Head of Content Production

(She/They) A Bay Area native, Celine is a food anthropologist and media producer. Before Whetstone, she worked on seasons two and three of Christopher Kimball's Milk Street TV, as well as pre-production for Milk Street Radio. She has worked on events for Cherry Bombe Magazine & Radio and for The New Paris' Lindsay Tramuta's forthcoming book.

Celine earned her Masters in Gastronomy from Boston University in 2019. Through her graduate work, she spent a semester at the American University of Paris studying refugee foodways and the future impact adopted western diets will have on refugees.

She is particularly interested in preservation anthropology as it relates to food, meals and recipes.

Art Director

(She/Her) Alexandra Bowman is a California native, illustrator, designer, muralist and cat lover living in Oakland.

She graduated with a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago before moving back to the golden state in 2014. Some of her clients include: The New York Times, Pop Up Magazine and Food 52.

Alexandra’s art practice focuses on ways to celebrate representation through authentic experiences. By favoring accessible mediums including illustrated prints, and public art, her goal is to continue a dialogue about the importance of being seen in a world where many feel invisible. She recognizes representation is a step towards healing but often times, it is not nearly enough. Through monuments of visibility and depictions of herself and her community, she hopes that others can see her work as a call for social change.

Editorial Director

(She/Her) Layla Schlack has written and edited stories about cooking, dining, spirits, entertaining and travel, as well as developed recipes, in various editorial roles at Fine Cooking and Hemispheres. Her writing has also appeared in TASTE, Extra Crispy, Edible Brooklyn, The Hairpin and The Toast. She can usually be found clanging around her Connecticut kitchen.

Executive Assistant / Producer

(He/Him) Quentin is a multimedia producer and creative, helping to bring projects in video, audio, and digital to life. With a degree in business, he also works behind the scenes to assist in the day-to-day operations of Whetstone Media.

Being based in Seattle, when Quentin isn’t working, he’s usually exploring the mountains and nature that the Pacific Northwest has to offer.

Editor - South Asia

(She/Her) Vidya Balachander is an award-winning food writer and editor presently based in Dubai. Vidya's writing explores the intersection of food and anthropology, and she is interested in understanding how communities and geopolitics can be viewed through the lens of food. In the last 15 years as a journalist, Vidya has worked with a number of Indian and international media houses, and you can find her bylines on Saveur, NPR, LitHub and CNN's Parts Unknown, among other publications.

Copy Editor

(She/Her) Emily Vizzo is a California-based writer and editor. She previously covered Congress for the Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, D.C., and has written extensively about the San Diego biotech industry, surf, and the arts. Publications include the Los Angeles Times, National Geographic Education, Giantess (YesYes Books) and Starflower: The Making of a Poet, Edna St. Vincent Millay (Abrams 2023). She was a panelist at the Nobel Prize Teacher Summit and artist in residence at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis.

Having previously worked as a server and bartender for many years, she believes that you should be tipping generously.

Photo Director

(She/Her) Lyric is a journalist based in Atlanta. She began her career as a food photographer and worked with nationally-regarded chefs. Her images were printed in Esquire and Condé Nast Traveler, among others. She then spent half a decade as a photo editor and writer at CNN. During that time as the assistant producer of CNN Photos her work with the team was recognized by the National Press Photographers Association.

She blends her background in the food world with her training in journalism for her work as a photographer, editor and writer.

Curation Director

(She/Her) Gabriella Oviedo is a Honduran American born in Atlanta, Georgia.

A communications and photography graduate from Georgia State University, she has spent the last decade working collaboratively to understand how our interpersonal connections can bring more beauty and authenticity to our everyday lives. She brings this same reflection to her work with Oaxaca Collection.

Social Media Manager

(She/They) Ama Uytingco is a digital creative with experience in public relations, social media, and digital advertising. Holding an undergraduate degree in Communications, she has worked not only with hospitality clients like restaurants and cookbooks, but also for entertainment networks like MTV and Nickelodeon International.

Bay Area-raised and New York-based, Ama is currently pursuing a Master’s in Food Studies at New York University, where she is interested in researching Taiwanese foodways.

Sound Engineer / Composer

(He/Him) Max Kotelchuck is an audio engineer, musician, and composer. He was part of the founding production team at digital media start-up, Genius (formerly Rap Genius). Max has studied audio post-production and music performance at Oberlin Conservatory and Berklee School of Music.

Years of work in the restaurant industry fostered a fascination with food and restaurant culture and at the height of the pandemic, Max started “Shanty Dining,” to document improvised outdoor dining structures popping up in and around New York City, where he is based.

Video Editor

(She/Her) Jackie Noack is a video editor and producer based in Somerville, MA. Prior to Whetstone, she was an associate TV and podcast producer at Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street, and served as a field producer and translator for the HBO documentary, “Clínica de Migrantes”. She double majored in international film and French at Tufts University. She is Peruvian-American and is natively fluent in Spanish.

Jackie is passionate about making the media landscape more accessible, diverse, and inclusive.

Production Assistant/Coordinator

(She/Her) Shabnam "Shab" Ferdowsi is a legally blind photographer born and raised in Los Angeles. Before Covid, she was primarily weaving her way around the music industry in the media and experiential space until she started performing on stage herself. Once everything went on hiatus, one thing led to another, and a pizza pop-up and catering business was born out of Shab's home kitchen. After a year roaming LA's parking lots, backyards, and bar patios, it was time for another shift.

Nevertheless, food has now become the new centerpiece for building community, pursuing creativity, and telling impactful stories.

Production and Business Development - South Asia

(She/Her) Nidhi Verma has produced award winning food and travel shows for Television and headed India's first premium radio station. She started her career as a copywriter in an Ad agency and has worked with various Indian and international TV channels . Based in Bangalore, Nidhi bakes a cake a week, dreams of cooking authentic Italian food and discovering the world, one dish at a time.

Music Director & Audio Producer

(She/Her) Catherine Yang is a podcast producer, film composer, music producer, and pianist based in New York City.

Passionate about crafting emotional, narrative-driven audio, she graduated from Northwestern University’s School of Communication with a B.A. in Radio/TV/Film and minor in Sound Design. Her experience in the podcasting world includes producing and editing Advanced TV Herstory, a show about iconic women in TV and film, and editing AdTech Unfiltered, an advertising technology and digital media podcast by Basis Technologies. Catherine has written music for numerous film projects, like the feature nature documentary “Escape from Extinction” (dir. Matthew R. Brady), and has worked on film sets as a sound recordist and boom operator as well.

Junior Digital Producer

(She/Her) Maha Sanad is a Bay Area native and recent graduate from California State University, East Bay, where she majored in Communication and minored in Advertising. She has experience in journalism, social media management, and video/audio production.

One of the joys that Maha has found while working in storytelling environments is giving a platform to underrepresented people whose voices need to be heard.

When Maha isn’t working, she is probably curled up with a book, fantasizing about traveling and exploring the world, or trying to change her habits of being a picky eater.

Social Media Coordinator

(She/Her) Melissa Haughton is a writer, marketer and digital storyteller based in Toronto, Canada. She co-created the award-nominated podcast Hard To Stomach, and has written for CBC, Guts Magazine and VV Magazine. Her work often explores ideas of family, culture and identity through the lens of Blackness.

Working in media in both editorial and marketing capacities, Melissa understands the importance of digital strategy, community-building and a great productivity soundtrack. She is also passionate about exploring the ways food can work as a living archive and a source of connection across cultures.

Outside of work, you can find Melissa debating the pronunciation of plantain, reading books and resisting the urge to accumulate more plants.

Marketing and Distribution Sales Specialist

(She/Her) Amber Lee grew up in the Pacific Northwest and is based in Seattle. She graduated from Western Washington University with degrees in Marketing and Art History. Amber began her marketing career at Modernist Cuisine where she worked for over five years honing her skills in copywriting, creative planning, social media management, and public relations.

Amber is passionate about learning, celebrating, and conversing about food origins and history, as well as the many ways in which food connects us in our daily lives. When she’s not working, Amber enjoys watching as many thriller or horror movies as she can and looking for the next best place to eat.

Producer

(She/Her) Tonina is a Los Angeles-based producer, journalist & musician. She studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA & Valencia, Spain double majoring in Bass Performance & Africana Studies.

Prior to joining the Whetstone team, Tonina worked as a music journalist, touring musician, and daily news producer at St. Louis Public Radio in her hometown.

Tonina has explored how food & music intersect as the deepest forms of cultural exchange. Tonina is passionate about ethnomusicology, aviation, and travel. When she’s not working, you can find her snuggling with her dog, eating pasta, and watching true crime documentaries.

Music Intern

(He/Him) Simon Lavender is a composer and producer primarily based in the Bay Area. He is currently studying industrial design at California State University Long Beach, yet preserving his interest in music production through his work at Whetstone. Besides composition, he works on many creative projects to develop his 3D modeling, animation, and illustration. He strives to combine these passions throughout his career.

Outside of work he enjoys traveling, collecting inspiration he can apply in his designs, music, and cooking as well. You can also find Simon experimenting in the kitchen, playing piano, going on hikes, and most importantly hanging out with his cats.

Associate Video Editor

(They/Them) Ilgın is a filmmaker/editor from Istanbul, Turkey currently based in Los Angeles, CA. They studied Development Studies at Brown University with a focus on human rights and visual media as a tool for restorative justice and healing. During undergrad, they also started working in film and video, which quickly became their main artistic medium.

Before Whetstone, Ilgın worked in the film industry in post-production and more recently has been working on set for various projects. Most of their work aims to center multicultural experiences and the ideas of belonging and community. They are fascinated with food as a connecter for peoples separated by nation borders.

Associate Producer

(She/her) Rosina is a podcast producer and screenwriter based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has produced podcasts locally in Argentina and the US.

She has pitched and produced an episode of Radio Ambulante that was aired on NPR. She has won a mentorship with the Podcast Academy that is helping her grow her abilities and develop networking in the podcast universe.

Currently, she is an Associate Producer for Whetsone’s bilingual podcasts. She is producing her first indie non-fiction series and she is also producing episodes as a freelancer for different companies.

She is interested in all that relates to audio, joining as many podcast communities and newsletters as possible.

Podcast Producer

(He/Him) Marvin Yueh is a Los Angeles-based producer who was born in Toronto and raised in the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California. Prior to Whetstone, Marvin spent several years working as an associate director at Kollaboration, a non-profit organization that supports Asian American artists and creatives, where he produced live and digital events across the country including the annual Asian Pacific Filmmakers Experience at Sundance and the first ever official all Asian American music showcase at SXSW.

Marvin began producing podcasts in 2015, teaching himself the basics of audio production. As an independent producer, he’s produced podcasts for clients such as Travel & Leisure and Entertainment Weekly. He is also a co-founder of the Potluck Podcast Collective, a network of independent Asian American hosted podcasts.

Outside of work, Marvin is an avid traveler, eater, and consumer of pop culture of all mediums.