisco in 1994 after flying from Sea Tac on a sunny day when the islands, mountains, and sparkling sea reminded her of Scandinavia. The city turned out to offer multiple food opportunities. Her first 10 years in Seattle she worked on freelance writing assignments for food clients – mainly Nestlé USA – and had several retail jobs, including at City Kitchens and the Danish-Swedish Antiques shop in Kirkland.

In 2007, she joined Allrecipes.com, a food-focused site with user-generated content that is now the world’s largest digital food brand. Judith served as Senior Research and Insights Manager for Meredith Corporation (who took over ownership of Allrecipes in 2012) where she triaged ad hoc ad sales research requests, wrote the Allrecipes Measuring Cup Trend Report, and composed data stories to describe the traffic patterns of significant SEO terms. Her most recent book, The Food and Drink of Seattle – From Wild Salmon to Craft Beer, describes Seattle’s food history from its geology and geography to Native Americans, settlers, immigrants, and contemporary restaurateurs.

Judith has been on the Board of Les Dames and is an integral member of the Communications Committee. She previously served on the Board of Directors for the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP). Following her Scandinavian passions, she regularly volunteers and teaches cooking classes at Seattle’s National Nordic Museum. She has also been Vice President of the Seattle chapter of the Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce and was an Advisory Committee Member for the Edible City exhibition (fall 2016 to fall 2017) hosted by MOHAI (Museum of History and Industry). Asked how many times she’s returned to Scandinavia over the years and the answer is “at least 40 trips!”

Not so long ago, clicking a keyboard to find recipes to inspire dinner and dessert was new and fascinating. When one of your passions is food, as it was and still is for innovator, entrepreneur, and Member Sheri Wetherell, co-founding a food website and hosting special conferences for food bloggers were super exciting. Stints at Amazon and eBay in San Francisco prepared her, and, in December 2008, after a move to Seattle, Dame Sheri with her husband Barnaby Dorfman co-founded and launched Foodista. Their concept was a community site for food fans with a database of information about food, cooking tools, and techniques, along with recipes contributed by users and special guest writers.

“We wanted Foodista.com to be the online cooking encyclopedia everyone could edit, Wikipedia-style,” says Sheri. “It might have been too early technology-wise though, because people didn’t like having their recipes messed with, so the site evolved to offer different versions of iconic recipes.”

Friends and engineers helped set up and launch the Foodista site, and yes, since Sheri and Barnaby had previously worked at Amazon building its Marketplace pages, Amazon was an early investor, along with friends and family. Today, Sheri is the driver and social media maven for the site, which has evolved to keep up with algorithm changes and challenges. It’s still a top destination for finding recipes, reading blog posts, watching videos and podcasts, and more.

Back then was also primetime for bloggers. Attending a BlogHer conference in San Francisco inspired her second business idea. Finding no events targeting food bloggers, in 2009, she and Barnaby hosted the first International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC) in a charming event space in West Seattle. An event planner, for Sheri planning events was easy as pie. Enthusiasm for the speakers and from the camaraderie among attendees bounced off the walls at their first event. “We wanted the conference to have a higher-end boutique feel,” she recalls, “to keep it authentic and special.”

Everyone demanded another conference, so IFBC events continued successfully in several locations, from Seattle and New Orleans to Sacramento, beginning in 2010 in partnership with Zephyr Conferences. In 2017, IFBC was sold to Zephyr for exclusive management rights with the group continuing to host annual conferences until this year’s COVID-19 outbreak.

Dame Sheri credits her grandmothers with instilling her passion for cooking. Her paternal grandmother owned a diner in San Francisco, while her mom’s mother lived on 100 acres in Sonoma, California. “From an early age, I smelled fresh bread baking in her kitchen and I also loved exploring her vast garden,” she remembers. “Cooking has always been a stress reliever for me.”

Count travel as another of Dame Sheri’s passions, which she sees as “a bridge to food and culture.” Growing up in Sun River, Oregon, might seem to guarantee a small-town perspective, but when your dad is an airline pilot, the world is your oyster. Childhood trips to New York, London, Paris, and other destinations prompted a college study-abroad year in Italy, and then, three years teaching in an ESL program in Japan and discovering the country’s fascinating culture and foodways during her first marriage. Shari’s favorite destination when arriving in a new place? No surprises here. It’s the nearest market to explore local foods and wines. Sounds like a recipe for success!

You scream I scream, we all scream for ice cream, UNLESS, you have tasted authentic gelato from Gelatiamo founded by Dame Maria Coassin. Gelatiamo, headquartered at Third and Union in downtown Seattle, is where the product is made and served – although it is also available for purchase at Metropolitan Market, Pagliacci Pizza, and served at fine restaurant and cafes in the greater-Seattle area.

Maria’s unique downtown gelato café, opened in 1996, is now a landmark for “the real thing” when it comes to true gelato and Italian specialties like her panettone. Ardent followers know panettone is only baked by Gelatiamo between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Taking hours to make, it is what you would call a “labor of love,” an Italian tradition that Maria is passionate about and that helped her through a lean first winter in business.

Maria and the Gelatiamo team produce over 1,000 panettone each season from a recipe dating back to the1800s. According to Maria, “It takes 27-hours before the bread finds its way into the oven.” Served most often after dinner in Italy, this delightful holiday sweet bread is a welcome addition to New Year’s and Twelfth night tables, too.

Born into a family bakery business with a 200 plus-year history, in the town of Maniago, Italy, Maria learned all of the Italian baking traditions as well as the art and science of making authentic Italian gelato including the importance of using quality ingredients. Her first USA address was in LA. The flip of a coin was the deciding factor as to where her business dream would be built, and Seattle was the lucky winner.

Les Dames is very proud of the fact that the same week Maria was elected to the chapter she became an American citizen. She has provided luscious holiday treats for our gatherings, and has given products to many nonprofit charity events.

Maria has served as an emeritus member of the Italian Advisory Board of the Department of French and Italian Studies at the University of Washington and is a consultant on projects around the country. In addition, she teaches gelato classes quarterly in Southern California emphasizing recipe development and business startup practices.

She was a culinary hero prior to the pandemic and now, as an educator, she continues her heroic efforts on the educational frontlines teaching her classes in a new way –remotely– and training her students for what people are calling the new normal or the now normal for the future of the foodservice and hospitality industries.

Teaching in the new or now normal is not for the faint of heart, but for those who are creative and have the talent and resiliency to master new ways successfully. And Seattle Dame, Diana Dillard, former Chapter President and current Chapter Secretary, has all the right stuff to do it all!

A proud Seattleite through and through, she graduated from Roosevelt High School, and as she says, “Meandered lacking passion through a few years of traditional college.” Then, she found her calling in the culinary arts. She was accepted to and graduated from the prestigious Culinary Institute of America (CIA) then landed a plum job as Executive Sous Chef at the Banker’s Club in Miami, Florida where her skills and knowledge grew exponentially.

A circuitous route brought her back home to Seattle and provided another great career opportunity, working at the former widely-acclaimed fine-dining restaurant, Fullers, at the downtown Seattle Sheraton Hotel. While there, the opportunity of a lifetime happened. She was asked to be part of the all-female culinary team traveling to the Soviet Union as guests of the Republic of Georgia, the first American chefs to visit the Soviet Union. Noted New York Times reporter, Marian Burros, and a Times photographer traveled with them and chronicled their Northwest inspired meal preparations.

The next chapter for Diana, opening the much loved Rain City Grill restaurant on Capitol Hill with her husband and CIA classmate, Tom. After four plus years of ownership they sold the restaurant and charted a new course — exploring food throughout Europe with their 10-month old baby in a backpack. But these plans were interrupted by an offer for Diana to be a culinary instructor at Seattle Community College in the expanding Seattle Culinary Academy. She taught at the Academy for 15 years and during that time earned a teaching degree. Along the way, Diana had a hard fought battle with breast cancer, but happily, she won and today celebrates 17-years as a survivor.

Over the last 14 years, Diana has trained many students at Shorewood High School running the Special Events/Catering Business Curriculum as well as teaching foods and nutrition along with cuisines and cultures as occupational education courses.

Diana’s career highlights are many. She co-authored the popular cookbook “Entertaining Simply” with John Sarich, former Culinary Director of Chateau Ste. Michelle winery; cooked for famous people – Elton John, Michael Jackson and the King of Brunei; appeared in a TV commercial and has done promotional work for the Char Broil Grill Company; taught classes in Santiago Chile and studied on scholarship at the Beringer School for American Chefs with Grande Dame Madeleine Kamman.

There is no truer example of a Dame than Diana Dillard. We salute her and honor her as a Dame and frontline educational hero.

Whether planning large festivals or intimate media gatherings, you can count on Seattle Dame Jamie Peha to “deliver the goods!” Jamie has a flair for generating ideas with big picture focus and bottom-line results while developing actionable business plans that meet client expectations.

A Washingtonian through and through, Jamie grew up on Mercer Island and graduated from (WSU) Washington State University’s College of Business and Economics, majoring in Hospitality Management.

Her vast experience in media, hospitality, and wine leaves little wonder why she was tapped for the key role as the Executive Director of the Auction of Washington Wines (AWW) in March of 2019. The Auction supports the growth and awareness of all wines produced in Washington State and includes a series of events benefiting Seattle Children’s and WSU Viticulture & Enology Program. Over its 33-year history the organization has raised $54 million for community and industry.

Looking back, Jamie has had an extraordinary career path leading up to her current position. From her earliest job as general manager of a #Seattle restaurant to her experience as a restaurant business manager in California, to serving for 10 years as Director of Marketing and Promotions for the Washington Wine Commission (Washington State Wine.) Add to this her media experience as Director of Promotions and Sales Development for Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, Seattle Bride, and Northwest Meetings & Events, and you can see why Jamie excels in the sales, marketing, and promotional arena.

Her savvy business sense and entrepreneurial spirit have given her the foundation to develop her own successful events and consulting business – Peha Promotions. In addition, she established TableTalk Northwest, a website and radio program that brought an industry insider’s viewpoint to the culinary and beverage world. She founded and produced the very successful Seattle Wine and Food Experience; now owned by Seattle Magazine; plus developed the Washington Wine Commission’s Taste Washington event.

In 2017, Jamie was appointed Director of the Auction of Washington Wines Private Barrel Auction for the trade, a position in which she now oversees in her position as Executive Director of AWW.

#LesDamesSeattle is proud to share Jamie’s many successes and appreciates her contributions to the chapter including serving as Chapter president 2016-2017.

“A strong woman looks a challenge dead in the eye and gives it a wink.” Gina Carey’s words describe 16-year #LesDamesSeattle member Patricia Gelles perfectly. She started out on another continent with a different life in mind and ended up at the top of the mountain, both literally and figuratively.

Patricia was born in London and pursuing a career in Public Relations / Marketing when she met an American scientist, her husband David. In 1974, his career brought the young couple from Europe directly to the Tri-Cities, where they purchased a fixer-upper home.

David became friends with Westinghouse co-workers Jim Holmes and John Williams, who saw the potential in growing grapes on Red Mountain. In 1975, Patricia and David helped the innovators plant the first Red Mountain vineyard, Kiona.

As the years passed, Jim heard that there was a large swath of Red Mountain acreage on the southwest slope for sale. He called the Gelles with the news and shared that Napa Valley winemaker, André Tchelistcheff, had said it was the best land on Red Mountain to grow Cabernet grapes. After much debate (including the decision to be growers, not winemakers, in order to have time to focus on family), they purchased the land in 1982, and planted 40 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc in 1984.

Klipsun Vineyards, derived from the Chinook word for “clipped sun,” grew to 120 planted acres and seven varieties, quickly gaining a standing as a top Washington state vineyard. The demand for grapes by elite winemakers also skyrocketed as they gained a cult-like status. Honors followed as Klipsun was named as one of the Top 25 Vineyards in the World by Wine & Spirits magazine.

In 2017, Terlato Wines International, a leading importer and marketer based in Chicago, purchased the respected vineyard.

“After 35 years, I could see the handwriting on the wall. Today there is a lot more competition selling wine grapes,” said Patricia. “I loved what we created and met lots of really interesting people along the way, but it was time.”

David and Patricia decided to stay in West Richland. An avid traveler, Patricia and her daughter traveled to Mexico City in early March to attend LDEI Mexico chapter’s “Flavors of Mexico.” Although grounded due to the pandemic, she looks forward to hitting the road with David as soon as it is safe. Meanwhile, she keeps busy enjoying life and family.

A Dame since 2009, she is a past chapter president, treasurer, and has chaired the Finance and Fundraising committees, and a career woman who is always on the go.

As an adult, much of Anne’s life has been spent in the kitchen. While never cooking professionally, both her personal and work life have revolved around all things culinary.

Creative and detail oriented, Anne founded AMN Productions in 1997, specializing in contract event planning for multi-day food and wine focused events, including the development, planning, and execution of consumer and trade events.

She is known in the industry as the Northwest’s foremost “go-to” consultant and her resume encompasses an incredible list of top-tier culinary clientele.

Her projects have included the Willamette Valley Wineries Association 50th Anniversary, Oregon Truffle Festival, Taste Washington, and the Auction of Washington Wines. Anne is Executive Director of the Oregon Chardonnay Celebration, Bounty of Yamhill County, and Culinary Director of McMinnville, Oregon’s highly popular International Pinot Noir Celebration for 20 years.

“Anne knows event management inside and out and is a core reason for the growth and success of the IPNC over the past decade,” says Brian Richardson, founder of Vinbound Marketing and WineryHunt. “Her role at IPNC is to recruit and manage the 50+ guest chefs who join IPNC each year. She oversees all operational details surrounding food service for the three-day event.”

Her many accomplishments also include a stint as radio co-host on KKNW AM 1150 on Table Talk: Radio That Tastes Good, Caterer (she was formerly director of catering at Seattle’s iconic seafood restaurant, Ray’s Boathouse), and wine columnist for Seattle magazine.

Even though she lives in McMinnville, Oregon, she continues to be one of the Seattle chapter’s most active members. Anne, you continue to astound us with your boundless energy, enthusiasm, and knowledge.

Innovative and adaptable, creative and curious, a pioneer in Seattle’s restaurant universe in the 1980s, Dame Karen Binder’s high standards have guided her throughout her stellar career. Blend this with a passion for all things French. Living in Geneva, Switzerland, while working in a science research lab, she became fluent in both the language and cuisine. Added to her sommelier training, the combination guaranteed success running her neighborhood restaurant, the Madison Park Café, from the day she opened in 1979.

Originally a coffee and tearoom in a small 1926 house when Karen bought the business, she recreated the dining space into a warm and welcoming neighborhood destination featuring a breakfast and lunch menu. Inspired from travel and her work in Europe, the Café was first in the Madison Park neighborhood to serve authentic croissants and feature an espresso machine. Add sourdough waffles and notably the best scones in Seattle to the offerings and the menu was a hit. Customers and accolades arrived in short order.

While not a chef herself–her impressive academic background focused on molecular genetics–Karen hired chefs to run the kitchen while she managed the business side and front of the house setting the tone with her warm and welcoming style. This also required her to wear hats from dishwasher to wine merchant to restaurant owner to fill-in baker. To many, she was also Madison Park’s unofficial Jewish Mother.

In 1998, the 35-seat restaurant changed to serving French bistro-style dinners and brunch on weekends. The move accommodated Karen’s schedule, since she was also now a busy mom with a growing family. Her wine studies at CIA in Napa Valley raised the bar for the restaurant’s curated wine offerings and inspired popular wine-pairing dinners, a move anticipating their popularity.

Madison Park Café soon earned its spot on the restaurant credibility list. Karen, with her then-chef Amanda Zimlich, was invited to host a Women in Washington Wine dinner at the James Beard House in New York. Karen invited Dame Marie Eve Gilla, former owner/winemaker at Forgeron Winery in Walla Walla, to accompany her as the Washington winemaker.

In 2011, with the birth of her first grandchild on Oahu, Hawaii, and the subsequent need to travel there frequently, Karen sold Madison Park Cafe. She continued, however, with her successful catering business, which she ran for 41 years until early 2021. Ever the explorer, wine remains a passion and she is still a licensed wine seller.

Always an optimist and an enthusiast, Karen reflects on her singular career as a restaurateur saying, “True, it wasn’t always easy being female in the restaurant world. Dare I say my perseverance and versatility paired with my goal of making people feel at home while enjoying great food and wine created a winning path. I encourage anyone with a vision to trust and go for it.”

Profile by Judith H. Dern

Measure, pour, stir, sift, write and share. Words describing Dame Kathleen Flinn’s singular culinary career. Add a synchronistic blending of clarity and inspiration, plus impressive journalism skills and a generous spirit, and Kat is a self-created, bi-coastal woman with four top-selling non-fiction books. She even has a social media fan club in Japan where two translated books are a best-sellers.

Launching her career, Kathleen’s first jobs were with the Chicago Sun-Times and Adweek before she was age 20, the result of veering into journalism instead of pursuing a law degree. “Writing was easy for me,” she says, “and then I discovered you could be paid to write.” Add an internship at Playboy when she was 22 and her early writing path sizzled!

What motivated Kathleen’s eventual swerve into the culinary world? A consequence of her reporter’s job with The Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida, where she’d moved during the 1990s recession for a regular assignment writing obituaries. “It was where I learned to talk to people, to conduct interviews, the only time anyone will ever laminate my articles and tuck them into their Bible,” she recalls. “There, I came across the shortest-ever obituary with only a name and date and nothing else for an 84-year-old woman. It showed up simultaneously with an ad in Gourmet magazine for Le Cordon Bleu in Paris,” she remembers. “I cut out the Cordon Bleu ad and put it over my desk with the no-words obituary–a reminder.”

Ever adventurous, in 1996, she joined Microsoft and moved to London with the company three years later. “In 2004, returning from Florida, I learned my job had been eliminated,” she remembers. But did the sky fall? Not a chance. Kat–with husband-to-be Mike’s encouragement–enrolled in the Paris Cordon Bleu program. The rest, you can say, is literary serendipity. Drawing on her experiences at Cordon Bleu, in 2007, Kathleen published The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry, still a best-seller translated into 10 languages.

Setting up shop in Seattle (family in Florida still beckon regularly), writing with culinary twists continued as Kat’s focus. In 2014, family remembrances inspired her to write Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good – A Memoir of Food and Love from an American Midwest Family.

But her 2011 book, The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: How a Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cook, is the title propelling her into Japanese stardom. Inspired after watching a woman load her shopping cart with processed foods, Kathleen convinced the woman to reload her cart with items ready to prepare into easy meals, and then turned the experience into a book. Another U.S. bestseller, the book launched her claim to fame in Japan for both print and eBook versions.

“There’s no word for ‘counter’ in Japanese,” Kat says, “so when the book was translated in 2017, it was renamed “Miracle Cooking Lessons for Bad Women.” I had no idea until I was deluged with Facebook and Twitter requests from Japan. Japanese culture is very binary with a high expectation for female perfection, which made the book super appealing.” In 2019, she traveled to Japan where she was interviewed and appeared on TV. This first book was followed with a second, Sakana Lesson, in Japanese with Japanese-centric content.

You guessed it! This culinary storyteller has two more books “under construction” on her desktop, plus writes regular posts for her website and podcast, KathleenFlinn.com.

Early childhood tragedy accelerated Pam’s self-reliance, independence and problem-solving ability. She was just shy of five-years when her mother died of polio.

A longstanding member of the Seattle Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier, Pam Montgomery started multiple businesses in her 20’s, but it was in Northwest cherries, chocolate and wine where she found her calling.

Her older sisters and newborn brother were sent to live with relatives in California, but Pam stayed with her father—a forester for Weyerhaeuser stationed in a tiny logging community outside of Olympia, Washington. On weekdays, Pam and her dad would climb into the work truck and drive into the mountains, walking for hours inspecting new tree plantings. The family eventually re-united, with Pam’s French-Canadian grandmother caring for Pam and her siblings for several years, during which time homemade soup, fruit cobbler and suet pudding were the heart of the home.

Fast forward to 1988: Pam and her young family escaped the bustle of Seattle to purchase the largest family-owned cherry orchard in Washington State. Eight thousand trees and three daughters (under the age of four) later, she had an idea. On her daily walk around the orchard, Pam noticed cherries left on the tree after harvest increased in natural sugar while slowly dehydrating. Their flavor was incomparable! A question nagged her, why couldn’t cherries be dried without adding sugar for a healthy year ‘round snack?

At the time, no one was drying cherries without using preservatives, sulfites or added sugars. Pam reached out to UC Davis—the research center for California’s raisin and prune industries. They told her it could not be done. Undeterred, Pam started experimenting on her own and found the natural sugars in cherries allowing the fruit to fully ripen on the tree were sufficient. Pam began dehydrating Bing and Rainier cherries with no added ingredients whatsoever.

Later, on a trip to London, Pam visited the famous Harrods department store and its huge art deco confectionery hall filled with European fruits, both preserved and chocolate covered. Visually, the display was stunning, and the naturally dried dark sweet cherries covered in chocolate astonished her. She purchased a jar to take home as inspiration to create a Pacific Northwest chocolate-covered cherry.

Over the next three decades, Chukar’s product line blossomed from naturally dried and chocolate-covered cherries to cherry and nut energy snacks, fruitful preserves and sauces, baked goods and granola, and most recently, regional wine and chocolate pairings—all made with clean ingredients and local cherries. When the pandemic stopped many businesses in their tracks, Chukar continued in its capacity as a food processor, selling goods at CHUKAR.COM.

Since 1988, Pam has remained the creative force in Chukar Cherries, creating a team culture committed to excellence in product development, customer retention and sustainability.

Perhaps Pam’s greatest contribution has been mentorship within her company. Notably, she’s willing to “take a chance” and hire young people in whom she sees potential, regardless of their level of work experience.