Jessamyn Rodriguez

Jessamyn Waldman was born to a Jewish family in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and was raised in Toronto.[4] Both of her parents were teachers.[5] Her great-grandfather, an immigrant from Russia, was the owner of Perlmutter's Bakery in Toronto.[6][7] She enjoyed braiding challah with her mother.[2] Her father died when she was 12.[1]

While studying at the University of British Columbia (UBC), she spent a year abroad in Santiago, Chile, and also was a teacher of human rights and health education near Guatemala City for a period of four months.[8] She graduated from UBC with a B.A. in Latin American Studies and Fine Arts.[8] She pursued her graduate degree in public administration at Columbia University, specializing in immigration policy and human rights, earning her degree in 2004.[8] Concurrent with her degree program, she contracted as a researcher in the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and worked for a year as the Youth Landmine Ambassador in Toronto for the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs.[8] She went on to work in the areas of public policy, immigration policy, and human rights for the United Nations and NGOs, including work as a consultant at the United Nations Development Programme in Costa Rica.[7] She also interned at Greyston Bakery in Yonkers, New York, which bases its operating model on social justice.[9]

Following her public policy career, she began teaching at a bilingual (Spanish/English) elementary school in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. In 2005 she was appointed director of human rights programming for the School for Human Rights in Brooklyn.[8]

She had the idea of starting a social enterprise based on bread-making around 2000.[7] In 2006 she enrolled at The New School, where she earned her Master Baker Certificate.[9][10][11] She then apprenticed in the bread kitchen of Daniel, a restaurant owned and operated by French celebrity chef Daniel Boulud. She was the first female baker hired by the restaurant, where she worked for two years.[9][12]

In 2007 she founded Hot Bread Kitchen, a non-profit social enterprise to teach bread-making and employment skills to low-income minority women and immigrants.[5][13][14][15] Started in her own home kitchen,[16] the operation moved into part-time rented kitchen space in the Long Island Artisan Baking Center[9] and in 2010 into the city-owned La Marqueta market in East Harlem.[13][17] The project trains women for professional careers baking many types of breads – including Moroccan msemen, Persian nan-e barbari, and Jewish challah – which were sold in retail outlets and online.[4][12][18][19]

The 100-hour culinary training course includes classes in "English, kitchen math, bakery science, professional skills, and management".[15] All graduates are placed with culinary employment partners.[13][15][17][20][21] Trainees are referred by community partners, and they often refer their own relatives to the program.[4] As of 2019, Hot Bread Kitchen has graduated 162 women from 60 countries.[15] Graduates earn an average of 70% more than they did before entering the program.[20]

In 2010 Hot Bread Kitchen opened HBK Incubates, a small-business incubator that assists entrepreneurs in opening culinary businesses.

In 2015 Rodriguez published The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook, a bread-making book for home bakers, featuring recipes made at the bakery, bread-making tips, and stories and photographs of the women at work.[2][11][14] There are also recipes for main dishes and a chapter on re-purposing leftovers.[22]

In 2018, Jessamyn stepped away from Hot Bread Kitchen[23] and became the Managing Director at Union Square Hospitality Group's Daily Provisions.[24]

In 2013 Rodriguez was the recipient of the Global Citizen Award from the Clinton Global Initiative.[17] In 2014 she was named to Crain's New York's "40 Under 40" list[17] and received the Celebrating Women Award from the New York Women's Foundation.[25] In 2015 she placed 18th on Fortune magazine's list of the 20 Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink.[14]

In 2008 she became a fellow of Echoing Green.[10]

She and her husband, Eli Rodriguez, have two children.[1]

Jessamyn sits on advisory boards for the James Beard Foundation, WENYC, and the New York Federal Reserve Bank.[26]

• The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook: Artisanal Baking from Around the World. Potter/TenSpeed/Harmony. 2015. ISBN 978-0804186186. (with Julia Turshen)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jessamyn Rodriguez.

• "How to Make a Mean Onion Bialy" by Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez
• "Women Taking Over the Food World" in Rachael Ray Every Day Magazine